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All About Jazz Review of Deeper

The music of vocalist Maria Neckam defies easy categorization. Neckam, a native Austrian living in New York since 2005, has never subscribed to the idea of belonging to one specific subset of the music world. She has brought her unique vocal talents into rock realms, classical settings, modern jazz and various other arenas and her voice has a hypnotic purity that has the potential to stop people dead in their tracks. Her music, filled with catchy vocal hooks and lyrics that bare her soul, is just as likely to be heard on jazz radio as it is to be featured on college radio or played in quiet neighborhood coffee shop on a rainy day.

While no single influence towers over the music, throwing Björk, Regina Spektor, Kate McGarry and Sally Ellyson–lead vocalist of the incomparable Hem–into a blender might yield something like this.
Neckam establishes herself in the singer/songwriter category with spectacular songs like “Deeper” and “When You’re In Love” in the first half of the album, but the scope of the music leans in a more ambitious jazz-defined direction in the latter half.

”Indestructible Fort” is the earliest track on the album to feature alto saxophonist Lars Dietrich and it introduces Neckam’s wordless vocals, which become more prominent in later tracks. “Happy Song” gives Neckam an opportunity to meld her vocal sighs with Dietrich. Neckam shows emotional vulnerability and a way with words on the aforementioned “When You’re In Love,” and drummer Colin Stranahan takes things up a notch when he drives the song home. tenor saxophonist Samir Zarif is added to the mix of Neckam and Dietrich at the outset of “Fear.” Neckam moves in angular leaps and intriguing intervallic maneuvers throughout this song.

Peter Eldridge, one of Neckam’s mentors from her time at the Manhattan School of Music, joins her on “I Remember.” The wonders of multi-tracking allow Neckam and Eldridge to create a rich, undulating choir out of their voices and the song briefly hints at the magic of Moss–the vocal jazz “super group” to which Eldridge belongs. Bassist Thomas Morgan provides solid support throughout the album and gets a chance to step out with some soloing on “Blown Away.” Neckam’s inner-Björk comes out–as she forcefully and repeatedly intones the two words in the title–on “Missing You.” A drum ‘n’ bass groove underscores this track and pianist Aaron Goldberg provides
some exuberant soloing. Zarif and Dietrich provide some distant sounding saxophone work as “Learn My Tongue” begins and Goldberg’s piano work here is in a more relaxed vein.
Neckam has crafted one of the most appealing, genre-crossing vocal albums to hit the street in 2010.

-Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz

All About Jazz Review of Deeper

It’s not often that a singer like Maria Neckam comes along. Blessed with a voice that she can set free as it flutters and streaks into stellar regions of music, Neckam is still able to keep it in control. She has a natural ability for heartbreaking emotion, in much the same way that Billie Holiday did. She sings flat, yet in her singing, quarter notes abound as she tells a story. Her voice soars making notes bend and flap as she soars high on wings like a dove. Neckam performs melodious compositions that are sometimes so twisted and beautiful that they devour the harmony all at once, much like a characteristic Hindustani raga.

It is precisely Neckam’s knowledge that genres are manufactured that allows her to blur cultural borders so much that they cease to exist in her music. A fine example is “Fear.” It is beautifully harmonic and melodious, and it’s so rhythmically complex that it swerves closer to the characteristic 16-beat Hindustani rhythm pattern, teen taal, than to any recognizable Western music framework. However, framework is not something that Neckam deliberately inhabits as a stylistic mode. Her strength is inner rhythms and rhymes, with subtle shades of mood and emotion. This she projects exquisitely on “I Remember,” a chart she wrote for voices, many of which she sings herself, although some are shared with singer Peter Eldridge.

Singing in voices may be nothing new; Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross, Singers Unlimited and groups like Take 6 have excelled in this inventive vocal expedition. But what sets Neckam apart are her songs. They feature lyrics that dwell on the concrete and are, in charts like “Blown Away” and “Learn My Tongue,” almost stream-of-consciousness. There is something of the James Joyce of Pomes Pennyeach (1927) in much of this album. Neckam adorns the poetry by traipsing across the vocal landscape, using her breath together with uncharacteristic intonation and phrasing, to create mighty and unforgettable whorls of songs.

