I hear something you can't see

Enjoy Jazz Features world-class female singers

In 2017, Michael W. Kraus, a professor of psychology at Yale University, made an interesting observation: when we listen exclusively to the person we’re talking to—that is, when we neither see nor touch them—we can gauge their emotional state most accurately. But what does that tell us about singing?

Researchers at the University of Rochester recently identified, for the first time, a group of neurons in the brain that responds almost exclusively to singing. Our brain, therefore, processes singing differently than instrumental music or speech. Humans are apparently evolutionarily programmed to glean important information from the voice—specifically, from the interplay of words with factors such as timbre, volume, and pitch. Singing, as an additional source of information, both intensifies and shifts our attention. “It moves us from the physiological to the psychological,” says physician and music educator Wolfgang Mastnak. In short: singing leads us inward. Six Voices for Eternity Souad Massi will be a guest at “ Enjoy Jazz ” for the first time—and she’ll be the opening act. The Algerian singer has been hailed for many years for her blend of Arabic and Andalusian sounds: Her “beautifully woven melodies and a clear, almost crystalline voice that breathes longing” create an irresistible sense of intimacy. In one of her most beautiful songs, “Ghir enta,” the lyrics are almost programmatic: “Let me into your thoughts.” Regarding the new album, “Sounds & Books” now writes something that is actually impossible: “On ‘Zagate,’ Massi significantly expands her sonic spectrum and thus gains even more depth.” Savina Yannatou truly possesses a voice fit for the gods. Her intensity is pure magic. The Greek singer is one of the few grand masters of a vocal art form native to the Mediterranean, in which the audience—gently enveloped by dreamlike melancholy—is guided emotionally just far enough until it can walk the rest of the way alone: the path into one’s deepest inner self, which admits no companion. Yannatou doesn’t sing songs—she sings people. In Lizz Wright’s singing, one can sense that jazz, blues, and soul share a common root: the struggle for freedom in equality. This makes the singer the “soul of the South,” as the unforgettable Rainer Köhl wrote on the occasion of her last performance at “ Enjoy Jazz .” With her “smooth, dark alto voice, whose qualities one might associate with barrel-aged bourbon or butter-soft leather,” according to the New York Times, she now returns to the place where she last wowed audiences in 2018: the Heidelberg Stadthalle.

When it comes to comparisons, you have to reach for the top shelf to do Melody Gardot justice. Drawing parallels to Joni Mitchell or Astrud Gilberto is by no means an exaggeration. She’s been on Rainer Kern’s wish list for years. This year, it finally happened. While her compositions are more at home in folk-pop, her live performances are stylishly infused with jazz elements. Music journalist Ashley Kahn therefore sees her as part of “a long vocal tradition characterized by cool composure, subdued intimacy, and self-assured femininity.” She’s just 26 years old and has already won six Grammys in three categories: Samara Joy. Her voice glides effortlessly through all registers, just as confident in scat singing as it is in delivering lyrics. Samara Joy’s artistry is already on par with that of Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan. The thought of what else is possible as more life experience is woven into this voice year after year is almost too much to bear. We’re not talking about mastery here—we’re talking about perfection. Also performing live: Elina Duni, the innovator of Balkan jazz well-known to the Enjoy Jazz audience, with her unique, multilingual, poetic musical language that even surprises her partner and guitarist Rob Luft time and again: “An incredible musical genre that none of us had ever heard of.” By the way: Elements have now been identified that occur in every form of singing, across all cultures. This means that singing is first and foremost an evolutionary phenomenon and only secondarily a cultural one. So singing is within all of us. At “ Enjoy Jazz ,” you’ll have many opportunities this year—under masterful guidance—to listen to the most beautiful sounds within yourself.