I first wrote about Cécile McLorin Salvant back in 2013 when she released her debút album, WomanChild. Salvant has always been a singular jazz singer who reinvigorates old standards with humorous twists. Her lyrical choices have always been intriguing.

With her latest release, Oh Snap, she experiments with her own writing. Right off the opening track, “I am a volcano,” she explains over electronic pop production that she wants to be a river, but she’s volcano instead and the image she gives is fascinating: “I am a cyst, finally expressing, pressing out the pus / Red, black, fire, smoke and lust / Molten rock destroying everything.”

With “Anything but now,” she returns to post-bop singing with lyrics that many of us can relate: “I spend a lot of time thinking about doing things / Instead of doing them / I spend a lot of time thinking about saying things / Instead of saying them / Out loud, out loud, out loud.” She’s damn right we spend a lot of time ruminating instead of doing shit, yet her band swings like hell.

Over strumming guitar, she sings “Take a stone,” a folky flavor, with captivating lyrics such as: “Tomorrow morning, at the edge of a volcano / She’ll meet him with her arms open wide / His hands are broken, he used them to caress her / In places she could not begin to understand.” In my head, I am like, “WTF?”

On “What does blue mean to you?,” she swings the blues with more telling lyrics: “An emerald far in the distance / That we’ve been galloping to / Barefoot and bloody / Winded and tired and sweaty.”

With the title track, “Oh Snap,” she switches up with electronic new age, yet her lyrics remain hilarious: “Oh shit, I think you love me / I think I’ve shown you all of the cruel and nasty parts of me / But you still haven’t left, is it abject fidelity? / Or could it be that love is more than just fantasy to you?”

Over the 12 years since her debút, Salvant has gone a long way as an artist. She is willing to experiment and to step up her game. Let’s break out a bottle of Aberfeldy 21 and cheer for Oh Snap.

I had been revisiting 2pac’s catalog, particularly All Eyez On Me, in which he mentioned Thug Passion a few times. Last night, I was fiending for some Thug Passion myself. I had a bottle of Alizé Gold Passion in stock, but I didn’t have any Hennessy. I broke out a bottle of Cordon Bleu instead. One part Alizé and one part CB turned out to be a perfect mix, which was sweet and fruity, yet had a strong kick to it. 2pac used to say that a Thug Passion would guarantee to get “the dick hard and the pussy wet.” He was bullshitting. At my age, no alcohol could get me up; therefore, I just enjoyed the drink and listened to music.

I turned on Spotify and let it play whatever. A familiar song came on and I recognized the melody. It brought back the memories of hearing Nini, Hạ Vy, Vina Uyển Mi, and Quỳnh Hương lip-synced on one of Asia Entertainment’s videos. The tune was titled “The Model” and arranged in Asia’s chachacha signature style. Either my English was bad back then or their pronunciation was not clear, I didn’t understand what the fuck the ladies were singing. The version I listened to last night for the first time was perfectly clear. The female voice turned out to be Mélanie Pain. Accompanied by Olivier Libaux’s melodic guitar and Raphael Chassin’s crisp drums, Pain sings: “She’s a model and she’s looking good / I’d like to take her home, that’s understood / She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time / It only takes a camera to change her mind.”

After that song, I had to look up the album so I could listen to the whole joint. All That Matters turned out to be Libaux’s final collaboration with Pain and Chassin. Unfortunately, Libaux passed away in 2021. Libaux has a cool vibe on the guitar, which complements Pain’s soft, sensual voice perfectly.

Their rendition of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is so damn cool that you wouldn’t have imagined the original was a rock tune by The Rolling Stones. This verse sounds intriguing coming from a female perspective: “When I’m watchin’ my TV / And a man comes on to tell me / How white my shirts could be / But he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke / The same cigarettes as me.”

“Rebel Yell” is another fascinating reinterpretation. They turned the Billy Idol rock tune into a mellow ballad. I must confess. I have not listened to Billy Idol before. This is the first time I heard of “Rebel Yell” through Pain and I thought she was talking about being gang-banged by the rebels: “With a rebel yell, ‘More, more, more / More, more, more.’” It was the Thug Passion that fucked up my mind. All kidding aside, I enjoyed All That Matters immensely.

