Delandria Mills – Manifestation

Delandria Mills
Manifestation
Demi Music 2008
www.myspace.com/kingdomflutist

Despite her youth, inspirational jazz artist Delandria Mills sounds like a product of the 1950s and 1960s era of the small jazz combo.

As a result, Mills’ new album Manifestation has a timeless quality, as if it could just as easily have been recorded in 1960 as this morning. The meaty retro feel comes, no doubt, from Mills’ introduction to the recordings of Bird and Trane while at Houston’s High School for the Visual and Peforming Arts.

Recorded in February 2005 but released only recently, Manifestation is a cleanly produced, solid, well-crafted work by an artist with a real talent for melding classical and jazz performance technique. The album’s thirteen songs are sophisticated, elegant and graceful, propelled by Mills’ butterfly-like flute trills and runs.

The flutist’s musicians are equally accomplished and creative, exuding the easy swing and shuffle of a late-night jam session. Although most of the tracks are instrumental, some include snatches of vocals that are atmospheric but still in step with the album’s ambience.

Mills holds a master’s degree in music from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and was the National Flute Association’s Jazz Flute Competition Winner in 2003. She is also a member of Tye Tribbett’s backing band Soundcheck. In addition to playing the flute, Mills sings and writes. She does all of these on Manifestation.

As I’ve noted before on TBGB, it is hard for me to get my head around why some jazz is considered “inspirational” and other jazz is not, especially when lyrics are not involved. Or perhaps all of jazz is inspirational in that it inspires imagination, dreams, wonderment and contemplation. I don’t know, and there are as many opinions on the subject as there are inspirational jazz enthusiasts.

But whether you consider Manifestation “inspirational jazz” or just “jazz,” or Delandria Mills a “kingdom flutist” or simply a “jazz flutist” – and believe me, the average listener doesn’t know the difference – you can’t help but enjoy this lovely CD. It is a musician’s album, oozing with impressive, quality performances.

Four of Five Stars