Bria Skonberg – What It Means (ENG review)

Cellar Music – Street Date July 26th 2024
Jazz
Bria Skonberg – What It Means (ENG review)

I love artists who have a strong personality in their art. This can be expressed in various ways depending on the styles of creation. Bria Skonberg is one of those artists who have things to say and an extraordinary personality. She is an excellent composer, a talented trumpeter, and a remarkable singer. This album is certainly her best calling card. Despite her calm appearance, Bria Skonberg is a real stage beast. “I love to perform. I love to prepare songs in ways that surprise and delight listeners, adding different variables and finding commonalities. I love blasting my trumpet over a hard grooving rhythm section. I love hearing horns in harmony and singing from a whisper to a roar,” Skonberg reflects. “It’s a cathartic, soul-satisfying experience, and all I’ve wanted to do since I first met the trumpet.”

We had been waiting for Bria Skonberg’s new album for a long time, and the least we can say is that we were not disappointed. Each album by this artist feels like a rebirth with new propositions and a new setting. This time, it’s a journey to New Orleans. But before that, here’s how this project came about: In January 2021, Skonberg felt the weight of the global lockdown in a profound mix of emotions. Not having seen her parents for over a year and having interacted with other musicians less than ten times since the start of the lockdown, combined with the kaleidoscopic wonder of becoming a parent, Skonberg experienced both the desolation of deep global isolation and the beautiful overwhelm of a new kind of love. With this experiential context, when gigs finally did begin to return, Skonberg felt “like I was trying to find a way back and a way forward at the same time.” What proved deeply grounding for Skonberg amid this tumultuous societal return to normalcy was revisiting the material she had learned in her teens — classics like Louis Armstrong’s “Cornet Chop Suey” — and immersing herself in lifelong musical favorites of her family, such as Van Morrison and The Beatles, and of her own, namely Wynton Marsalis’s septet music.

It didn’t take much more for this immensely talented artist to find the necessary inspiration. It all begins with the album’s title, a truncated version of one of the most famous standards about the Crescent City: “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?” Personally, I do not yet know New Orleans, but I have felt its effects. There are areas of mystery down there where religions mix with local customs, and in these customs, there is, of course, the music. And that is precisely where one can realize how impressive Bria Skonberg’s culture is, with her way of mixing musical genres and scattering them all around. Then suddenly, Bria’s voice “Sweet Pea” emerges, and we are in a movie, the perfect voice for this type of song. The way she places her voice as she places notes on the trumpet creates miracles. This album is a cascade of beautiful surprises with a touch of poetry. It is one of the most coherent albums I have had in my hands in recent weeks. Almost every track is known and part of the popular universe, and what is fascinating is Bria Skonberg’s very personal vision for each track.

The album features a wide variety of musicians, including many current figures from the New Orleans jazz scene. In particular, the album highlights the indispensable drummer/percussionist and New Orleans legend, Herlin Riley. Skonberg had never worked with the album’s bassist, Grayson Brockamp, before this album, but she hired him on Riley’s recommendation and was immediately impressed by his ability and tasteful contributions to the layout and structure of each song. Pianist Chris Pattishall is one of Bria’s longest-standing collaborators, who uses his experience in film music in real-time to create lush soundscapes at the piano, which are wonderfully conducive for the rest of the band to improvise and rely upon. Present on guitar and banjo, Don Vappie is a giant of New Orleans, known for his steadfast leadership of the King Oliver project and steeped in the city’s musical heritage. Aurora Nealand, the soprano saxophonist heard on the opening track, is a former roommate of Skonberg from a swing festival in Stockholm. “I was amazed at how she could get so much sound out of her instruments and had mastered Sidney Bechet’s music,” says Skonberg.

Given the particularly long list, I will stop here with the description. This album is as fascinating as the image I have of New Orleans: amusing, brilliant, and from my point of view, it is also a bit of a risk for this artist known for another form of jazz. But I have no doubt that anyone who brushes against this album will be as captivated as your servant, who slides this beautiful album into the list of “Essentials.”

Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News

PARIS-MOVE, July 19th 2024

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