The faint strumming of an
acoustic guitar greets us with open arms as we wander the lush sonic landscape
of “Eu Vim Da Bahia,” the new single from up and
coming jazz singer Integriti Reeves. Her gorgeous Latin vocal is met with a
decadently melodic backdrop in this spellbinding debut, but the excesses of a
mainstream jazz sound are mostly absent from this tightly arranged composition.
Reeves is an angelic force to be reckoned with here, dishing out robust
harmonies alongside a minimalist beat that is as stirring as any of her words
are, and thanks to its erudite master mix, there isn’t a single detail in the
massively textured “Eu Vim Da Bahia” that goes
without a personal touch from behind the soundboard. The grooves are glowing,
the strings are as dreamy as a summer’s setting sun, and the voice of our star
player is a velvety slice of vocal virtuosity unlike any other that I have had
the pleasure of sampling this year.
Reeves is full of energy,
has a spunky demeanor and bubbly tone in her execution, but her style of attack
is much more conservative than that of her peers. She isn’t afraid to share the
spotlight with this excellent instrumental track in the background, and her
elegant distribution of the vocal melody is wholeheartedly avant-garde, at
least in comparison to what I’ve been spinning lately. There’s a couple of
instances where she comes close to overtaking the percussive strut with the
colorful cadence of her verses, but instead of assaulting the chorus with
unnecessary gusto, she recoils, and lets the guitars work their magic for us.
Her unselfishness in the studio makes her quite a rare find nowadays; where so
many of the modern jazz players that I’ve been following recently have embraced
cruder indulgences of the old school, Reeves is doing the exact opposite, and
appealing to a post-genre generation of jazz enthusiasts who appreciate
postmodernity as much as she does. There’s plenty of room for growth, but
there’s not a doubt in my mind that with a push in the right direction,
Integriti Reeves could be a phenomenally popular artist in and out of the jazz
world.
Chic, classy and truly one
of a kind in every way that really matters, “Eu Vim Da
Bahia” is one of my new favorite singles of the summer. Integriti Reeves
is still earning her stripes in the underground, but with a voice like hers
(and a strong talent for arranging to match), it’s hard for me to imagine her
brand remaining under the radar of mainstream audiences for very long. She’s
got the sort of skills that you just can’t teach, no matter how disciplined the
student might be. Her gifts are natural, uncompromisingly expressive, and
exploited quite well in this awesome track. If you haven’t already taken the
time out to do so, I highly recommend giving her new EP, tilted Stairway to the Stars, a listen the next
time that you’re in the market for new and intriguing Latin jazz. If you’re a
connoisseur of the genre, it’s an acquisition you won’t soon regret.
Stephen Dejong
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