| Jazz |
“Blessed & Bewitched”: Maja Jaku finds her voice between tradition and self-discovery.
In many ways, Blessed & Bewitched feels like the kind of album that might have arrived in the late 1980s or early ’90s, a period when jazz singers often sought a delicate balance between reverence for tradition and a hunger for personal reinvention. To be clear, this is not a revolutionary record, nor does it pretend to be. Instead, it is a work of fine craftsmanship, a collection that leans into the familiar textures of that era while weaving in elements of mysticism, longing, and romance.
Maja Jaku, the Montenegrin-born vocalist at the heart of the project, inhabits this space with grace. Her voice, singular in timbre and shaded with a hushed intensity, draws listeners into a private world. Yet one cannot help but feel a tinge of regret at her decision to include several well-known standards rather than relying solely on her own compositions. Given the originality of her instrument, one imagines how compelling a fully personal statement might have been. Perhaps that will come next time.
Jaku’s path into jazz was shaped by both inheritance and discipline. Raised in a household where music was omnipresent, her father was a trumpet player, she later pursued studies at the Conservatory of Graz, where she came under the tutelage of jazz legends like Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Andy Bey, and Jay Clayton. That education, steeped in both technical mastery and the art of storytelling, informs every phrase she sings.
Encouraged by drummer Johnathan Blake, Jaku assembled an all-star ensemble for her fifth album, recording in New York with Blake himself, bassist Dezron Douglas, pianist Alan Bartuš, and trumpeter Michael Rodriguez. Musically speaking, the result is a feast. Each player is given room to breathe, offering solos of elegance and fire that elevate the record far beyond the framework of a simple vocal showcase.
What emerges is not unlike the work of today’s most intriguing jazz singers, artists who stretch the definition of what it means to carry a tradition forward. Cécile McLorin Salvant, for example, has redefined the standard songbook with a blend of theatricality and scholarship, while Gretchen Parlato has made intimacy her signature, drawing listeners into songs that feel almost whispered in confidence. Veronica Swift, meanwhile, brings a fearless eclecticism, mixing hard-swinging standards with bold genre-crossing experiments. Jaku does not yet stand fully in their company, but Blessed & Bewitched places her on a similar trajectory: a singer seeking the balance between reverence and individuality.
The true magic occurs when Jaku allows herself to step away from pure technique and embrace the vulnerability of interpretation. In those moments, she becomes less a student of the tradition and more an artist telling her own story. That tension, between discipline and abandon, between polish and raw feeling, animates nearly every track on Blessed & Bewitched.
There is also the subtle challenge of singing in a language not one’s own. It is often in the smallest inflections, the slightest turn of phrase, that an artist’s sincerity is tested. Jaku meets this challenge with quiet conviction, and it is precisely in those fragile details that her success becomes most apparent.
If Blessed & Bewitched does not break new ground, it nonetheless affirms Maja Jaku as a voice worth following. She stands at the threshold of something larger, poised between tradition and the possibility of a fully personal statement. And that next step, when it comes, may well be the album that moves her from promising artist to indispensable one.
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, September 24th 2025
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Performers:
Maja Jaku – vocals
Michael Rodriguez – trumpet
Alan Bartuš – piano
Dezron Douglas – bass
Johnathan Blake – drums
Adrian Varady – drums/percussion (3)
Track Listing:
1 The Witch 7:05
2 I’m a Queen 7:28
3 Lonely Little Fox 4:50
4 Blessing Will Come 7:02
5 Never Let Me Go 5:25
6 Rituals 3:54
7 Everything Must Change 5:00
Music by:
(1) Adrian Varady & Maja Jaku; (3) Varady; (2,4) Jaku & Saša Mutić; (5) Livingston/ Evans; (6) Mutić; (7) Bernard Ighner
Production Info:
Produced by Maja Jaku & Adrian Varady
Recorded February 19-20, 2025 by Alex Conroy at The Bunker Studio, Brooklyn, NY
Mixed & mastered by Vlado Dzihan at Milkshop Mastering, Vienna, Austria
Maja photo by Seva Mazurika
Cover design & layout by John Bishop