Over the past five years, singer Jacqueline Tabor and pianist Marina Albero have become a dynamic musical duo around the Northwest. Their most recent collaboration honors their deep friendship and the music of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone.
Tabor and Albero became close during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, playing music together and also spending time in each other's daily lives. "We were definitely mental health buddies, and we've turned into family."
"We needed something to put all of our frustrations in," Tabor explained to KNKX Grooveyard host Stephanie Ann Johnson. They found it in the strength of two of American music's most resilient women.
In an exclusive KNKX studio session performance, Tabor and Albero spoke about the strength they've drawn from these jazz legends whose careers can be seen as a continuum of female empowerment through most of the 20th century.
From 1930 to 1959, Billie Holiday became the definitive voice of jazz, sharing the pain of her community through powerful songs like "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child." Nina Simone's debut came in 1958 and her late 1960s songs "Mississippi Goddam" and "Young, Gifted and Black" established her legacy as an artist and activist. The two were undeniable forces for civil rights as songwriters and unapologetically powerful performers.
Tabor said that "this music has made me, personally, evolve as a human, definitely as a woman and damn sure as a Black woman. This music is still relevant today."
Joined by bassist Jonti Simon and drummer D'Vonne Lewis, Tabor and Albero opened with "Swing! Brother, Swing," a song about the power of music, transitioning into the Holiday-penned heartbreak ballad "Don't Explain." The session peaked with a medley of Gershwin classics favored by both singers that nearly brought the studio audience to tears.
Barcelona native Albero, now an American citizen, acknowledged that she wasn't born with an African American perspective. "I'm here in this country mainly to learn the 'Black music" that all of American music stems from," she shared.
Albero continued that her friendship with Tabor taught her not only about the struggle of Black women in America, but "also the family feeling that she taught me was something very close to the one I have in Spain."
In 2022, their Don't Explain Project won Earshot's Golden Ear award for NW Concert of the Year. In the last few months, Tabor and Albero have recorded songs from the Project for a crowd-funded release expected sometime in the near future.
Tabor and Albero also spoke with Johnson about the Project's evolution since its origins, how live and studio settings affect their performances, their connection to their fans and more.
Both of these musicians continue to grow and evolve. Tabor’s well-received All Shades of Blues album showed off a different side of the singer last winter, while Albero moved south to join the remarkable jazz community of New Orleans last year.
Back together for several concerts this summer, Tabor and Albero’s musical and personal connection remains strong. All the better for their many Puget Sound area fans, who can see the Don’t Explain Project June 25 at the North City Bistro.
Musicians:
- Jacqueline Tabor - vocals
- Marina Albero - piano
- Jonti Siman - bass
- D'Vonne Lewis - drums
Songs:
- Swing! Brother, Swing!
- Don't Explain
- My Man's Gone Now
- I Loves You Porgy
