This past May, New York-based pianist, singer, composer, and teacher-entrepreneur Brenda Earle Stokes released her fifth album, Motherhood, reviewed on All About Jazz as "an honest and open-hearted look at the scope of selflessness and self-discovery involved with maternal matters." A fully-realized thematic album, Motherhood's ten songs take us through the intricate emotional and experiential landscape of becoming, and then being, a mother and working musician.
Recorded in New York City in October, 2023, the album features Stokes (compositions, voice, piano), Evan Gregor (bass), Ross Pederson (drums), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Melissa Stylianou (backing vocals), and Nicole Zuraitis (backing vocals).
Full disclosure: When Zuraitis, fresh from her Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy win, was unavailable to perform on the New York City Motherhood CD release concert, Stokes asked me to fill in for her. Preparing for the date, I was struck by how unusual, and how very good, the music is.
People often compare creating a work of art to having a child, and several of the album's tracks express feelings not at all unlike those I've had when working on a project: excitement, uncertainty, anticipation, hopefulness. This is reflected powerfully in the album's first track, "The Endless Wait," which is also the first song Stokes wrote for the project. The other song ideas unfolded over the course of several years, with Stokes writing most of them during a 2019 residency at Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. In late July, Brenda and I met on Zoom to talk about the genesis of the album and the process of, yes, bringing it to life.