My review of Yeahwon Shin's delicate Lua Ya (w/ Aaron Parks) today @All About Jazz.

Korean-born now New York-resident singer Yeahwon Shin leaves the largely Brazilian-informed repertoire of her 2010 ArtistShare debut, Yeahwon, behind for a most worthy return to her roots with Lua Ya, her ECM debut that, released late in the summer of 2013, is still worthy of a look as the new year begins. Featuring, on a few tracks, accordionist Rob Curto, Lua Ya is largely a duo recording with pianist Aaron Parks, whose own ECM leader debut, Arborescence, has already made it onto a number of "best of" lists for 2013. A gently transcendent and calming way to begin the New Year, Lua Ya is dedicated to mothers and children everywhere, its collection of songs and lullabies the perfect salve for these rapid-paced and troubled times. Experiencing Lua Ya is like finding a quiet, pastoral retreat, only in this case it's a place that can be found anywhere, anytime.

The genesis of the recording is worth hearing. Visiting Mechanics Hall, near Boston in November, 2011, where Parks was in the process of recording Arborescence, the pianist and singer found an instant connection, the room's intimate acoustics encouraging Shin to consider a duo recording that, while predicated on melodies from her childhood, would become instant grist for improvisational interaction with Parks. What is, indeed, most remarkable about Lua Ya is how Shin and Parks seamlessly integrate; sometimes adhering tightly to the melodies at the source of their music, but elsewhere taking leaps sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic, into unexpected terrain.

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