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Sidney Jacobs "If I were Your Woman"

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    Posted: 23 Jun 2022 at 8:55pm
JAZZ, SOUL & R&B VOCALIST SIDNEY JACOBS
RELEASES SECOND ALBUM
IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN
Available June 10, 2022

Many people will undoubtedly think that IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN is an attention-grabbing and curious title for an album by a male singer, but vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer SIDNEY JACOBS is an exciting performer who likes to experiment and is not afraid to take chances. On IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN, he lends his rich, baritone voice to straight-ahead and R&B-inflected jazz tunes that are usually sung by or identified with women. The songs are a daring mix of standards, Jacobs’ originals, and pop/R&B songs.
 
IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN is Jacobs’ second album. It follows First Man, which rose to 34 on the JazzWeek chart and received many accolades, including an honorable mention by Ted Gioia as one of the best CDs of 2017.
 
Jacobs grew up in Los Angeles in a house filled with music. His father was a well-known radio and television news reporter who had once been a gospel radio disc jockey and professional singer. Growing up, Jacobs listened to classical music, Negro spirituals, gospel music, and a lot of jazz and soul, especially Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker, Weather Report, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye. He first began singing in the church choir as a child, and he began writing music at the age of fourteen. It was around this same time he first heard a young Al Jarreau singing “Look to The Rainbow.” Jacobs was struck by his creativity, control, and improvisatory chops. This was a peak experience for Jacobs and revealed to him that he could choose other ways to sing and create music.
 
When he was 18 years old, Jacobs became a principal singer with the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers, traveling throughout the United States, Europe and Central America, singing the music of Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and William Dawson. He attended California Lutheran University on a classical vocal scholarship, where he worked on developing the classical and operatic aspects of his voice, all while singing pop, R&B and jazz in local bands at night.
 
Because Jacobs had a wife and family to support, he went on to earn two Master’s Degrees, one in Clinical Psychology the other in Educational Psychology. His highly empathetic nature has shaped his art and led to his long and distinguished career as a school psychologist. 
 
Jacobs’ talents soon took him in a wholly unanticipated direction when in 2018 he was invited to join The 5th Dimension, the iconic, chart-topping group of the 1970-80’s. The 5th Dimension have crossed musical boundaries for 50 years and they understood Jacobs’ need to pursue his solo performing and writing career while touring with the band.
 
The concept for IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN grew from one of Jacobs’ live performances. Just for fun, he decided to sing a Nnenna Freelon arrangement of “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story. The audience loved it. Judging by their reaction, his wife gave him the idea that it might be interesting to record a whole album that shines a new light on female-oriented songs. As he began exploring this theme, Jacobs says, “I wanted to create a different listening experience and find songs that had personal relevance to me and songs that marked some very specific times in my life.
 
As a composer and arranger, Jacobs’ music has a syncopated, polyrhythmic feel underlying richly constructed harmonies. There is a hint of gospel, classical, soul, folk, and R&B in his music and it is cohesive and seamless. As a singer, Jacobs has fluid control of dynamics and phrasing, and he finds the emotional center every time.
 
Jacobs is highly regarded by West Coast jazz musicians, and he brought on board some wonderfully creative and sensitive players with GENE COYE (drums), SOLOMON DORSEY (electric and acoustic bass), JOSH JOHNSON (alto sax and flute) CHRIS LAWRENCE (trumpet), JOSH NELSON (piano and keyboards), GREG POREE (acoustic guitar), NOLAN SHAHEED (trumpet and flugelhorn), JOAKIM TOFTGARD (trombone), RICKEY WOODARD (tenor sax), and MUNYUNGO JACKSON (percussion). RON FEUER, the music director for The 5th Dimension, co-produced this album and plays additional keyboards. Jacobs provided all vocals and additional keyboards and percussion.
 
To add different textures, Jacobs composed brief soundscapes that are interspersed throughout the album. The opening song, “We All…” is an all-vocal multi-layered soundscape invoking a memory Jacobs had while traveling in Thailand, sitting on a cabin deck and listening to the Islamic call to prayer echo off the mountains behind him. The full title of the song is “We All…Know…A Little Bit…” The composition is broken up into three small movements that appear throughout the album.
 
Jacobs covers two standards including “On A Clear Day,” which has particular resonance for him because he actually stumbled upon Barbra Streisand singing it as it was being filmed outdoors in 1970. The other standard is the hard swinging “I Feel Pretty.”
 
Jacobs delves into R&B with his re-imaginings of “If I Were Your Woman,” made famous by Gladys Knight and the Pips;  “Until You Come Back to Me,” released by Aretha Franklin in 1973; “Facts,” performed by R&B singer H.E.R.; the wonderfully sensitive ballad “Like A Star,” written and performed by British singer and multiple Grammy-winner Corinne Bailey Rae“I’m Coming Back,” by Gary Taylor and performed by Lalah Hathaway; and “Been So Long,” written and performed by Anita Baker in 1986.
 
Jacobs rounds out these songs with his own music. “Weave The Tale” is a tour de force of scatting, melody and rhythm; a wordless meandering through a be-bop playground. Jacobs trades lines with Rickey Woodard and Josh Nelson. Gene Coye on drums is a creative waterfall, and Solomon Dorsey holds down the bass while also jumping up to melody in swinging fashion.
 
“Light,” a song inspired by words from his mother, finds Jacobs penning a full ensemble arrangement in big band fashion. He explores the resilience he learned from his family. It’s an uplifting ‘let’s take the scenic route’ type of driving song.
 
Although men have covered songs performed by and for women, few have conceived of an entire project that creates a new spin. This album surprises from beginning to end. The entire album hangs together beautifully with Jacobs’ smart interpretations and musical sensibilities. It takes an artist with the sense of daring, emotional maturity, and chops of Sidney Jacobs to pull it off so convincingly.
 
IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN was released on all digital platforms on June 10, 2022.

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