Fade to Black

Over 30 years into her career, vocalist Carmen Lundy is enjoying a career renaissance, one that finds her glowing with confidence on 2022s Fade to Black. Her sixteenth album and eighth released on her own Afrasia Productions label, Fade to Black is a sophisticated contemporary jazz record marked by themes of social justice, Black feminist empowerment, and a spiritual hope for the future. Joining her is an equally adept ensemble, including guitarist Andrew Renfroe, pianists Julius Rodriguez and Matthew Whitaker, bassists Kenny Davis and her brother Curtis Lundy, drummer Terreon Gully, and guests including trumpeters Wallace Roney, Jr. and Giveton Gelin and saxophonist Camille Thurman. Showcased throughout is Lundys lithe, clear-toned vocal style, in which she bends and stretches words and phrases at will like a poet, or a painter putting brush to canvas. Its an apt comparison and one that makes even more sense when you realize she also painted the picture that appears on the album cover. Theres a warm, often hypnotic quality to her singing, where she often repeats certain lines while developing her ideas over time as one might in a poem. Stylistically, Lundy touches upon shimmering modal jazz, as on the opening "Shining Light," her voice shimmering star-like over waves of piano and guitar. Elsewhere, she takes a soulful, gospel-influenced approach, as on the anthemic feminist anthem "Daughter of the Universe," in which she proclaims, "I have the power to change the world for the good/I am woman." Yet more pointed messages pop up, as on "Aint I Human," where she takes on a flurry of intersectional issues, from voting rights and racism to womens reproductive rights -- the latter specifically in light of the U.S. Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. With Fade to Black, Lundy has crafted an album of nuanced, delicately colored beauty that feels deeply personal yet always universal in scope. ~ Matt Collar