Roxana Amed: Becoming Human
Sony Music

Argentinean-American singer Roxana Amed has covered a lot of ground since her United States arrival eleven years ago and the release of her stateside debut, Ontology, in 2021. Her music received a surge in attention when the album received two nominations for a Latin Grammy and was awarded Argentina's prestigious Premio Gardel; it also paved the way for 2022's Unánime, which likewise received a Latin Grammy nod for Best Latin Jazz Album, and 2023's Los Trabajos y Las Noches, on which she collaborated with Finnish pianist Frank Carlberg. Now, with the release of her eleventh album, Becoming Human, Amed finds herself at that pivotal juncture where the full import of past experiences invites reflection in anticipation of what's ahead. While the getting of wisdom never ends, she's clearly accumulated enough to take stock of where she is. Becoming Human is thus the sound of an artist not merely accepting but embracing herself and the uniqueness of the music she makes. Never has she sounded more comfortable with herself than she does on this revealing album.

That self-assurance is evident in her songwriting, vocal execution, and confidence with which she leads her band, pianist Martin Bejerano, double bassist Edward Perez, drummer Ludwig Afonso, and Mark Small on woodwinds; trombonist Kendall Moore also sits in on three of the eleven songs. More than accompanists, Amed's partners are arrangers too, with Moore, Bejerano, and Small separately credited for arrangements on nine tracks. She's the primary songwriter, naturally, but here too she's open to collaboration, with Small and Bejerano sharing writing credits in a small number of cases. As on her earlier releases, it's Amed's voice that makes the most vivid impression. Singing in English, Spanish, and sometimes wordlessly, she lures the listener into these songs with a sensual contralto that's mature, vulnerable, and deep.

Entrancement sets in quickly when “A Prayer” inaugurates the set with sultry atmospherics and her breathy voice enveloped by the warming textures of bass, piano, horns, and cymbals. Gratitude for the gift of her birth following her mother's struggles to conceive emanates from every pore of this hushed, fragile opener (the song is later revisited in a slightly more intimate form under the title “Una Plegaria”). The playfulness and innocence of childhood are conveyed through the starry-eyed wonder of “Pequeña Voz” and the beguiling wordless musings of Small's “Un Destello.” The album turns wistful with the lustrous “Our Days of Summer” and its memories of “Running in the sun / Mornings in my eyes / Dreaming of a song so lonely” (note how directly Moore's muted trombone evokes that feeling).

A song that hits particularly hard is “Those Horses Running in the Mist” due to its high-velocity thrust and overall sense of urgency. With Afonso animating the performance with charging drums and Amed breathlessly evoking the barely controlled wildness of a racehorse, the incendiary performance stays with you long after the album's finished. Ballad-styled meditations such as “Climbing Up My Spine” and “In This Lonely Room,” by comparison, make a mark for showcasing the range of Amed's vocal artistry. Largely instrumental in design, the freewheeling “Wild”provides an excellent opportunity to appreciate the tightness of Amed's ensemble. The outright jazziest of the pieces is “Then We Built a Home,” which derives its roar from Small's tenor sax, Bejerano's insistent chords, and Afonso's muscular invention. Hearing how smoothly Amed aligns herself to the drive generated by her band impresses too.

July 2024