OFF BEAT Magazine Review of Crossing and Blending
Maryland vocalist Maria Neckam can sound like Flora Purim to Franz von Chossy’s Chick Corea, but she’s working on many other levels, from Björk and Urszula Dudziak to Astrud Gilberto, Basia and any number of classically-trained vocalists. Her supple, reedy voice hits the notes clearly and has that wonderful quality of articulating syllables as notes rather than words, turning even standards into wordless vocals. Neckam, part of the Austrian-American Outreach Jazz Collective, writes impressively in English (“November”, “Blue Birds”, “This Music”) and her native tongue. Crossing and Blending is an ambitious debut that ranges through the breadth of her stylistic tropes and suggests that she’s going to be a special voice.
