SOCIAL ANTHEMS, VOLUME 1

For her 14th album, the Los Angeles-born jazz singer Cathy Segal-Garcia took a look back at the past and rearranged and interpreted unforgettable songs with social content. With Anthony Wilson on guitar, Josh Nelson on piano, Lorca Hart on drums, Edwin Livingston on bass and the two singers Paul Jost and Mon David, Segal-Garcia has brought in selected top musicians. Stephen Stills' protest anthem from the 1960s "For What It's Worth" opens the album. The sparse instrumentation leaves a lot of space for Segal-Garcia's voice. She sings hard, vulnerable and with great emotional depth. "And So It Goes", the eerily sad love song by Billy Joel, Segal-Garcia and Paul Jost create a dialogue, she with sensitive singing, he with a low, rough voice. Marvin Gaye's "Save the Children" forms the final point of the album. Here comes the second voice of Mon David, who with his improvised spoken chant turns the nine-minute song into a haunting appeal to protect the children of our world. A strong album, full of feeling and brand new in its message.