Some records slip in quietly. This one feels like it has been waiting years to exist. Lisa Marie Simmons and Marco Cremaschini have spent a long time building a world that moves and refuses simple answers. Jazz, spoken word, electronica, gospel, hip-hop, free verse, cinematic arrangements. All of it folds into itself here, and what comes out is something that feels real and breathing.
Simmons grew up in Boulder, spent her early years as a writer and performer in New York, and now lives in Italy. Cremaschini brings the sensibility of European jazz to the work. Together they have created something that people in the scene are calling a global jazz hybrid, and honestly it fits. The record shifts from quiet, intimate moments to passages that burn with intention, and the lyrics hold both the personal and political at the same time. This is music that does not talk down to you.
The album starts with “Intro” featuring the extraordinary sound of Christof Bernhard on gong, and across thirteen tracks it pulls together an incredible range of people. Gillian Margot, the Toronto vocalist who has performed with Sting and Robert Glasper, sings on “Once Upon This Time”. Jamaaladeen Tacuma, whose bass work has been central to avant-garde jazz since his time with Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time band, shows up on “Taijitu” with percussionist Maurizio Giannone and vocalist Chanele McGuinness. Vernon Reid, founder and guitarist of Living Colour, brings his presence to “Solid Ground (Meet Me There)” and the closing “Outro”. Charu Suri, a Grammy nominated pianist and the first Indian-born jazz composer to perform at Carnegie Hall, adds something quietly powerful to “Winner Takes All”. Dorian Holley and Nayanna Holley share space on “No Time at All”, two voices that have appeared on some of the most important stages and soundtracks of the last twenty years.
Then there is “Solid Ground (Meet Me There)” with The Flamingos: Theresa Trigg and Terry Isaiah Johnson. For anyone who knows American music history, that name means something real. Terry Isaiah Johnson was a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, the man who arranged The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes for You”. He passed away on October 8, 2025, just twelve days after this album came out. His appearance here is one of his final recordings, and it matters.
The band at the core is Simmons with Cremaschini on piano and keyboards, Manuel Caliumi on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Marco Cocconi on electric bass, and Federico Negri on drums. Laura Masotto adds violin to “Submersion”. It is a group that trusts each other, and you hear it in how the music moves.