Synia Carroll - Water Is My Song (2024)

Carroll opens the album with a swinging version of “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” featuring the esteemed tenor saxophonist Houston Person. Carroll co-wrote “Child of the Times” with pianist Jane Getz. The song blends jazz with a folk sensibility. Carroll reconnects with her heritage on the traditional, Afro-American spiritual, “Wade in the Water.” She dedicates the song to her son and daughter, and to her late, beloved sister. She begins the song reciting a poem she wrote in which she says, “Rhythmic ebb and flow reveal again / Who I am and have always been.” Carroll’s silken voice shines on “How Deep is the Ocean,” which she sings as a duet with Davis on bass. “Learning How to Fly” is a Latin-inflected song written by vocalist Patty Cathcart Andress of Tuck and Patty fame. Carroll played the song, which is about letting go of your fears, for a dying friend who found great comfort in its message. Carroll loves the Afro-Cuban sensibility and arranged “Afro Blue” with background vocals and chants by Hernandez and Oquendo. “Alfonsina Y El Mar” was composed by Argentine pianist Ariel Ramírez and written by Argentine writer Félix Luna. It was first released as part of Mercedes Sosa's 1969 album Mujeres Argentinas. The song is a tribute to Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni, who committed suicide in 1938 by jumping into the sea rather than dying slowly from the breast cancer that ravaged her body. Carroll has always been a big fan of the Beatles, learning to play their music on guitar when she was very young. She performs a moody version of their song “Norwegian Wood.” Carroll sings a bluesy version of “Willow Weep for Me,” featuring Houston Person. She closes the album with “The Water is Wide,” a traditional Scottish folk song that Carroll transforms into a soulful, even-eighths jazz tune featuring Galison’s soulful harmonica.

A regular on the South Florida jazz scene, she has earned a reputation as a “rising star,“ performing at the Sarasota Jazz Festival, the Suncoast Jazz Festival, and the St. Petersburg Jazz Festival. She is a frequent guest of the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association, and she received the “Maestro” award for her autobiographical show "Finding Sassy" at the 2019 Sarasota Festival. Her tribute to Nina Simone at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg was a sellout. For Synia Carroll, the heart of a song is the story it tells. She approaches lyrics like an actor creating a fully realized persona. Her voice is satiny and with top musicians like Di Martino and Person, WATER IS MY SONG is an eminently satisfying album for fans of superb vocal jazz.

Synia Carroll - vocals
John Di Martino - piano
Kenny Davis - bass
Jerome Jennings - drums

Cafe - percussion *(tracks 5 &6)
Will Galison - harmonica (track 10)
Aaron Heick - reeds (tracks 2,3,6 & 8)
Beatriz Hernandez - background vocals (track 6)
Westey Lima De Amorim - guitar (tracks 2, 5, 6 &8)
David Oquendo - vocals & chants (tracks 3 & 6)
Houston Person - tenor sax (tracks 1 & 9)