It's always a pleasure to discover a debut album that's full of quality music sung by a singer with a great, memorable voice. And that's just what Mia Miata has done with her Urban Arias album.
Mia and her producer Kendall Leonard like to describe their sound as Jazzy Soul, which is ok if you like to stick a label on your music for marketing and promotinal purposes. But in fact, this is just a great soul album with jazz influences and due to the inclusion of some vibes some songs are reminiscent of better Roy Ayers songs.
Mia has a rich soprano that ranges over 3 ½ octaves. She has been classically trained at the Baltimore School for the Arts in Vocal Performance and has performed with the Morgan State University Choir, the Philadelphia Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Bonn Orchestra in Bonn Germany. A fact that finds its expression in the title track, Urban Aria, which is in fact an aria inspired by the traditional negro spirutal Lord, How Come Me Here. Certainly something you wouldn't expect on a soul album but nevertheless a pleasant surprise.
Jazzy Soul A La Mode is a great musical defintion of what Mia's music is all about. With vibes, flutes, piano and saxophone (all played by Kendall Leonard) this is an instant winner that let's you gasping for more. And you get more with Pulse To The World, another warm instrumented, organic soul song.
Mia's emphasis is not only on quality music, at the same time she comes along with a mission in her lyrics. Or like Mia says herself: "Urban Arias are the unsung songs of the people of the African Diaspora. Jazz is the classical musical genre of the Americas. It is the foundation from which all other American genres originate. I come from a choral classical background, and I have long been fascinated with the combination of instruments and voices. I wanted to use heavy percussion, bass, flute, vibraphone, flamenco guitar, and saxophone to help narrate my lyrics."
So listen carefully to the lyrics of songs like Manchild ("Doors have been open for you/ Don't let them close forever/ Stand up, be a man. Be true to you/ With conviction you can conquer any endeavor") or Birth Of The Earth ("Within you lies the birthplace of all mankind/ The energy of man and woman combined/ You are the masterpiece of all creation/ You hold the power in your womb to birth a nation/ Can't allow them to disrespect us").
Heavy On Your Mind sees Mia paying hommage to her musical heros over a nice jazz-soul song ("In another lifetime, place, space or era our souls were doing the lindy hop and 'Stompin' At The Savoy'/ We at peace our hearts were overjoyed/ As the needle hits the wax once again/ I am serenaded by Miles, Davis that is").
Music Is is some kind of mantra to Mia's relationship with music ("Music is my religion/ Music is my therapy/ Music is my inspiration/ My reason for being") and the song has a nice, relaxed feeling with a great saxophone solo by Kendall Leonard.
I could go on with mentioning the quality of all songs on Urban Arias, which - by the way - were all written by Mia, but since there's not a dull one amongst them I just give you the advice to visit Mia's website to hear some sound snippets.
Just when you thought, you've heard it all before in the neo soul genre along comes an unique artist like Mia and breathes new life into the music. So make sure you don't miss it.