Bria Skonberg: What It Means

On her first album in five years, trumpeter Bria Skonberg returns with a new sense of maturity and purpose in her music. She continues her usual style of mixing traditional jazz and soulful vocals with classic jazz and rock motifs, but this outing feels more confident than previous albums. Two changes in her life probably contributed to this. She moved to New Orleans, becoming part of that city's vast music scene, and she became a parent for the first time.

Skonberg does a few classic New Orleans tunes on this album, some kept firmly in the tradition and others mashed up with other genres. She leads a sassy run-through of "Cornet Chop Suey" and sings "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans" with a sentimental intimacy that brings Peggy Lee to mind. Her original tune, "Elbow Bump," shows how adept she has become at playing and writing sweaty New Orleans parade funk. Other familiar tunes are subject to her inventive brand of rearrangement. "Comes Love" starts as a honky-tonk slow drag and develops into torrid Latin jazz. Sidney Bechet's classic "Petite Fleur" gets a rude update by being paired with the slinky rhythm of "Harlem Nocturne." On that one, a trombone and bass clarinet background give an added punch to Skonberg's broad trumpet.

Elsewhere Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On" is set to the nasty funk twist of Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" and Van Morrison's "Days Like This" becomes a romping second-line vocal duet for Skonberg and guest Gabrielle Cavassa. Throughout the album, the leader sings with more warmth and nuance than ever before. This is most noticeable on the two numbers probably recorded with her new son in mind, John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" and the closing "Lullabye," a medley of Billy Joel's "Goodnight, My Angel" and Thad Jones's "A Child Is Born." The delicacy and love heard in these selections contribute to the sense of place and rootedness which permeates this album. This music is sometimes brash and inventive, as Skonberg's work often is, but here it is infused with more heart. This feels like an intimate celebration of the simple joys of home and neighborhood. As the title says, Bria Skonberg shows what it all means to her on this album.

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