Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Halloween Tricks from Lucy Kalantari and Pierce Freelon

All Hallow's Eve is the perfect time to add spooky to these scary times. Grammy winners Lucy Kalantari and the Jazz Cats have added their jazzy take on October's vaunted holiday with the jazz-infused "Haunting Days of Halloween." 

Are authentic, supernatural creatures walking among us, hiding, pretending to be human, not just politicians? Lucy speculates what if, on the days leading to Halloween, these beings got to be just as they are? As the song posits:

All the creatures you know
Have been walking with you hiding under your nose
But now now now now 
It’s time time time 
To be free!

Halloween is that time of year when monsters walk among men (and costumed children). Lucy sings from the vantage point of the ghouls, jazzed at being able to dance, unconstrained by their physical (or corporeal) appearance. Her orchestrated blend of classical (Libby Weitnauer plays violin) and jazz play over a swinging, nay hypnotizing, beat. Grab "Haunted Days of Halloween" from Lucy's websiteApple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

Here is the video link for "Haunted Days of Halloween":

Multi-hypenate Pierce Freelon has tasked himself to deconstruct the experience of being a Black millennial father living in the South with the D.a.D. project. The accompanying CD incorporated hip hop with clips of his two children to create an engaging, relatable aural trek, D.a.D, which touched on universal concerns that cut across the racial, societal, and generational spectrum. Pierce chronicles the commonality of raising children, delivering messages of encouragement, positivity, and creativity.

For the holiday season, Pierce and his 10-year-old daughter Stella are presenting "Zombi," a pandemic Halloween anthem. Stuck at home (so she doesn't catch COVID cooties), Stella feels like a zombie, in an all-ages song about social distancing during spooky times. Hear Stella and Pierce Freelon's "Zombi" at Soundcloud, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube (below):

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