LAIRD JACKSON, Life

It makes sense that Laird Jackson’s long awaited, wildly eclectic and offbeat but emphatically triumphant return to recording is titled Life – because there’s truly nothing more life affirming than an artist following their muse in so many emotional, spiritual and stylistic directions on a single album.

The renowned alt-jazz vocalist, who released her debut album Quiet Flame 30 years ago and has been MIA (at least as a solo artist) since 2002 (Touched), makes no apologies for her extended hiatus, starting her statement with “Life happened. I didn’t stop living. I traveled. I wrote…” The good news is that in all its strange and unusual, yet charming, inviting and deeply hypnotic 15 song glory, there’s something for everyone – including old fans grateful for such an auspicious return and loads of potential new fans who are seeking something beyond the typical jazz vocal album of well-worn standards.

While Jackson closes with unique twists on familiar classics like “Tender as a Rose” (given a spin through a sparse, rock/jazz soundscape), “Wild Is the Wind” (intimate and dreamy, sweetly tinged by Gregoire Maret’s bluesy harmonica) and Richie Havens’ soulful “Follow,” Life otherwise is chock full of colorful, poetic originals drawn from a life (musical and otherwise) deeply and well lived, mostly sung but sometimes conveyed best in combination with spoken word.

Like life itself, there are dramatic twists and turns, traversing from African tinged hypno-delights like the chorale, percussive mission statement ‘I Believe” and “Suhali” to the gentle jazzy coolness of “Make A Smile for Me” and the atmospheric, expansive and nature sound filled “In the Pines” and “The River.” It’s clear that as a person and artist, Laird Jackson is living life on her own terms, and we should feel blessed that she’s returned to share re so many of the penetrating musical truths she’s experienced along her unique road.