Alex Webb and INEZA have teamed up once more to release forthcoming album Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories, which will be available on November 1st.

Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories is a collection of songs that showcases female repertoire across the history of jazz, performed by an almost-all female cast. But what marks this release out from just another collection of female songwriters is the vocalist herself – rising star Ineza and her inspired selection of singers, songs and what she has to say.

Listen to ‘Who Needs You‘, taken from forthcoming album Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories:

Who Needs You is the first single taken from ‘Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories’, released on 6 September.Few people know that Billie Holiday wrote songs and this is one of 7 she wrote, but didn’t record (she wrote, or co-wrote 19 in total). It was co-written by Billie Holiday and Jeanne Burns in 1957, yet Billie hadn’t recorded it by the time of her death in 1959. It is believed that the song reflects Holiday’s treatment by her second husband and was finally recorded by Aretha Franklin in 1961.

“I love the Aretha Franklin version but it’s fascinating to imagine how Billie Holiday would have sung the song as she is a very different singer. The bluesy character and lyrics are so typical of Billie Holiday and I especially love the shuffle 3/4 feel. It adds a different, less dark character to the song”.

 

Here, Ineza’s scorching soul-jazz vocals are supported by some utterly bluesy horn blowing.

‘Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories’ comprises a varied selection of covers of female-composed songs alongside one original by Webb and one co-write with Webb and Ineza. These may be artists we love, but the covers are far from iconic songs with well-trodden stories, rather songs that Ineza feels a connection to and that illustrate her point that women write very different songs to men. “Although themes may be the same; love loss, healing etc., when women write” offers Ineza, “they take a different slant to men. Lyrics might be more witty, quirky, wacky, unconventional even”. She goes on to say, “Betty Carter is a great example. Her tune ‘I Can’t Help It‘ is a clear statement to her audience and a clear expression of her attitudes in life – So try me and maybe you’ll love me ’cause I can’t help it, that’s the way that I am’. And it’s this we should champion and celebrate.”

​Born in Rwanda, raised in Belgium and living in Kent, Ineza is a genuine jazz singer with a voice that is as graceful and elegant as it is soulful, powerful and urgent. She is a composer in her own right, fusing jazz’s improvisational character with soul. She has a penchant for more adventurous, idiosyncratic stylists such as Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter and Rachelle Ferrell, which, in part, informed her choice for many of the songs found on this collection. For this is an album that, she says, “champions the quirkiness of womanhood”.

‘Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories’ is the brainchild of pianist, composer, arranger and musical director, Alex Webb, who has, over the years, introduced us to some of the UK’s finest jazz vocalists – Vimala Rowe, Cherise, Jo Harrop. Renowned for his love of swing and the virtues of the Great American Songbook, the album maintains a classic acoustic jazz sound. For ‘Women’s Words…’ he introduces us to Ineza, a perfect collaborator – a classy singer with an enviable ability to emotionally connect with lyrics and who swings like hell! Webb has written a series of razor-sharp arrangements to showcase Ineza’s agile, expressive voice.

For the album they are joined by some of the hottest young musicians on the London scene; Rosie Turton on trombone, rising tenor saxophonist Maddy Coombs, the J.A.M. String Collective , Charlie Pyne on bass (who’s own album, ‘Nature Is A Mother’ was released earlier this year to wide acclaim) and Canadian drummer Katie Patterson.

Tracklisting:

Don’t Waste Your Time (Rachelle Ferrell)
Free Your Mind (Jazzmeia Horn)
Tell Me More (Billie Holiday)
The Dream Has Landed (Ineza Kerschkamp-Alex Webb)
Who Needs You (Billie Holiday-Burns)
I Can’t Help It (Betty Carter)
Good Morning Heartache (Irene Higginbotham-Fisher-Drake)
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (Dorothy Fields-McHugh)
Now I Know (Alex Webb)
I Love Being Here With You (Peggy Lee-Schluger)
Throw It Away (Abbey Lincoln)