2017 "polka dots and moonbeams" Joan Chamorro, Rita Payés ,Perico Sambeat y Abril Saurí 

you said it, brother, 100%

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@@geoffreyliss6817 ??

A mi me tiene completamente cautivada. La escucho casi todos los días...

@ marvelous

#Eyton Shalom, agree! Thanks for pointing this out: That odd thing she's doing with her mouth at the end of the phrase isn't it just emotional, she is actually vibrating her voice while changing the oral aperture. Marvelous!"

Indeed, your friend is right. Rita plays and sings in a very natural way. That's because he hasn't studied singing, so he sings almost as if you're playing trombone, which really excites the listener. And I'm not saying that," Doug Lawrence says. As for the trombone (in his statements in a master class) he does not have a model to follow. Naturally, he knows all the historical jazz trombone, but he has not studied them, prefers to be inspired by the musician who likes it whatever the instrument. In this case she does not care much about speed, since as she says, "the trombone does not have holes or fingers used" so it uses a lot of the lip and an almost continuous legato. Needless to say, to play like this you need spectacular technique and brutal talent. Trombonist Nils Landgren said of Rita: 'When I heard her play the trombone almost falling from her chair. So he invited her personally to the Jazz Baltica 2021 festival. His concert triumphed both in audience and criticism and is in just three months the most watched.

My own theory about that closed mouth/open lips expression is rather different, based on observing it in numerous other performances. Rita has learned how to use the microphone to her expressive advantage. She often smooches up to the microphone (particularly unprotected SM58s and the like) to enhance the low-end frequencies she particularly has available to her and when doing intimate versions of songs. My belief now is that the "smiling sneer" subtly enhances the nasal contribution of the sound, flaring the nostrils, enriching those lower tones. I twigged this when watching her do particularly microphone-intimate versions of her "Imagina" repertoire at Vincennes in France. There are even times when you see her rest her nose directly on the top of the microphone! The effect is like she is singing a secret into your ear alone.

A very lovely rendering by Meira of this, thank you. But, I fear you have muddled what it takes to be a Lounge Singer with what it takes to be a Jazz Artist who sings. Emotional honesty and commitment are needed by the latter and liberties are licensed by Jazz to get there. A much younger Rita may have a few bad habits (the smiling sneer, already rapidly fading) but the emotional commitment writhes through her and we hear the result. Meira is a polite delight here, but it is Rita who has a personal story to tell about finding love. To see where Rita takes this, try her, Blame it on My Youth.

After Blame it on My Youth with Davis Whitfield, try Rita with Marti Serra. Whilst attempting "Strange Fruit" might ring alarm bells of cultural appropriation with some, I think this piece has never been so artistically powerful, indeed it is shattering in its effect. This is a class apart completely justifying itself. Joan Chamorro licensed the start of this extraordinary development from his students rather than shutting it out. He calls out approval with every risky step taken beyond conventional. Magali Datzira with Nature Boy 2014 is wholly original and equally committed to the emotional necessity of the narrative before neat and tidy delivery. Jazz is roots-raw and personal before it is civilised and polite.