Bria Skonberg is a native of Chilliwack, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, but she’s currently a rising star on the New York jazz scene and at festivals everywhere. She’s best known as a trumpeter playing traditional jazz, but recently she has branched out, adding world-influenced percussion, and now on her new album Into Your Own she is focusing more on her singing than her horn, although both are heard on all 12 tracks. Her official bio says her first public appearance was as a singer who also played trumpet, so she’s going back to her roots in a way.
And this is rootsy music, no matter how modern and pop some of it sounds. My favorites are the second track, which combines the pop standard song “Three Little Words” with a New Orleans/hip hop arrangement of Steve Wonder’s “Sir Duke”; and the final track “Go Tell It.” It’s another New Orleans-influenced arrangement with a gospel backbone and Skonberg’s trumpet run through effects pedals.
“Little Girl” puts Cuban rhythms to a piano-heavy pop song; “Let’s Go All In” is a slinky love song with straight-ahead accompaniment, Sean Cronin’s bass standing out; the trad-jazz “Six More Weeks” swings with Basin Street panache, Adrian Cunningham adding slinky clarinet licks; “Why Do You Do?” is pure acoustic cool jazz, Skonberg singing all the vocals, including three-part harmonies. Her effects-laden horn (and vocals) really wail on a cover of Jelly Roll Morton’s “Winin’ Boy Blues,” and she does a credible cover of John Lennon’s “Julia.”
Phrases like “deeply eclectic” are tossed around by the writers of music publicity, but in Skonberg’s case they’re entirely appropriate. It’s easy to see why she’s such a hit with festival- and club-goers.
(Random Act, 2014)
