Gwen Hughes - In The Garden: Jazz Hymns for Easter (2024)

Gwen Hughes is an American jazz singer, songwriter and actress. Primarily based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, she has developed a fan base both regionally and abroad with her jazz-flavored ensembles, including "The Retro Jazz Kats," "The Continental Dance Orchestra," and the European-based "Mono" (also known as "The Global Jazz Gang").

As Grady Harp writes on Amazon Music: “Not only does Gwen Hughes have an exceptional voice by anybody’s standards, but she surpasses that magnificent gift with the manner in which she makes her terrific songs communicate.”

“I love to write songs,” says Gwen, “but my favorite challenge is taking a song everyone knows one way and presenting it another way, deconstructing, rebuilding it.” Her new releases, the "Jazz Hymn" projects, showcase this desire to reinvent church hymns in the jazz framework. The hymns become bossa novas (“This is My Father’s World” ; In the Garden: Jazz Hymns for Easter), uptempo swing like “Now Thank We All Our God” (We Gather Together: Jazz Hymns for Thanksgiving) and even a surprising vocal-upright bass duet on “Doxology” (also Thanksgiving).

Tracklist:
1.01 - Gwen Hughes - (Christ The Lord Is) Risen Today (2:25)
1.02 - Gwen Hughes - This is My Father’s World (2:57)
1.03 - Gwen Hughes - The Beautiful Garden of Prayer (3:43)
1.04 - Gwen Hughes - Welcome, Happy Morning (1:21)
1.05 - Gwen Hughes - We Plow the Fields (2:35)
1.06 - Gwen Hughes - There Shall Be Showers of Blessings (2:00)
1.07 - Gwen Hughes - In the Garden (3:38)
1.08 - Gwen Hughes - Wonderful Words of Life (2:17)
1.09 - Gwen Hughes - The Easter Bunny Song (2:33)