| Smooth Jazz |
A Yamaha artist releasing her second album on the prestigious Shanachie label, Kayla Waters might have been expected to take bold artistic risks this time around. Yet, in the often-delicate world of smooth jazz, being a leader is no easy task. It takes patience, strategy, and the wisdom to strengthen one’s foundation before stepping into uncharted territory. Still, for an artist who has shared the stage with legends such as Stevie Wonder and Patrice Rushen, as well as R&B luminaries Marsha Ambrosius and Corinne Bailey Rae, it’s clear that Waters is refining a vision that extends beyond instrumental mastery. The tracks on her new project seem almost designed for vocalists, a choice that, while musically elegant, leaves the listener longing for the human voice that the compositions seem to call for. Yet the arrangements themselves are lush, layered, and technically stunning.
Faith, for Kayla Waters, is not a peripheral theme, it’s the axis of her creative process. “My faith and my music are inseparable! God speaks to me through nature, and He whispers gently through the music I’ve been blessed to write,” she says. That level of conviction comes only through time spent in prayer and quiet reflection. “I’m grateful for this fruitful work, and I pray to continue inspiring others who wish to weave their faith into their art.” Her devotion has yielded results that are rare in the jazz world: Waters became the first female jazz pianist to top the jazz charts for six consecutive weeks, and she has scored five Billboard No. 1 singles. “I’ve been blessed to carve out my place as a fully realized artist in this field,” she reflects.
Such spiritual and commercial success is uncommon in today’s jazz landscape, where few make the Billboard charts, except, perhaps, those working within the more accessible realms of smooth jazz. Waters’s sound evokes the refined warmth of Michael Franks’s finest productions, where rhythmic subtlety meets soul-infused elegance and a touch of funk. Like Franks, Waters knows how to layer her music with those delicate background textures, the small, nearly hidden details that give a piece its depth and emotional contour.
Deeply inspired by nature, “Anew”, her fourth album as a leader and her second release for Shanachie Entertainment, unfolds as a shimmering, heartfelt soundscape. Across eleven original compositions, Waters takes listeners on a journey through breathtaking African safaris and across glacial Icelandic peaks, all resonating with gratitude and love. “It’s a musically rich voyage that captures the essence of who I am,” she says. Her singular blend of jazz, classical, and soul elements feels divinely balanced, an “elixir,” as she calls it, distilled from all that moves her. The album opens with its buoyant first single, “Lush,” a radiant, percussive number that showcases both her compositional flair and her gift for improvisation.
One can’t help but imagine what might happen if Waters invited a few singers into her world, perhaps Michael Franks himself, or Michael Mayo, Ledisi, Michelle Lordi, Carmen Souza, Dara Starr Tucker, Kandace Springs, even Mindi Abair in a saxophone-piano duet. The possibilities are endless, and the thought underscores a sense that *Anew* is but a prelude, a glimpse of an artist whose full scope is still unfolding. For now, this is an album to savor, with the certainty that Kayla Waters is only beginning to show us the depth of her brilliance.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, October 18th 2025
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Musician:
Kayla Waters, composer and keybords
Track Listing :
1. Lush
2. Obedience
3. Bountiful
4. Snowy Fjords
5. Lofty Chambers
6. Kayla’s Key
7. Luminous Love
8. Fragrant Faith
9. The Baobab Tree
10. Sweet Like Honey
11. Anew