| Jazz |
The Triumphant Return of La Tanya Hall: A Voice Rediscovered
In many ways, it is cause for celebration that La Tanya Hall has found her voice again, not only in the literal sense, after a long and distressing silence, but also artistically, through a new album that feels both like a resurrection and a revelation. The singer who once captivated audiences with her luminous performances alongside Steely Dan returns here in full command of her expressive powers. The result borders on perfection: one of those rare records where every interpretation feels thoughtful, inhabited, alive. Her voice, majestic yet intimate, turns each song into a royal feast, offered to listeners who, consciously or not, had been waiting for her return.
At first glance, If Not Now, When might seem like a classic jazz album. That would be a mistake. It is a work of intelligence and grace, moving fluidly between jazz, blues, and soul while creating something entirely new. Beyond Hall’s generosity as a performer lies a deeper artistic awareness: a consciousness of history and heritage that turns her music into a modern reflection on the African American musical tradition.
Produced by Michael Leonhart, the album brings together an exceptional ensemble: saxophonist Gary Bartz, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, harmonica player Grégoire Maret, bassist Gerald Cannon, drummer Mark McLean, and guitarist Marvin Sewell. Together, they form a constellation of brilliant talents. Throughout the eight tracks, Hall explores a repertoire too often overlooked, songs chosen not for their familiarity, but for their narrative strength, emotional resonance, and moral truth. The result is a deeply personal album, of rare sincerity, born from an unexpected source: the silence imposed by illness.
The Silence Before the Song
At the beginning of 2020, as the world came to a halt under the shock of the pandemic, La Tanya Hall contracted COVID-19. The illness hit her hard. It took her more than five months to recover, much of that time unable to speak, let alone sing.
“I completely lost my voice,” she recalls. “It was terrifying. Singing has always been how I communicate with the world, and suddenly, it was all gone.”
The silence wasn’t only physical; it became a space of doubt. “I started questioning everything,” she confides. “Was I ready to record again? Would the music be good enough? Would anyone still want to listen?”
It was her husband, pianist Andy Milne, who gave her the decisive push: If not now, when?
“It was a revelation,” she says. “I’ve been making music for a long time, but I realized I still had things to say.”
From that moment, Hall began to rebuild, slowly, deliberately. She chose songs that spoke of resilience, tenderness, truth. “I’ve always been drawn to hidden gems,” she says. “Songs that tell a story.” To bring them to life, she surrounded herself not only with virtuoso musicians but with collaborators she could trust completely. “I wanted people around me who would let me be vulnerable,” she explains. “People who play with passion, who leave space for the voice.”
The Alchemy of Collaboration
The ensemble Hall assembled is not merely a group of accompanists; it is a community of equals, united by a shared purpose. Bartz’s saxophone seems to lift her voice heavenward. Henderson’s trumpet punctuates her phrases like exclamations of feeling. Chestnut’s piano, by turns lyrical and meditative, anchors the whole with serene grace.
Their interaction reaches emotional heights in the stunning rendition of Long as You’re Living. Hall doesn’t just sing the song, she inhabits it. Each note seems drawn from a deep breath; each phrase feels like a rediscovery of self. The performance carries the raw power of a woman who has stared into silence and refused to surrender to it.
Throughout the album, a sense of rebirth emerges, not sentimental rebirth, but something clearer, more mature. Hall’s interpretations are acts of re-creation, grounded in her life and career experiences. Every piece, even the familiar ones, becomes new through her perspective. Ideas spark in every measure, as if she were rewriting the emotional code of each composition.
Beyond Genre, Toward Artistic Consciousness
What makes If Not Now, When remarkable is its refusal to be confined by the boundaries of jazz. Hall moves effortlessly between blues, soul, and gospel, always in service of expression rather than genre. There’s a quiet defiance here: a rejection of labels, a determination to let the music breathe freely.
Her approach places her among those artists who see music not merely as performance, but as a quest. The album unfolds like an inner dialogue, questioning, exploring, doubting, and ultimately affirming. Hall’s artistic awareness seems to guide her toward something greater than sound itself: a meditation on survival, creation, and the human voice as an instrument of truth.
A Voice Regained, a Future Reimagined
Few artists have the ability to truly claim a song as their own. Fewer still can reinvent it so completely that it feels newly written. La Tanya Hall does both. She transforms each piece into her own language, her own emotional and cultural architecture. This ability to think as deeply as she feels belongs only to the greats.
If Not Now, When is not merely a comeback album, it’s a declaration of renewal. It commands respect, yet it also invites intimacy, the kind that arises in quiet listening, between two breaths of music.
In finding her voice again, La Tanya Hall offers us more than a record; she reminds us that silence, when faced with courage and imagination, can become the source of something transcendent.
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, November 7th 2025
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Musicians :
La Tanya Hall, vocals
Cyrus Chestnut, piano
Gerald Cannon, bass
Mark McLean, drums
Mervin Sewel, guitar
Eddie Henderson, trumpett (1)
Gary Bartz, – alto saxophone, 1.2.4)
Gregoire Maret, harmonica
Track Listing :
1. Pretty Eyes
2. Cornfield
3. A Turtle’s Dream
4. Long As You’re Living Yours
5. Tender as a Rose
6. Lullabye of the Leaves
7. Azure
8. Day Dreaming