Vocalists are innovating wildly

You can’t put a container around the work that creative vocalists are doing under the loose banner of jazz today. Though a soft barrier has always existed between improvising instrumentalists and vocalists, Winter Jazzfest has served for years as a reminder that some of the boldest new work has to do with singing, storytelling and manipulations of the human voice.

(…) Next door, at the Zurcher Gallery, the Portuguese singer Sara Serpa sang her signature — wordless vocals, perfectly pitched — over a gossamer synth played by Dov Manski; it all blended almost too well with the pastel abstraction of a huge painting that hung behind her. (The gallery was a new addition to the festival this year, and a good one; its mix of coziness and visual life was a welcome change from the bustle of most other spots.)

By Giovanni Russonnello. Read full article here.