Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Sasha Masakowski and Musical Playground: Wishes

187

Sasha Masakowski and Musical Playground: Wishes

Sasha Masakowski and Musical Playground: Wishes
The field of female jazz vocals is somewhat bigger than 40 acres...like, a universe bigger. So congested is the musical ether with this flavor of jazz that it is nearly impossible for an artist to carve out a useful niche. Not that a niche is necessary, but it is nice to have some unifying element or theme in a given project, something not unlike Karrin Allyson's Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane (Concord, 2001). While specifically directed in a different way, New Orleans singer Sasha Masakowski and her band, Musical Playground, achieve a tightly focused theme in Masakowski's debut, Wishes.

Masakowski's musical vision is steeped in the Gulf Rim, beginning in the humidity of the Crescent City and ending in the hotter equatorial climes of Rio de Janeiro. But the singer does not simply regurgitate the same old standards by Brazilian composers Antonio Carlos Jobim or Joao Gilberto. Masakowski makes it a point to mine more obscure veins of the music, enriching the jazz canon with otherwise little known precious gems. The singer's composing simmers and is notable for its carefully crocheted melodies, often quite lengthy and complex. Masakowski's ear for "higher" melody is keen and fully developed, as can be heard on her vocalized duet with pianist James Westfall's solo on the title piece.

But that does not mean Masakowski ignores better known songs. Her light-as-a- feather "St. James Infirmary" incorporates Brazilian influences, as well as Masakowski's special brand of delicately steamy aphorism. The singer's voice modulates from a dense mercuric fluidity to an atomized mist of breathy whisper, potent and sexy. Her Portuguese delivered on the hip-hop tinged "Canto de Ossanah" is unique in its precise abandon. Masakowski and Westfall transform vocalist/composer David Bowie's "Life on Mars" into a modern samba swaying between Portuguese and English, ancient and modern.

Masakowski makes a grand argument for "more is less," by employing spare instrumentation. Her voice is distinctive enough to demand central attention whether at full blow or sotto voce and it is laid naked here. Her material choice shows a daring disregard for the commercial mainstream and a courage to step out and do something different...very successfully.

Track Listing

Wishes; Syndrome; Canto Do Ossanha; Yours: A Love/Hate Letter To My Hometown; Theme For Falling Leaves; St. James Infirmary; Colossus; Life On Mars; Tacea La Notte Placida; Manha De Carnaval; E Preciso Perdoar; Pieces Of You.

Personnel

Sasha Masakowski: vocals; James Westfall: Fender Rhodes, piano, marimba; Jasen Weaver: bass; Julian Addison: drums; Nick Skolnick: percussion; Steve Masakowski: guitar (5, 9).

Album information

Title: Wishes | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Hypersoul

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.