I love music. Unfortunately, I don’t play any instruments. I can’t sing either. The only thing I can do is write about it. As of this writing, I have penned 1,308 pieces on music.

When I created my personal blog in 2003, I needed content. Music was one of the topics that I was passionate about since I listened to music all the time. As someone who spent most of his time on the web and making a living off the web, I had access to music.

One of my goals for starting my own blog was to hone my writing skills. I wanted to take on the challenge of writing something I didn’t know anything about. I reviewed music without any music training and without injecting myself into the albums. I wrote about the vocals, the productions, and the techniques. Each review would take me 2 to 3 hours to write. I had to do research to find the vocabulary to convey my thoughts.

Taking a jazz appreciation course at Vassar College helped a great deal. I learned to listen to the art of improvisations. I held that technicality as standards even though I also wrote about hip-hop and Vietnamese music, in addition to jazz. Vietnamese music was where my heart was and I was very critical of trendy records with unimaginative melody and cheap lyrics.

In 2015, after 11 years of writing about music, I got burned out and called it quit. The format took too much of my time to write, but then I didn’t really quit. I wrote less reviews and my pieces were shorter. Furthermore, I only wrote what I wanted to share. I wrote for myself. When I first started, I wanted to focus on the music, but now I am doing the opposite. I put myself into the reviews.

My music writing gets more personal than before. I use the albums as a starting point to inject my own personal life into them. As I am listening to an album, I start to write in my head. Once I listen to the album long enough, I can just sit down and finish it in less than an hour. I am enjoying it more this way.

If you would like to read my music writing, head over to my blog. That’s where I post all of my writings first before sharing them on social media platforms.

Đêm nay trời lạnh ngồi nghe tiếng hát của Trang. Trong, album thứ ba của cô, có ca khúc, “Tại sao phải say.” Qua giai điệu jazz say sưa, cô hát, “Đôi khi triết lý như là whiskey / Và những câu chuyện thật đời / Dù ta là hai người khác xa / Cần thêm một chút men thôi mà, phải không?” Vậy là phải lôi chay Aberlour A’bunadh ra lai rai tiếp.

Trang có tiếng hát nhẹ nhàng với cách phát âm rất dễ chịu. Cô tự viết nhạc và có máu jazz trong mình. “Làm bạn với em” là một bài swing tươi tắn với những lời ca êm dịu nhưng cảm xúc, “Vì tình yêu chẳng mãi như lúc đầu để chung con đường mai sau / Khi giấc mơ mỗi người tìm hai hướng ngược nhau / Để rồi ta bước tiếp theo tiếng gọi của thời gian / Chẳng còn tiếc nuối, xin hãy ghé đây và nghe em hát”. Cô chẳng những hát mà còn scat nữa. “Em chỉ nhìn thấy anh” được phối theo nhịp điệu bossa nova lả lơi. Ca từ thì cũng ướt át, “Ước gì giây phút này chợt đứng yên / Để bàn tay nắm / Từng lần chạm môi / Mãi ở đây thôi”.

“Cà phê và trà sen” là một ca khúc giản dị được hòa âm theo nhịp điệu waltz dịu dàng và lời ca cũng khá là mộc mạc: “Đừng uống cà phê lúc mới ngủ dậy / Đừng uống cà phê không thôi lại say”. Nếu “Cà phê và trà sen” viết cho buổi sáng thì “Cuộc đàm phán với nỗi đau” viết cho buổi tối. Ca khúc được phối khí và dàn dựng theo phong cách bán cổ điển. Được đệm với tiếng đàn dương cầm và dàn orchestra, cô hát với tất cả con tim, “Có lần tôi nắm tay của một nỗi đau / Khi nghe rằng thương yêu tôi trao chẳng đủ để giữ chân người / Và ta bước đi cùng những hố sâu / Loang bên lồng ngực trái.”

