Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
A Love Supreme at 60: Thoughts on Coltrane’s Masterwork
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
Aubrey Johnson’s leader debut, Unraveled, includes sextet arrangements of standards and four original compositions.
(Photo: Carolina Mama)During the past decade, vocalist Aubrey Johnson has explored different chambers of her artistry and performed with an array of musicians, including singers Bobby McFerrin and Sara Serpa, as well as Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra. Johnson’s leader debut, Unraveled (Outside In)—a program featuring original compositions and new sextet arrangements of standards—takes listeners on a dramatic journey through her intriguing aesthetic.
While earning a master’s degree from New England Conservatory, where she studied with pianist Frank Carlberg and vocalist Dominique Eade, Johnson discovered the freedom that comes with abandoning certain musical norms. Consequently, Unraveled shimmers with harmonic wanderlust. “I do a lot of modulating to different key centers, and never hold myself to the idea that I have to come back to where I started,” she said.
Her lyrics reflect that freedom, too. She explained that when she’s writing a piece, the melody and lyric often materialize in tandem—but only for the first phrase. “That’s the magic inspiration moment,” she said, adding that “rational-minded” compositional work quickly follows.
Johnson—who teaches at Berklee College of Music, Montclair State University and Queens College—often follows a maxim: “While I have an understanding of the rules, I should never feel like I have to adhere to them.”
That concept emerges on “These Days.” Featuring lyrics written by Johnson’s brother Gentry, the track illustrates her gift for crafting a melody to pair with an existing lyric. “I pressed ‘record’ on my phone and improvised the melody,” Johnson recalled. “It didn’t matter that the lyric didn’t always rhyme or have a specific meter.”
But a full-hearted embrace of her individualism hasn’t come easily. As a young working artist, Johnson clashed with an identity that didn’t match her sound. Her soprano range wasn’t an ideal fit for alto-centric big band charts, and she struggled with expectations of how she ought to sing. Still, she found ways to work. Her uncle, the keyboardist Lyle Mays (1953–2020), frequently recruited her to participate in his projects, championing her talents. One of his observations altered her self-perception: “He said, ‘You have this huge palette. You should write for your range—for all these different tone colors you can create.’”
Nearing graduation, Johnson encountered a Craigslist post for a world folk band calling for a multilingual soprano who improvised. “I was like, ‘Wow, sounds like me,’” recalled Johnson, who sings in English, Portuguese and Japanese on Unraveled. Through that band, she met violinist Tomoko Omura, who plays on seven of the album’s tracks, including her composition “Voice Is Magic.” “We bonded over being the two women in the band and the two improvisers,” Johnson explained.
After touring, they began playing together in Boston when Johnson’s trumpet player couldn’t make her leader dates. “I adapted the parts for [Omura] ... and thought—I don’t need to play with anyone else,” said Johnson, who revels in the violinist’s textural versatility.
The two artists continued nurturing their bond after Johnson moved to New York. “Aubrey is a strong, confident bandleader who cares about each band member deeply,” Omura said. “She is very specific with what kind of sound she likes ... and is not afraid to tell us when the sound is not the way she wants. She makes the band feel comfortable to express honest feelings and thoughts.”
Nowadays, Johnson serves as a mentor to her students, empowering them to seek what’s special about their voices, sharing enduring advice: “Stay open to going off the beaten path.” DB
This story originally was published in the February 2021 issue of DownBeat. Subscribe here.
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
