Detroit-born, Scandinavian-based jazz vocalist Ella Fitzpatrick has officially unveiled her latest album, "Big Band Reflections", delivering a lush, ambitious tribute to the golden era of jazz orchestras. Honing her craft by blending raw American soul with a sharp Nordic sophistication, Fitzpatrick uses this project to transform the colossal, moving parts of a swing ensemble into a functioning metaphor for human survival. The tempos inevitably...

Amara-Fe has definitively shifted from the messy business of becoming into the absolute certainty of claiming with her new album, "A Queen’s Ambition". The rising solo artist, tethered to deep musical roots extending through Mission and Dallas, Texas, arrives fully formed here. There is a palpable weight to her cinematic R&B and electropop arrangements. You can almost feel her surveying her territory, setting borders,...