Album được khép lại với “Điều đẹp nhất về tình yêu” mang âm hưởng bán cổ điển. Giọng của cô bay bổng trên tiếng đàn dương cầm tao nhã và dàn dây nhã nhặn. Cô để lại trong tim người nghe hai câu cuối cùng: “Cứ yên giấc trong vòng tay anh khi bình minh lần cuối / Mình vẫn sẽ tìm nhau dù ở bất cứ dòng thời gian nào”.

Đây là một album đáng được trải nghiệm Trong nội tâm với vài ly whisky, như lời Trang hát: “Phải uống thật say để ta thành thật / Phải say để rũ bỏ hết vướng bận”.

I hadn’t heard of Niia before, but I was immediately onboard when I gave her newest album, V, a spin. Right off the opening track, which titled “fucking happy,” she sweeps me off my feet. With her sexy and smoky vocals, she tells it like it is: If you see me at El Coyote with your drink / Leave me alone / These days I’m fucking happy / I deserve this / Yeah I earned it.” The jazz vibe and the big-ass beat are as forceful as her warning. She continues, “And I don’t know how long this streak will last / So don’t fuck with me.”

Niia is not to be fucked with, but then she can fuck with your mind: “Oh just touch it baby / Feels so incredible / With you deep inside me / I just wanna melt ohh.” Backing up by the thumbing bass and driving drums in “Pianos and Great Danes,” she seduces in a depressing way, “I just need it / Kill my mind / That’s good like that / Baby we can do it right now.”

Niia got the blues as well, but in her own way. I love the distorted electric guitar on “Maria in Blue.” Niia addresses her ex-lover, “You could have been the answer / You could have been my god / But now you’re just a problem / Cause my life has to go on.” She breaks down, “Don’t cry for me / Don’t feel bad / Why’s it still so hard to choose what’s right for me?” Then comes the killer bars, “The world see only beauty and pride / What fucking a haul a crawl inside this endless mall.”

With Niia’s own touch of jazz combined with hip-hop beats and electric fusion, V is fucking fantastic. I am feeling it, especially with a few glasses of Macallan Rare Cask.

In the summer of 1999, I interned at the Trump Marina. Yes, one of the casinos that Trump bankrupted. I was in the advertising department with nothing to do. My supervisor didn’t give me any work; therefore, I walked around the casino looking at the posters. I still remember a particular singer because he has a funny name. I must confess, however, I still don’t know why Boz Scaggs sounded funny to me at the time. Somehow his name is always in the back of my mind, but I had not listened to his music until recently when I came across his new album, Detour, on Spotify.

Even in his early 80s, Scaggs has such a charming voice and years of experience come through in his phrasing. In the album opener, “It’s Raining,” he sings his heart out without breaking a sweat. Accompanied by pianist Seth Asarnow, he croons, “I’ve got the blues so bad / I could hardly catch my breath.” Then he went on, “The harder it rains, the worst it gets / This is the time I’d love to be holding you tight.” I just love the way he emphasizes “you.”

“The Very Thought of You” is a Johnny Fucking Hartman tune in my book, but Scaggs brings a much different vibe to it. His interpretation is slower and he injects more emotions in his phrasing. Whereas Hartman’s version is so romantic, Scagg’s version injects some pain into it. I love how he stretches out the letter “o” in “The little o…rdinary things that everyone ought to do.”

With “Once I Loved,” the guitar holds down the bossa nova rhythm and the piano accompanies his voice. He sings with such tenderness with lines like, “Then one day from my infinite sadness / You came and brought me love again.” He means every word when he sings, “Because love is the saddest thing / When it goes away.”

I had to pour out some whisky to listen to his interpretation of the Great American Songbook. Boz Scaggs is a hell of a blues singer and his attention to the lyrics makes him a master of interpretation. I am reaching for Detour like reaching for a glass of Aberlour A’bunadh when it is too darn cold outside.

