If you're a Nancy Wilson fan, you'll be happy to know she has a new CD coming out in August. It's called "Turn to Blue."
Wilson spoke about the new release Friday night backstage at the James Herbert White Preeminence Awards and Scholarship Gala.
The CD is based on a poem by Dr. Maya Angelou. Wilson received permission from the former poet laureate of the nation to put the poem to music.
"It's produced by Jay Ashby," she said, "one of the best in the business."
Ashby directs studio operations at Manchester Craftsman's Guild, a non-profit designed to educate and give hope through the arts. As a result of the Ashby-Wilson connection with MCG, "Turn to Blue" will be released on the MCG Jazz label.
Wilson calls the upcoming release "different. It's serious and it's heavy. There are some songs I need to sing. I'm nearly 70."
As an example, Wilson speaks of "That's All I Ask," a cut on the CD. The lyrics reveal a woman asking her partner to remain with her and love her. That's all she asks.
Billie Holiday first recorded the R.E. Pope song in 1939. It appears on her "Quintessential Volume 7" album.
Another example of the type of music Wilson will give us in her next release is "Old Folks," a jazz standard with melancholy lyrics. "The old, old silver clock that's hanging on the wall, that waits for us all."
And if you bother to ask her, it's the lyrics that make a difference. Certainly Wilson has a voice that rivals any jazz singer in history.
And, she said, despite the killing of the jazz division by Columbia Records and the lack of clubs, the music form still exists.
"They're there," she said of the younger jazz performers and composers. "It's a little more difficult for them than someone like me."
Without the incentives, it's harder to pull those young performers and composers out.. Back in Wilson's prime, as she said, "I made money."
Not so much these days, but Wilson holds out hope.
"They will grow up. They will grow up," she said.
For those who loved her last album, "RSVP," which won a Grammy, Wilson promises the August release is just as good.
After all, she still has the voice. She still plays it like an instrument.