It helps that Neckam is surrounded by a fine group of musicians. Pianist Aaron Goldberg and bassist Thomas Morgan are superb with solos that breathe almost vocally as they match the high-flying emotion of “Blown Away.” Neckam is not far behind as she hits highs rarely heard since Urszula Dudziak with Michal Urbaniak or Flora Purim with Chick Corea. The vivid colors of “Missing You” are wonderful in quite another sense, as they conjure images of a microcosmic world inhabited by creatures that feel like humans do. “Learn My Tongue,” an odd little title for a song to start with, soon makes eminent sense as Neckam launches into a bluesy groove that suggests a complete breakdown in a relationship that can only be resolved by a biological miracle. The harmonics that proceed as a result are a joy to listen to, proving that Neckam is a vocalist unafraid to go where mostly Sufi poets and musicians inhabit their devotional art.

-Raul d’Gama Rose, All About Jazz

With Music In My Mind Review of Crossing and Blending

Maria Neckam is the most spectacular discovery in the jazz universe of  the first quarter of 2010. The tone of this column is given. This young woman, born and raised in Austria, is a genuine troubadour of music: she studied singing in the Netherlands at the prestigious Amsterdam Conservatory and then occured across Europe with her band at the time, Mia Thought And Something Happened, which provided a melting pot of trip hop / drum & bass and jazz. Thereafter, Maria Neckam decided to move to New York in 2005 to study with renowned artists such as the sublime Luciana Souza and graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in 2007. All these events lead us to 2008 and the release of her jazz project Maryland for which she wrote, composed and produced, with a trio of musicians: Franz von Chossy  on piano, Valdi Kolli on bass and Uli Genenger on drums.

But this is a theoretical presentation because I fell completely in love with the original music of this beautiful and kaleidoscopic generous artist. Her sublime soprano voice as clear, crystal clear as possible in the treble, electrified me. Maria Neckam controls her body in a masterly way by being able to hold notes for a long time, she uses it as a real instrument in its own right, not only for delivering the lyrics, which are also beautiful. Her musical world is heterogeneous: it ranges from acid / free modern jazz to classical music, giving it a unique musical identity, which is particularly rare, as on today’s music scene female vocal jazz is often limited to producing a formatted album of covers, mostly devoid of major artistic elements.

Maria Neckam’s debut album Crossing and Blending is a marvel both serious and light that is listened to in one piece, the artist tells great stories and philosophical reflections, often poetic and bittersweet. On this album, she does not hesitate to give way to strong performances from musicians who have the right to express themselves in solo or in harmony with the voice / instrument Maria, giving the album a sophisticated side , fluid, light and air.

Listening to the 14 jewels of the album passes so quickly that your desire will only end when you press the repeat button, but for those of you in a hurry, I warmly recommend to enjoy the glowing lyricism of Kleine Einsicht, the gentle air that hangs over Blue Birds, the lushly romantic My One and Only Love, When You’re Gone or Connected, the modern poetry and twirling of November, the passion that permeates This Music and My Mind, the angelic grace of Lovesong and the exotic Hindu haunting 55.

An enchanting debut album, invigorating, atmospheric, sophisticated and elegant experiments remaining accessible to everyone. Masterly.

-Sabine de Greef, With Music In My Mind

All About Jazz Italia Review of Crossing and Blending

From Vienna to New York is a step that others have taken before her, Maria Neckam.
Her genre is difficult to define in a few words, and that is already a good sign in the field of vocal jazz, where practically everything has already been said. She is accompanied by her rhythm section and guests on the album that add color to the songs.

We are in a jazz pop genre where there is a lot of care for the arrangements and even the musical conception of George Russell finds space.
Instead of trying to repeat popular songs, Neckam set out to write her own music, and her voice that sings in English can be enjoyed for its sensual accent, for the imperfection of the pronunciation, but for the same reason may also give a negative impression to some listeners. This is a singer that polarizes, that has the appeal of the unforeseen, the sounds that other vocalists do not have, and perhaps precisely for the same reason, it can pull the listener away a bit.

But in her sketches of everyday stories there is always that flash, that plus that makes the difference, beyond make up or media promotion. Do not forget the rhythm section, led by the German Franz Von Chossy from Bavaria, with the Icelandic bass player Valdi Kolli, for some time involved in different projects in Germany.
Even this mental flexibility, this approach of the pop genre by people with a real musical culture makes this recording more and more intriguing with every listening.

-Vittorio Lo Conte, All About Jazz Italia