Kate Kortum is only in her early 20s and yet her voice reminds me of the great late Lena Horne, particularly her reinterpretation of “Love Me or Leave Me,” in which she sings at double time and swings like hell too. I just discovered her sophomore release, Wild Woman, and I am digging it. The album kicks off with the Cuban-flavor intro, in which Kortum welcomes listeners into the favorite corner of her mind: “The sweet and inviting sound of my voice / The sweet solitary thoughts of my mind.”

On “Lucky to Be Me,” Kortum flips the scripts on Tony Bennett and Bill Evans’ ballad. She swings hard and I love the way she sings the bridge, “I am simply thunderstruck / At this change in my luck / Knew at once I wanted you / Never dreamed you’d want me too.” With “I Feel Pretty,” she turns the “West Side Story” tune into a swing number and you can feel the sarcasm in her singing: “I feel charming / Oh, so charming / It’s alarming how charming I feel / And so pretty / That I hardly can believe I’m real.”

When not giving a new twist to old standards, she sings her own songs. “Little Lullaby Lucy” is a hypnotic piece, particularly with the dope-ass double bass tone and her sensational scatting skills. “Obsession” is another original, in which she is backed by a lust orchestra. It’s such a splendid bluesy broadway piece.

Wild Woman is a lovely jazz-singing album to be enjoyed at this time of the year. I am dealing with so much stress recently and I just can’t wait to escape to the snowy mountains to ski, ride, and listen to jazz.

Chai Hakushu 12 tôi và anh bạn thân đã cưa sạch hôm trước. Khuya nay trong bóng đêm phải khui chai Yamazaki 12 để chiêm ngưỡng với tiếng hát lyhan qua album Tâm Linh đầy màu đen. lyhan có chất giọng êm dịu và cảm xúc như chim họa mi bị thương hót trong đêm. Hơn nữa cô hát với tâm trạng trầm cảm nên cô chạm đến tôi ngay, nhất là gần đây tôi có quá nhiều phiền muộn.

Ca khúc mở đầu, “Chim hót bên trong lâu đài”, cô tâm sự: “Em từng nghĩ đến kiếp sau / Để em không còn đau đớn thêm lần nào nữa / Em chỉ muốn xa nơi đây”. Với tiếng đàn guitar mộc mạc biến đổi thành một dàn nhạc orchestra hùng hổ, nghe cô hát mà cũng muốn kết thúc kiếp này để được đến kiếp sau.

Tựa đề tình khúc “Rơi tự do” mới nghe thì lạ nhưng khi dịch sang tiếng anh thành “Free Falling” thì hợp lý. Với tiếng đàn dương cầm ấm áp, cô thú nhận: “Nếu lúc ấy em lung lay, em buông tay em từ chối những vận may / Chắc có lẽ đêm buông xuôi, em chơi vơi / Một thế giới riêng trên đời!” Cô tiếp tục chia sẻ, “Người thương em nhất / Người làm em đau nhất / Người cho em khóc / Rồi lại lau xót xa!” Người làm ta đau nhất lại là những người thân thương ta, nhất là khi họ vô tâm hay không quan tâm. Cuộc đời nhiều lúc khốn nạn vậy đó để rồi: “Rơi vào vòng tay người đan siết / Rơi vì em không còn tha thiết / Rơi cùng tình yêu dần đang chết / Em biết em đang rơi tự do.” Với những nốt cao, cô hát như chim gãy cánh rơi tự do xuống vực thẳm.

“Vật đổi sao dời” là một thất tình khúc đầy đớn đau. Cô san sẻ, “Em với tay mà không tới / Em với anh, phải chăng xa vời”? Cách dùng chữ “với” với hay nghĩa khác sau rất khéo. Đến phần điệp khúc, cô tự dối mình, “Ngày chúng ta mang theo / Hạnh phúc riêng hai người / Là lúc em quên đi ngàn nỗi đau trên đời”. Nhưng rồi cô tiết lộ, “Em lau vết thương bằng nước mắt / Em khâu trái tim bằng chiếc kim đồng hồ”. Nghe cô hát mà muốn đâm ngón tay để dùng máu viết tên cô trên tường.

