Nicole Zuraitis - How Love Begins (2023)

It's not the first time I listen to an album with pleasure, on the cover of which the name Nicole Zureitis appears. A very strong American vocalist, who is currently in the top group of jazz singers, has released a new album, which is certainly a milestone on her creative path. The fact is that for the first time, Nicole managed to work on How Love Begins with such a bright personality as Christian McBride. They have known each other for a long time and highly appreciate each other's work, but whimsical work schedules have only now given them the opportunity to meet in one project. Christian not only participated in the recording of the album as a bassist, but also co-produced the project as a whole. Of the other participants in the recording, one cannot fail to mention the very strong Israeli guitarist Gilad Gekselman, and, of course, the constant participant in all projects of Nicole, her husband, also an Israeli, drummer Dan Pugach.

The theme of the new album is familiar to Nicole Zureitis: she always sings mostly love songs, but this time the approach to the theme is very original. The program of ten compositions is divided into two equal parts: the first is conditionally called “Oil”, the second is “Water”, the first is dedicated to happy moments of love, a magical feeling that connects lovers, but the second is different versions of the end of love, a painful and traumatic break. Why such strange names, what is the connection? Zureitis came to them after attending an exhibition of Spanish photographer Daniel Beltr's called "Spill": "When I learned that the stunning works of art, with their whirlwind of colors and perfectly matched hues, were actually aerial photographs of the most devastating oil spill in history, my heart trembled . There is an irony here. Just like love that ends too soon, the common thread is that some of the most beautiful things in life can also be the most heartbreaking." These are the associations that led to the dualistic concept of the album, reflected in the lyrics.

To be honest, I liked the first, “light” part of the album more. I was very impressed by the opening “percussive” composition The Good Ways, where Nicole immediately showed all the great possibilities of her voice under a regular rhythm, a slightly bluesy mood and organ parts from Maya Kronfeld. Zureitis herself wrote the lyrics to the beautiful arrangement of Debussy's Reverie, and in this track Gekselman loudly announced himself in the guitar solo. In general, I would call Burn the best track in the program: Nicole's voice smoothly rises up and falls down to the sensitive accompaniment of McBride, and closer to the finale, another brilliant solo is given out by Gekselman. The bitter lines of the songs of the second part of the album are compensated by the cautious optimism of the final composition The Garden, which speaks of a never-dying hope.

The lyrics of Zureitis, perhaps, have never been so poignant, and her talent as a vocalist is still bright and attractive. A very worthy work, and Christian McBride is right in predicting Nicole's even greater prosperity. How Love Begins gives every reason for such predictions.