Winner of the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition, the Dallas-born, NYC-based vocalist Jazzmeia Horn released one of the singularly most powerful debuts of recent times with her 2017 album A Social Call, for which she earned a Grammy nomination. One of this year's most hotly anticipated albums, Love and Liberation showcases Horn's ever-deepening artistry and a songwriter's ear for detail. From the hard-driving swing of ‘Out The Window’ to the breathtaking, high-wire ride of ‘Searchin’ (especially heroic work from guest pianist Sullivan Fortner here), Horn's eight originals perfectly encapsulate the sense of joyousness, playfulness and vitality that courses through her music-making. The self-penned ‘Legs and Arms’ is possibly something of a first in jazz: a ballad inspired by a Peeping Tom (whom Horn encountered as a student at The New School). The album's covers pay homage to important touchstones - a pleasingly gritty take on Jon Hendricks' empowering personal credo ‘No More’ (with Horn soaring spectacularly on the line “I've been struggling right along since I've been born”), a powerful reimagining of Erykah Badu's classic breakup song ‘Green Eyes’, and a smooth-as-marble duet with drummer/vocalist Jamison Ross on Rachelle Farrell's ‘Reflections Of My Heart’. Cast as an intimate duet with bassist Ben Williams, Horn's phrasing on the album's sole nod to the Great American Songbook, ‘I Thought About You’, perfectly illustrates how her musical make-up owes as much to Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown and Roy Hargrove as it does to Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter. Horn's stellar band also includes pianist Victor Gould, a long-standing musical collaborator who has performed with the vocalist ever since her move to New York in 2009.