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JACQUI
NAYLOR is one
of the most captivating and innovative vocalists on the scene today.
Her albums are not easy to characterize because they always take you
on unexpected adventures with songs flavored with jazz, R&B,
soul, and pop. The prolific recording artist, singer, and composer is
now releasing her 12th album, TREASURES OF THE HEART,
comprising four re-imaginings of well-known jazz and pop standards
and 10 original compositions penned by Naylor and her husband,
pianist ART KHU, who also
wrote all the arrangements.
Naylor
is based in San Francisco and has headlined at esteemed venues and
festivals throughout the world, including Monterey Jazz Festival,
Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Vancouver Jazz Festival, London’s Ronnie
Scott’s, Berlin’s Quasimodo, Lisbon’s Jazz Palacio Baldaya, New York
and Hamburg’s Birdland, San Francisco’s SFJAZZ Center, Paris’
Sunset-Sunside, and the Blue Note in New York, Milan, and Tokyo.
Naylor
is joined on TREASURES OF THE HEART by an extremely
tight, top-notch band that has worked together for over a decade.
They include Khu, who plays piano, organ, guitar, Rhodes, and celeste. In addition
to his many music credits on 11 of Naylor’s albums, Khu has worked
with Donald Byrd, Idina Menzel, and other notable artists. He also
composed a symphony for the Oakland Symphony. Also on board is Naylor’s
long-time bass player RICHIE GOODS, who toured and recorded
with Mulgrew Miller for nine years and has worked with a who’s who of
jazz and pop artists, including Lenny White, Milt Jackson, Russell
Malone, Vincent Herring, Chris Botti, Christina Aguilera, and Whitney
Houston. Naylor,
who is known for her ability to interpret a diverse repertoire and
bring together music from different genres and generations, enlisted
two younger but very experienced players for this recording: drummer
and percussionist ELÉ HOWELL, a former student of Khu’s
whose credits include Ravi Coltrane and Christian Scott, and trumpet
and flugelhorn player ERIK JEKABSON, whose credits include Phil Woods, Benny
Golson, Brian Lynch, and Tito Puente.
During
the pandemic lockdown, Naylor and Khu kept busy writing and arranging
over 200 new songs and launched a livestreamed subscription concert
series called Home2Home. They started the series after their seven-city international tour
was canceled due
to Covid. The Home2Home series aired monthly and featured 18 mostly
original songs performed by the duo from their home studio, complete
with remote set designer, emcee, and audio engineer. Once the
pandemic restrictions ended, Naylor invited several of her Patreon members to be part of a live
Home2Home studio audience. Because she had direct contact with her
fans, online and in person, she received immediate feedback on their
favorite songs and included them on this album. The Home2Home series
is still going strong, with Naylor including broadcasts from
recording and mixing studios and remote locations. Naylor has also
used the series to invite fans into the songwriting and recording
processes.
Naylor
has been a practicing Buddhist for 30 years and took the album title
from The Three Kinds of Treasure, a letter written in 1277 by
Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk and scholar. “More valuable than
treasures in a storehouse are the treasures of the body, and the
treasures of the heart are the most valuable of all.”
Through
her original compositions and soulful interpretations of jazz and pop
songs, Naylor sets out to capture the essence of Nichiren’s message
by creating uplifting music about life’s most meaningful treasures.
The title song, “Treasures of the Heart,” a funky, soul-jazz original
penned by Naylor and Khu, summarizes the album’s theme. “I found joy
when only dark clouds came to call / I felt springtime when the
leaves began to fall / In the sunshine and the rain / In the joy
inside the pain / Joy is a treasure of the heart.”
Naylor’s
groove-based vocals and smoky sound have a subtle, intimate quality
that conveys the emotional depth of a song without resorting to vocal
pyrotechnics. She draws you in with gentle intensity on love songs
like “All That We Could Be,” “Walk Out in the Sun,” and “Love in
Springtime,” but she utilizes her powerful range on the blues and
funk of “We’ll Shine Through” and “Love’s Around.” “You’re the One
for Me” has a ‘60s Motown feel, while “Happy Adventure” gives a
joyful nod to ‘70s disco.
Naylor
and Khu wrote “Picture Book of You” for one of their fans who asked
them to write a love song for his wife. He sent them a note listing
qualities he loves about her, noting he thinks about her and their
life together in pictures. The result is this lovely, Calypso-inflected
tune with sweet lyrics like, “And though I never doubt what our love
is about / I love to reminisce / Fine art in Florence, you by waters
in spring / The day we exchanged our rings.” Even the darkest tune,
“Hold On,” which Naylor and Khu wrote for a friend suffering from
depression, has a message of hope.
Khu’s
imaginative interpretations and Naylor’s distinctive renderings of
the covers take well-known tunes and transform them. “I Didn’t Know
What Time It Was,” has an Afro-Cuban feel with layered percussion,
while “True Colors,” a pop anthem made famous by Cyndi Lauper, is
turned into a spacious, gospel-tinged love song. Naylor is known for
a technique she coined, “acoustic smashing,” where she sings the
lyrics and melody of a jazz standard over the groove of a well-known
rock anthem or vice versa. You can hear it at the end of “Lovely
Day,” where she sings some of the lyrics and melody of “Over the
Rainbow” on the outro. She sings Burt Bacharach’s “This Guy’s in Love
with You” in a classic jazz trio setting, adding a pensive turn at
the song’s end.
Jacqui
Naylor’s distinctive voice has earned her legions of fans worldwide.
She appears on all the streaming platforms, with some songs streamed
over 5 million times on Spotify alone. Her albums consistently make
exclusive "top-ten" lists, and her music has been featured
in ad campaigns, television shows, and films, including a full-length
documentary made about her. Naylor will be touring the U.S., Bahamas, Portugal,
Germany, France, Belgium, Canada, and other countries to perform the
music from the album. To the delight of her fans, TREASURES OF THE HEART is another showcase for
Naylor’s splendid, sensitive, and surprising vocals. The music is
diverse, the musicianship first-rate, and her compositions with Art Khu are
well-crafted and heartfelt.
# # #
TREASURES
OF THE HEART will
be released on April 26, 2024, available on all streaming platforms.
The album will also be available on CD, double-vinyl LP, and in Dolby
Atmos.
VIDEO
(LIVE YouTube
videos from Home2Home concerts. Recorded in the studio with a full
band for the album):
"I
Didn’t Know What Time It Was" (duo live version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-gM497e9is
"Hold
On" (trio live version for Tiny Desk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TbOHAyZKvM
ONLINE:
Jacquinaylor.com
Facebook.com/JacquiNaylorFans
@jqnaylor
(Instagram)
@jacquinaylor
(X)
Youtube.com/@JacquiNaylorMusic
Patreon.com/JacquiNaylor
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