Title - Javon & Nikki Go To The Movies
Artist - Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni
For those not in the know, another collaboration between Javon Jackson and Nikki Giovanni has produced a new album, Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies, which will be released on August 23rd, 2024.
Jackson and Giovanni have forged an artistic partnership that all started at UHart. Since bonding together over their connection to jazz during the University of Hartford’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Observance in 2020, the pair came full circle releasing their first two years later during Black History Month 2022, entitled The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni.
Their relationship over the years have only deepened, as well as their shared interests. One of them is American Cinema, as directly referenced in latest album’s title. The album selects some of Giovanni’s favorites - standards from the Great American Songbook, many of them originally composed for Hollywood classics — as well as some of Jackson’s own compositions.
On Javon and Nikki Go To The Movies, Jackson is once again joined by longtime musicians he’s worked with for more than a decade. They include pianist Jeremy Manasia, bassist David Williams and drummer McClenty Hunter.
These musicians have appeared on Jackson’s 2018 album For You and its 2020 follow-up, Déjà Vu, then after The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni, they reconvened for a portion of Jackson’s soundtrack to the documentary With Peter Bradley in 2023. On their latest album, they’re also joined by Grammy-winning vocalist Nicole Zuraitis.
1. When the Time Is Right
2. Speak Low/That Day
3. How About You
4. Theme For Nikki
5. I Belong To You
6. Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
7. The Nearness of You
8. Valse Hot
9. The Folks Who Live on the Hill
10. Have You Heard/Vegetable Soup
This vibrantly melodious new recording opens on the spirited When the Time Is Right and then brings us the low slung splendor of Speak Low/That Day, then Nicole Zuraitis brings her compelling vocals to an exhilarating How About You, before we are brought the aptly-cinematic Theme For Nikki (Jackson’s tribute to his collaborator), and again Nicole comes to the vocal fore on the languishing ballad I Belong To You.
Along next is the silky smooth Love is a Many-Splendored Thing and an achingly ornate The Nearness of You, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the gentle finger-snapper Valse Hot, the album rounding out on the luxuriant, Nicole-sung, wistful The Folks Who Live on the Hill, closing on her mature reflection, along with that of Nikki Giovanni, on the combined Have You Heard/Vegetable Soup.
www.javonjackson.com