Viết đùa tí cho cuộc đời nó đỡ căng thẳng thôi. Những lời nhận xét trên chỉ là cảm xúc của riêng tôi. Ca sĩ và tác giả của những ca khúc trong đây không có ý gì ngoài nghệ thuật. Dù cuộc sống đen tối, tôi vẫn rất yêu cuộc đời này như “Bóng tối yêu đời”, tiếng hát của cô bay lượn theo điệu waltz : “Một mình trong bóng đêm / Một mình thấy êm đềm / Một mình đơn côi sao ta chẳng thiết tha điều gì.” Chỉ cần một chút whisky và một sản phẩm cảm xúc để cảm nhận được những điều thú vị trên cõi đời. Cho dù tuyệt vọng, tôi vẫn phải sống và phải vượt qua vì tôi còn nợ cuộc đời và người thân quá nhiều. Chưa đến lúc tôi phải ra đi.

Tonight I have to break out a bottle of the Hakushu to celebrate Chihiro Yamanaka’s 20th anniversary with Blue Note. Apparently Ms. Yamanaka has been with the label for two decades and they put out a double-disc of her Best 2005 – 2025.

Sipping the 12-year aged whisky and listening to Ms. Yamanaka putting her magic fingers on “Maple Leaf Rag” take me back to the early days of jazz. Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” was a test piece for ragtime pianists. The tune requires technical skills of playing each hand independently together. While the left hand plays stride, the right hand plays syncopation. With Yoshi Waki on bass and John Davis on drums holding down the rhythm section, Yamanaka got her rag on.

“Hanon Twist” is another speedy piece and Yamanaka demonstrates her virtuosic dexterity. Her execution is breathtaking. “Giant Steps” is a classic jazz standard and it is interesting that she chooses to play it with an electric keyboard. I still prefer the grand piano vibe though. With The Beatles’ “Yesterday,” they give it an uptempo Bollywood flavor. Yamanaka plays the original melody to give a familiar vibe, but the real deal is when she launches into her improvisation.

As a classically trained pianist, of course, she has to include some classical pieces such as “Yagibushi” and “Liebesträume No.3.” I must confess. I don’t know much about classical music, but I am down with these types of classic-meets-jazz concoctions.

In addition to the blazing-fast pieces, the album features a handful of relaxing recordings including the intoxicating blues, “Stranger” and “You Are Too Beautiful” so I can enjoy sipping the Hakushu.

I informed my wife that one day I will travel to Japan so I can snowboard all day then kick back in the evening drinking Japanese whisky and listening to jazz all night. Of course, I would love to have her by my side.

Around this time of the year, I like to tune into jazz. On Saturday, I woke up early to drive an hour and a half to Whitetail to attend the Returning Instructor Meeting. The weather was wet and rainy. The fragrance of freshly brewed coffee permeated inside my car. I fired up Spotify and searched for the latest jazz releases. Chihiro Yamanaka’s Ooh-La-La caught my attention.

The album kicks off with an uptempo, bop-driven rendition of César Camargo Mariano’s “Curumim.” After a brief trio intro, Yamanaka launched into a virtuosic piano solo. I didn’t know who Yamanaka was, but I knew immediately that my car ride would be wonderful. With “Desafinado,” the rhythm section (John Davis on drums and Yoshi Waki on bass) keeps the Brazilian groove at a much faster pace while Yamanaka improvises on her piano, which showcases her classical chops.

With Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” the trio turns to swing, which gives the vibe of the winter holidays. With Milton Nascimento’s “Vera Cruz” Yamanaka switches to an electric keyboard for some funk-jazz flavor. Yamanaka’s embrace of versatility makes her a fascinating artist.

Not just Yamanaka, but I had listened to quite a bit of talented Japanese jazz artists including Hiromi, Keiko Matsui, and Toshiko Akiyoshi. Japan is really into jazz. I have so much for Japanese culture. They keep their traditions, but they also push forward with innovations. They take things from the West and make them their own. They have done it with whiskey, snowboarding, and, of course, jazz. They don’t cut corners. They put out quality products.

I enjoyed Ooh-La-La in its entirety. I will definitely look for more jazz albums from Chihiro Yamanaka.