Nana Simopoulos – SKINS: I must offer up a challenge to you… I doubt you’ll be able to meet it, but try and find a more exciting and refreshing jazz set than Nana offers up on this June 2016 release. As you listen to the simply titled “Inside“, you’ll realize I’m right… she is somehow able to magically meld jazz with shades of New Age, World and other great music. This is her seventh album, so it’s hard for me to reconcile why I haven’t reviewed her work before… at any rate, I’ve already spun through this disc 12 times, and still find something new and enchanting on each and every ’round.
Nana’s vocal weave on “The Pathway“, as well as the message she conveys, is bound to enchant your ears, and she does it without even a hint of “pandering”… many artists who try to blend jazz with other forms of music tend to overdo it, so that what you wind up listening to is not at all what you need… she makes it truly easy to fall back in love with the essence of you on this great song.
She travels with the true jazz stars as well, as evidenced by the fact that she has saxophone master Dave Liebman, and you’ll get to hear his reeds rolling along most jubilantly on my personal favorite of the eight tunes offered up, “For No Reason“; what a rousing jazz piece, and Nana plays the scorching jazz guitar lead on this one, as well. Any way you listen to it, this album is a winner, & will be a jazz classic… I give Nana and her guests a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, as well as an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of 4.98 for this great release. You can get more information about her splendid work at Nana’s website. Rotcod Zzaj
