Her second album, an intimate acoustic jazz meditation on love, dropped on Wednesday.
Growing up stifled by the communist regime in Poland and an abusive, alcoholic father, Yola Nash found solace by escaping into music where she feels safe and protected. With her personal experiences in love serving as muse for her songs that paint the complete color palate of human emotions, Nash’s “Touched By Love” dropped on Wednesday. It’s the jazz singer-songwriter’s second album, an intimate six-song acoustic set that she produced with GRAMMY winning jazz pianist Edsel Gomez (Dee Dee Bridgewater) serving as musical director. The multimedia artist who hosts the celebrity driven “The Yola Nash Show” on New York City’s WABC Radio wrote lyrics for the album.
Nash began writing for “Touched By Love” five years ago. Having released her debut disc (“Another Girl”) over ten years ago, spawning the Billboard No. 1 most added adult contemporary single “I Wanna Be Loved By You,” she struggled to find her sound and direction for her sophomore outing. She turned to composers Dr. Graham Keir (guitar) and Dr. Octavio Vazquez (piano) to help create and develop her musical vision. Gomez tailored warm, elegant instrumental soundscapes around the award-winning jazz chanteuse’s sensual, breathy vocals that emit longing, fragility, heartache, hope and bliss, guiding Nash to cozy acoustic jazz settings. GRAMMY-winning percussionist Luisito Quintero (Chick Corea) and bassist Dave Baron (Herbie Hancock) anchor the rhythmic grooves while GRAMMY nominated accordionist Alex Meixner adds vital ambiance that fosters organic Polish-European accents, making “Touched By Love” a multicultural listening experience.
At the heart of the album is Nash’s heart that somehow manages to beat with her strong optimistic spirit and the vibration of hope despite her often-pained subject matters and difficult past. She’s come a long way, facing and triumphing over adversity in the process, and living to sing about it.
“The songs were inspired by my life, beautiful love and longing for it, or tremendous pain, betrayal, burning questions or just hunger for hope. All of those powerful emotions that needed to be shared and expressed. The world needs more love, hope and the spirit of never ever giving up. I’m here as living proof that bad times always pass and good things always prevail,” said Nash who arrived in New York City over 15 years ago, not knowing any English or anyone or having any place to go, with only the $1,000 that she borrowed from her late mother, Danusia, to whom the album is dedicated.
The lone song on “Touched By Love” not penned by Nash is “Dance With Me,” a cabaret-like track that she describes as “musical exploration.” It sets a theatric poem by award-winning poet and film director Fella Cederbaum to music written by the author.
The “Touched By Love” recording sessions began before the COVID-19 quarantine with the goal of a spring album release, but then came the New York-New Jersey lockdowns, which halted the project’s initial momentum.
“During the first editing-mixing session, we found out we were going to be in quarantine and that completely shut down our production process. It took months to finally get back to the studios to finish the album. It was such relief to go back, but it meant nonstop chasing the clock. I jumped into the studio and in one six-hour session, I recorded all my vocals for the album. We didn’t have the luxury of taking many takes and spending days in the studio on it,” said the resilient and determined Nash who performed at New York Fashion Week earlier this year.
Highlights of Nash’s performance career include singing for Pope John Paul II and becoming the first Polish American to perform and record with the GRAMMY-winning Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and its director, multiple GRAMMY-winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. On the radio, Nash has been interviewing A-list celebrities, world changers, spiritual leaders and inspirational speakers in the Big Apple for nearly 15 years, inspiring her audiences around the globe to live a happier, more fulfilling life. An artist in other media who studied fine arts, she’s a Guinness Book world record holder for creating the original key art for the largest theater poster in the world for the renowned new play “Anne Frank,” which took eight professional mountain climbers to hang. Indeed, Nash is an unstoppable force who thinks and acts big.
“I’m creating my purposeful path every day with my determination. I hope my story and my music will inspire people to be stronger and dream big, especially now during these challenging times, so they can find a creative way through the impossible waters and the impossible becomes possible,” said Nash.
“It’s a dream come true to finally put out my new album. I’m also excited because I found my signature sound that I’ve been looking for my entire life. Although it’s my second album, this one feels like I’m going in the right direction. I feel I’m being touched by love through this music, the people who came along to support it and the amazing musicians who brought their sensibilities to make it happen. ‘Touched By Love’ expresses what I felt and feel in my heart. After all the hardship, major challenges, obstacles and pain, I never lost hope. The album is not just a music project; it’s a miracle to me. It’s a voice of hope, a chance and a voice of strength that expresses my life’s motto: ‘Never ever give up on your dreams!’”
“Touched By Love” contains the following songs:
“Lies and Wishes”
“I Miss You Loving Me”
“Ready For Love”
“Dance With Me”
“Forbidden Love”
“Lololove Me”
For more information, please visit http://yolanash.com.
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