Helen Sung, "Sung with Words," at Jazz Standard - New York City Article

Helen Sung: “Sung with Words”
Guest starring Cécile McLorin Salvant
Jazz Standard
116 E. 27th, (212) 576-2232
Thursday, December 13

Sung with Words, the new release by Helen Sung, is a very easy album to love. Subtitled “A Collaboration with Dana Gioa,” the pianist and composer presents a combination of her original musical compositions and new texts by the veteran wordsmith (and former head of the NEA); the end result demonstrates that although modern jazz and contemporary poetry are both frequently accused of being academic and inaccessible - and sometimes the charge actually sticks - the two forms bring out the best in each other. The jazz-and-poetry movement peaked 60 years ago with Charles Mingus, Langston Hughes, and Jack Kerouac (not to mention Ken Nordine’s Word Jazz) but rather than a revival or recreation, this is a whole new conceptualization of how the two forms might work together. In addition to Mr. Gioa’s recitations of his own words, the album features four exceptional singers, including longtime favorite Carolyn Leonhart, but, even better, the Jazz Standard show not only features Ms. Leonhart but also the celestial Cécile McLorin Salvant. In the band: trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Reuben Rogers, percussionists Kush Abadey and Samuel Torres, and saxophonist John Ellis (who plays a lovely bass clarinet part on “Lament For Kalief Browder”). Alas, I’m not currently a Grammy voter, but Sung with Words is worthy, as they say, of such consideration.

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