SOUNDTRACK: JAZMINE SULLIVAN-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #132 (January 8, 2021).
I know Jazmine Sullivan from a previous NPR set from 2014. I hadn’t heard anything from her since then. The blurb says
We don’t see or hear much from Jazmine Sullivan until she has something to get off her chest. She drops a body of work every five years or so, shakes up the world of R&B with each offering, then quietly goes back to minding her own business.
That’s pretty awesome.
Her latest project, Heaux Tales, is a bold and timely conversation piece addressing truths regarding relationships, sex, social norms, self-worth and a myriad of other topics that women grapple with. Each song is masterfully connected to another through unique yet familiar testimonies by women from all walks of life.
Sullivan’s set is five songs in nearly twenty minutes.
The singer-songwriter, draped in a trench coat while her band sports all black, are nestled in the corner of a dimly lit space resembling a cabaret.
She starts her Tiny Desk (home) concert with three extended and reworked selections from Heaux Tales,
“Bodies (Intro)” is jazzy an old-fashioned sounding with prominent piano from Eric Wortham and gently echoed guitars from Simon Martinez. But it’s got very non-old-fashioned lyrics. The end even has her scatting and crooning and there’s some wild drum fills from Dave Watson.
“The Other Side” features prominent bass from Jermaine Blandford and piano open this set. It’s got a really nice catchy chorus. The backing singers (Alisa Joe, Natalie Curtis and Ayana George vocals arranged according to height) add really nice harmonies and at the end they do a nice vocal fugue. The song ends with a smooth bass riff.
“Lost One” is the first single from this project although I think the other two songs are much catchier.
“Let It Burn” a blast from the past and
thee fan favorite from 2015’s Reality Show,
For the last song, “Girl Like Me, she invites Tiny Desk alum H.E.R. to the stage to close. H.E.R. plays a delicate acoustic guitar. The song is just guitar and bass until about half way through when the rest of the band joins in. I liked this song least because there was a lot of vocals acrobatics that i did not care for–something that it seems like Sullivan doesn’t do much. The graphic lyrics with the gentle acoustic guitar was a nice contrast though.
[READ: February 21, 2021] “My Mother”
Like Nadine Gordimer, Amy Tan had a “memory” in this issue as well.
Unlike Nadine, this memory was concrete and very poignant.
She says that when she was sixteen she said some hateful things to her mother, including “I hate you, I wish I were dead.” Her mother replied, “Okay maybe I die, then I no longer be your mother.”
They would not speak to each other for days after fights like this.
A Couple of years ago when Amy was 47 and she was already a successful writer, she was writing a story about a girl and her mother when the phone rang.
Her mother had been suffering from Alzheimer’s and had forgotten where she lived and even how to use the phone. And yet she called Amy. She said “Something is wrong with my mind I think I’m going crazy.” She said she can’t remember what she did yesterday or a long time ago.
Finally she said, “I know I did something to hurt you. But I can’t remember what.”
Any tried to reassure her mother, which seemed to work
She hung up and cried tears of joy and sadness.
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