Love in its many forms is the inspiration behind singer-songwriter-guitarist Jana Herzen’s upcoming album Nothing But Love, which will be released on Jan. 17, 2020 via Motema Music.
The album shares stories of the heart through a variety of genres as Herzen’s poetic lyrics unfold as if they were the acts of a play. Emotional depth and rich compositions are also at the heart of this timeless collection of songs.
We recently got the opportunity to chat with Herzen about Nothing But Love, her influences and how she finds inspiration in the people she loves.
Eponymous Review: Congratulations on the upcoming release of Nothing But Love! What aspect of the album are you most excited to share with fans?
Jana Herzen: These are songs that I’ve written through the years and have collected together as a kind of song-cycle that reveals many aspects of love. Lyrically they are each about a special person or place or experience in my life, and musically they range stylistically from folk to pop to reggae to jazz. The tracks were recorded live in the studio, and I think I’m most excited to share the chemistry of this band and how we all worked together to create a rainbow of sounds and emotions with just five instruments and also how well the songs fit together as an album.
ER: How did it feel to premiere the release at Joe’s Pub in New York City last month?
JH: It felt fantastic. It’s one of my favorite clubs, we had quite a nice turnout, and I was very blessed to have such extraordinarily talented musicians working with me who are also really lovely and gracious people. There was a real “nothing but love” vibe at the concert, and I’m grateful to my partner, bassist. and musical director, Charnett Moffett who helped bring the music to a new high mark that night.
An interesting note is that, although we were previewing the album, the arrangements were changed up considerably that night because we experimented with using Irwin Hall on sax, clarinet and flute, in place of Scott Tixier on violin because Scott couldn’t make it that night. Irwin brought a new and differently orchestrated dimension to the songs with his reed and wind instruments that I loved just as much as Tixier’s amazing violin work that contributed so much to the album. As Charnett had worked extensively with Hall on tour with Melody Gardot, and as he and I had both worked extensively with the other musicians on the date, the band had a terrific chemistry that night. We documented the show with video and multi-track audio so we expect to release some or all of the show on YouTube to the public sometime soon as well.
ER: At first listen, I was immediately struck by the emotional richness of your voice. Do you approach singing as an actress, taking on a role for each song, or do you pour your own life experiences into the lyrics?
JH: I think the answer to that is “Yes.” I do both. My songs emerge from experiences that I have had in life, or a special moment or place in time or space that inspires me, or someone else’s situation or life that may spark an idea for a story song. My songs roll out of me pretty much fully formed as a rule, though I often do some tweaking to craft them further after the initial inspiration flows through. I used to work as a dramaturge in the theater, helping playwrights fine tune their story and scene structure, so truth be told, I’m a kind of structure hound when it comes to story telling and I do consider each song to be a “mini-play” with a beginning, middle, and end which follows a story “arc.” Over the course of the arc, my hope is that a heart journey will move and/or inspire the listener in the same way a play or a movie can do.
And of course, as the performer, I need to pour myself into the character of the person in the song fully if I hope to take a journey honestly and take the audience with me for the ride. For me the way the music is arranged and the feeling with which is is played is every bit as important as the lyric. It’s important for melody, arrangement, instrumentation, tempo and dynamics to all work together to create the right mood to tell the story. This is true both when there are lyrics and also if it is an instrumental piece. The emotional through line is the most important element.
ER: Speaking of the lyrics, they are so poetic. As a songwriter, do you first write the lyrics or does the musical composition come first?
JH: Thanks so much for your feedback about the poetry. To answer your question, normally melody, accompaniment and lyrics come all together for me. Either a song comes to me out of the blue, or sometimes I think of the topic I want to write about, I put on a recorder, I start to play my guitar and start playing and singing whatever comes to me. Often the songs come out remarkably fully formed… To tell the truth, it doesn’t really feel like I write songs, it’s more like I open a channel to let them come through me. I recall Smokey Robinson saying I don’t write songs I “snatch them out of the air.” That’s about how it feels.
One of the audience favorites on this album is “Thinking of You” — I wrote it to tribute my mother’s Aunt Jean at her memorial ceremony. Jean was a remarkable woman who always kept a Zen like calm even in the midst of very troubled times. She had been an important figure in my life and I wanted to sing a song to honor her at her memorial. I sat down to write about her and the song flowed out in one sitting. I recall with that song I felt that the melody was too simple, and I tried to adjust it in a variety of ways but none of the changes worked. Then I had this “ah-hah” moment where I realized, “Of course the melody is simple, that’s because Jean had a quiet and simple personality.” So I left it as is, and this has become a song that people routinely tell me that it has moved them deeply. I think this is because most people have an “Aunt Jean” that inspired them somewhere in their lives.
