OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With The Fantastic Nnenna Freelon!

Greetings music sluts, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday! Today, DJ Li'l Scratch is bringing you an unsung modern jazz diva who's not as celebrated as she really ought to be. But then isn't that most of us? Are you unsung and uncelebrated? Maybe it's time you did something about it. Speak up, flaunt your feathers, point out your attributes. If no one else is, then you'd better, amirite? But anywayI'mgettingofftrack, tonight at the Manor's "Yes, Yes! Now Make a Circle!" bar and lounge, DJ Li'l Scratch will be playing this diva who's not only a jazz chanteuse, but an actress, composer, playwright and published author. Feeling lazy? Don't hang around her. Oh, and do you think you have to move to New York when you're young in order to chase fame and become a jazz great? Yeah, she blew past that old saw, too. 

Question: Is her first name pronounced "Nina" or Nena?" Enquiring minds want to know.

But really, you say tomato, I say tomata, because Nnenna Freelon has been blessing us with her sumptuous jazz compositions and vocals since the early 1990s, collecting seven, count 'em, seven, Grammy nominations along the way. Did you know? She didn't begin her career in earnest until her mid-thirties - well after graduating from college, marrying, having three kids and working as a Heathcare Administrator at Durham Conuty Hospital - which means she was never the pre-packaged "hot young thing." Yet her breathtaking talent made even jaded record executives sit up and take notice. How could they not?

Along the way, she faced personal battles, not the least of them being her architect husband's death from ALS - she talks about this, amongst other travails, in her book "Beneath the Skin of Sorrow" - yet happily, there's always been music to get her through. To that end, she's recorded with several giants of music, like Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock and Al Jarreau, and performed at major venues, such as Carnegie Hall, The Monterey Jazz Festival and The Kennedy Center. And if that's not enough, she's also the founder of "Babysong," a pioneering program she developed through Duke University Medical Center which teaches parents and healthcare pros how singing supports infant development and healing.

It's semi-tacky, craft-project album cover art aside, "Better Than Anything," a Best Of CD, is a terrific way to be tossed into the deep end of Nnenna's gorgeous song stylings. And trust, her joyous version of "I Say A Little Prayer" is what we all need right now.

You can listen to the rest of her Best Of LP right here: 

What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾

Photo Credits: Getty Images; Columbia