Jazz Vocalist Sylvia Brooks to Release New Project “Soliloquy” on June 5th, 2026 | LISTEN!
On Her Impassioned Sixth Recording, Soliloquy, Jazz Stylist and Songwriter Sylvia Brooks Creates a Work of Lyric Beauty Via Four Standards and Four Originals Which Explore the Disparate Facets of Life
Featuring Christian Jacob (arranger, piano), Kevin Axt (bass), Kevin Winard (drums, percussion), Grant Geissman (guitar), and Farzin Farhadi (saxophone)
Available June 5 via SBM Records on All Streaming Platforms, CD and Audiophile Vinyl
It’s rare that an eloquent jazz vocalist embarks on a lyrical odyssey that encompasses the wonders of life, the challenges, flat-out disappointments and heartbreaks with such vivid descriptions and characterizations that the ordinary is seen in a new light shaded by experience yet retaining vulnerability. On her impassioned sixth recording, Soliloquy, jazz stylist and songwriter Sylvia Brooks does just that creating a work of lyric jazz comprised of four standards and four originals, informed by tales of obstacles, romance, triumphs, compassion, and beauty. Soliloquy will be released on SBM Records on June 5.
“At their core, though the circumstances and plots may differ, these are songs that either move me, or I was moved to write,” Brooks says. “I have lived through similar situations and empathize with the characters in these songs.” A classically trained actor and mezzo soprano with a three-octave range, her voice has diffused into an expressive and agile, multi-faceted instrument which instantly draws the listener in.
Brooks is joined by her longtime songwriting collaborator, arranger and co-producer Christian Jacob on Soliloquy. The acclaimed pianist’s compositions and arrangements create an ambience of soulful elegance, perfect for Brooks’ voice. The band includes bassist Kevin Axt, drummer Kevin Winard, saxophonist Farzin Farhadi, and guitarist Grant Geissman. The album was recorded live at Malibu’s Dragonfly Creek Recording Studios with engineer/mixer Charley Pollard at the board.
Brooks tackles eight existential plights of life on the album weaving a storytelling tapestry with a range of settings and emotions. In her liner notes, Brooks writes, “In my choice of songs, I wanted to bring to light the difficulties we face every day—how hard it is to be true to ourselves, the mistakes that we make, and the pain that we feel. We all choose to deal with our humanity in different ways.”
The album opens with a beauty, Mal Waldron’s ballad “Soul Eyes,” which Brooks sings with soulful knowing about allowing someone into your life at the deepest levels. On the second song, the tempo jumps into a playful bounce on the Brooks-Jacob-Scott original, “Talks A Good Game. “In this song, I am an observer sitting at a bar, watching this man seduce a woman just for sport,” Brooks says. “He is manipulative and lives in a narcissistic bubble; he doesn’t realize the damage he does to himself and others, and what living on that superficial plane leaches from his life.”
The third track is Brooks haunting delivery of Sting’s “Fragile.” Jacob’s deft reharmonization and arrangement, which features a choir of eight voices, moves this song into stunning new territory, underscoring the fragility of earth and humanity, dovetailing perfectly into the theme of Brooks’ album.
The next original, also co-written with Jacob, is the moving “A Letter to Sophie,” inspired by an exhibit of the French Observation artist Sophie Calle. Transfixed by a “goodbye letter” from Calle’s lover that was part of the exhibit, Brooks was moved to write the song. “I was mortified by the cowardly and callous way this man ended their relationship,” she says. Brooks’ lyric recreates the heartbreak: For many months they’ve met here, in the shadows of the day, she lays in anticipation, his touch carries her away.”
A powerful song of beauty and joy comes with another original, “Lizzie’s Dance,” Also written by Brooks-Jacob-Scott. It is a celebratory story of how Brooks came to encounter a young Down Syndrome girl whom she saw dancing with a group of eight-year-olds at a recital. “She was out of sync, out of the group’s rhythm, but in a rhythm all her own. I was so moved by her courage that I knew I had to write a song about her.”
The fourth original,“Instinct of Love,” is a dramatic tale of romance and rebellion set in the 1920s between a British socialite and an adventurous American.
Jacob lends a jazz-infused flavor to Brooks’ cover of Tom Waits’ “Temptation,” with a syncopated bass line and reharmonization of the chords to darken the atmosphere and heighten the battle between dark and light, right and wrong. According to Brooks, “This is a song about making a deal with the devil …when you cross that bridge and can’t get that piece of yourself back.”
The end song of the album, “I Was Telling Him About You,” was written by Moose Charlap and Don George in 1956 and made popular by Nancy Wilson in 1973. Brooks notes about the song: “Again, it’s about the battle within ourselves, the tightrope we walk between what we want to do but know that we shouldn’t do.”
“Soliloquy to me is about the struggles and triumphs we encounter on our odyssey through life — the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we become. I sought to present the two sides of the coin on this album—the good and bad, the joy and sadness, and the strength it takes to just be human.”
Soliloquy arrives June 5, 2026.
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