ER: The album is certainly rooted in jazz, but so many genres and styles flavor each track. Who are some of your influences that may not be initially apparent on first listen?
JH: Artists who I believe most deeply influenced my song-writing are Shakespeare, Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, The Beatles, The Doors, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins and various writers of The Great American Songbook such as Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim. Their poetry has captivated me since my early teens when I started singing and playing guitar and also first took a serious interest in the theater.
I didn’t actually start writing my own songs until my late 20’s, but as a teenager and young adult I would pour myself into these artists works, and they would take me on amazing journeys. I discovered early on that a really great song is like a sturdy seaworthy boat. If one gets all the way inside, and pours in heart and soul into the boat’s sails (so to speak), it will take you (and anyone listening) on a new adventure, every time. Leonard Cohen’s “Master Song” is one such boat I used to get in and ride again and again (and have continued to do so through the years.) I’ve never fully figured out what all his lyrics mean, yet each time I sing the song I get new visions and feelings about the meaning and it’s always emotionally cathartic to sing. I think Cohen is probably my biggest influence in regards to my penchant for more poetic lyrics.
Regarding my influences in musical styles, I came up listening to every kind of music — and it seems that in jazz – Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald with Joe Pass, Randy Weston and Louis Armstrong are probably my biggest influences. In pop/rock, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Suzanne Vega and David Byrne stand out as writers who mesmerized me with their intricate story songs and who inspired me to eventually try writing some of my own tunes. My complete love affair with the guitar was initially influenced most I think by Doc Watson, Laurindo Almeida, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, David Bromberg and Joe Pass – not necessarily in that order.
ER: Will you be touring to support Nothing But Love? Where can fans see you perform live?
JH: I am working on some plans to do live dates in the U.S. in 2020, but we haven’t got the routing worked out yet. If folks join my mailing list at janaherzen.net and/or like my Facebook page we will notify them as tour dates (and new releases) are confirmed.
ER: What are you working on next?
JH: Charnett and I have a duo project in the can that is half originals and half covers by some of my favorite artists from the 1980s. We’ll be putting that out soon. Also, I’ve been playing guitar in Charnett’s band and we are working on some touring and a new recording for him. Charnett, who has recorded 16 albums as a leader, is respected internationally as one of the top bassists in jazz and has played bass on over 200 albums by some of the top jazz artists of the world. He is renowned for his virtuosity on the bass and his tirelessly creative approach to music. He draws on jazz, free jazz, world music, classical music and other musical styles to create a very unique sound signature that has continued to evolve through the years.
Playing in his band recently has been hugely freeing for me as an instrumentalist and also as a composer. One never knows where his muse will take him and he gives his band a great deal of freedom to create with him, so I’m quite excited to see what comes next on his projects. I’m also looking forward to shedding and doing some new writing of my own. Getting these songs out has opened up a new path for me to explore some new avenues.
ER: Is there anything else you’d like to share with Eponymous Review readers?
JH: My life has taken me on a lot of adventures… physical adventures to Europe, Africa, Bali, Japan and Out-Back Australia; person-to-person adventures that have changed my life in profound ways; work adventures such as serving as a founding member of Manhattan’s MCC Theater in the 1980’s and then founding and running my own record label, Motema Music, which amazingly has come to be respected internationally as a taste maker platform for truly creative jazz and various types of jazz cross-over music.
And there have been spiritual adventures along the way as well that have led me to understand life in deeper ways along the path. I’m still trying to figure it all out, and writing songs seems to be my best way to do that. The songs on this album have been sitting on a siderail for quite a while as the majority of my life energy in the past 15 years has gone towards running my label.
Getting back in the saddle as a songwriter is yet another new adventure. In my song “Lightening the Load” there’s a lyric which says. “It’s all one ice-cream when you claim it /so if your flowers sing refrains / listen to the Grace, then name it / Profits lost this way are gains.” I guess that sums up what I wish to close with. That song is a kind of whacky wedding song. The load gets both lightened and enlightened when you get to share your life with someone you truly love. I’ve found a beautiful partnership with Charnett in these past few years and it’s taken my adventure to new heights. It’s an unusual partnership and also a very fulfilling one. Can’t wait to see what happens next on all fronts.
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Click here to pre-order Nothing But Love and head over to Janaherzen.net to keep up with all of Jana Herzen’s latest news and tour dates.