Press

“a jazz singer of composure and purpose” – Nate Chinen, The New York Times

“a vocalist whose compositions are informed by unconventional phrasing and a striving for serenity” – Patrick Jarenwattananon, NPR’s a blog supreme

“clear-water tones” – Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

“[Her] fecund creativity emerges from a genre-blurring sensibility that spans jazz, pop, rock, opera, musical theater and scared hymns… She has found eager and superbly gifted copilots. Led by Neckam’s crystalline soprano, they travel to some remarkable places, many not of this earth, several influenced by her conversion to Buddhism…. Every Neckam voyage is a wild one.” — Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes

“Neckam functions as a coequal instrumentalist and deft storyteller, using a clear fluid voice to convey raw emotions with philosophical detachment.  She dresses the stories with an impressive array of compositional and orchestrative strategies. Some evoke the autobiographical clarity of Joni Mitchell. Three duos with cellist Mariel Roberts nod to the art songs of Mahler and Schoenberg. Another three pieces frame poems by Hafez, Pablo Neruda and Rainer Maria Rilke. Others refract the rhythmic, harmonic and performative pathways established by stars such as Brad Mehldau and Luciana Souza. Whether rendering a lyric or a wordless melody, Neckam unfailingly follows her line, traversing the tricky time feels with confidence and grace.” — Ted Panken, DownBeat

“Lovely” – John Schaefer, New Sounds, WNYC

“…idiosyncratic jazz riffs and haunting pop hooks.” — Jaime Cone, New York Daily News

“In a field dominated by whispering gamines and Peggy Lee clones, Neckam’s uncompromising individuality is a refreshing digression. This album is a perfect, multi-faceted product of that temperament that should satisfy both the jazz purist and casual listener.” — Hrayr Attarian, All About Jazz

“A piece of sprawling art that neglects musical limits but maintains cohesion nonetheless… There are divine notes of jazz, but colours from avant pop, free form music and poetry readings in New York coffee shops… Deeply poetic and warmly spiritual, Unison is an appealing and freeing piece of work… Exciting, clever and daring.” — Jordan Richardson, Blinded By Sound

“At times, jazz vocalist Maria Neckam’s music sounds like Joni Mitchell during her mid-‘70s jazz excursion but with an Annette Peacock stream-of-consciousness and Bjork-like modern sensibility, delivered with pipes as pure as Suzanne Vega… Neckam is already emerging as a true original…  A record bound to make some waves in the hard-to-impress world of New York modern jazz.” — S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews

“****Four stars. Neckam writes all of her own material and delivers it in a sweet, pure soprano that belies the dark sophistication of her lyrics… A collection of finely crafted songs that range from angular downtown jazz to poetic duets with cello to catchy indy-style numbers.” — Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times

“Singer and composer Maria Neckam’s unparalleled sound slips across genre lines and expectations, and her pure, fresh vocals have been acclaimed by critics from around the world… She moves effortlessly form idiosyncratic jazz riffs to haunting pop hooks, blurring boundaries with skill, well-honed technique, and range… wildly inventive, unapologetically beautiful music…” — JAZZed Magazine

“****Four stars. [Unison] commits deeply to energetic, intricate and technically polished music, but makes an equal commitment to the sensitive interpretation of poetry… Her voice has a light quality with a memorable shading of tone in the extreme register’s lithe delivery of far-ranging vocal lines… A beautiful album.” — Douglas Detrick, About.com Jazz

“Sophisticated pop, art song and modern jazz don’t often get along, but vocalist Maria Neckam is the tie that binds them… She proves to be an unusually flexible, omni-directional vocal personality capable of crafting a sundry assortment of spellbinding songs.” — Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz

“****4 Stars.” — Concerto Magazine

“The first thing that strikes you about Maria Neckam is the sheer beauty of her crystal clear voice, which seems to get more pure as she approaches the top of her range…. Her exceptional new Sunnyside album Unison captures Neckam in all her kaleidoscopic splendor, delivering a program of exceptionally divergent original songs…” — Jazz Inside New York

“Her instrument is both refined and pure. She is a well-balanced soprano not afraid to make wordless music with her voice… Will conventional wisdom bow to her unconventional approach, or will Neckam change to improve her accessibility? Either way, she may very well usher in the ‘next new thing.’” — C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz

“No one better embodies jazz’s glorious profusion of vocal talent than Austrian-born Maria Neckam, a singer possessing an exquisitely calibrated soprano and a poetic sensibility informed by avant pop, contemporary classical music and post-bop improvisation.” — Roland Stone, Accent on Tampa Bay

“She has a very expressive and precise voice… The combination of voice and song makes for something quite unusual and inviting… It’s jazzed, progged, and decidedly not your standard rehashed fare.” — Greg Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review

“It’s really easy to think back to early Joni (as well as other jazz/folk singers) when you listen to Maria’s beautiful vocals… Maria’s voice is definitely an ‘instrument’… MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.” — Dick Metcalf, Improvijazzation Nation

“A vocalist with a contemporary poetic style… A lot of intricacies that may exceed the capacity of the masses yet delight those fond of risk and adventure in music.” — Oscar Groomes, O’s Place Jazz Newsletter

“Her crystalline vocal sound brings subtle appeal to a selection of her own songs… a rich and always interesting vocal palette.” — Bruce Crowther, Jazz Mostly

“Neckam’s poetic writing, pure vibrato-less voice, and exuberant sensibility yield a very enjoyable listening experience.” — Paul Weideman, Santa Fe New Mexican

praise for Deeper:

“a natural wonder” – Le Monde

“a valiant trailblazer” – JazzTimes

“Neckam has crafted one of the most appealing, genre-crossing vocal albums to hit the street in 2010.“

“her voice has a hypnotic purity that has the potential to stop people dead in their tracks.”
- All About Jazz

“It’s going to be difficult for her listeners to avoid finding her irresistibly charming.” – PopMatters

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Neckam is a vocalist unafraid to go where mostly Sufi poets and musicians inhabit their devotional art.”
- All About Jazz

“Fortunately for listeners interested in bold originality, Maria Neckam has shaped that cyclonic mix of international influences into a sound and style as refreshing as Kat Edmonson, as idiosyncratic as Björk and often as outre as Patty Waters.” – JazzTimes

“Maria Neckam is the most spectacular discovery in the jazz universe of the first quarter of 2010.”

“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.”
- With Music In My Mind

“It wasn’t just the unaffected clarity or refreshing timbre of her voice, nor her remarkable range that captured my imagination; it was the fearless integrity of her musical ideas.” – Jazz.com