JazzKLUB / Samora Pinderhughes Quintet / Delicacy with a Steel Core

Performers:
Samora Pinderhughes - piano, vocals
Elliott Skinner - guitar, vocals
Rafiq Bhatia - guitar
Joshua Crumbly - bass
Jonathan Pinson - drums

"I cry, I sob like you. Sometimes I bleed, I fight, I struggle. I have fire deep in my belly. I hold the world. I'll join you in the chorus" - among the most compelling songwriters in contemporary jazz, Samora Pinderhughes ranks very high. Labor unions, mortgages, poverty, psychological exhaustion, and violence - these are not typical subjects for jazz songs. His lyrics are sharp and uncompromising; hip-hop references are familiar to him, but they lack the raw fury of the American street.

The message is carefully crafted and fits into the great jazz tradition of social engagement - from Billie Holiday through Nina Simone to Esperanza Spalding. With his captivating vocal tone and refined musical sensibility, Pinderhughes draws listeners into his world, then shows them real life. As a DownBeat reviewer aptly put it, his music is "delicacy with a steel core".

Tomasz Gregorczyk