Artist Focus: Meet Alexia Gardner – the British jazz artist whose fresh interpretation of old-school standards is turning heads.

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Alexia Gardner’s new album, Feeling the Love, Songs of My Mother, Songs of My Father, is a love letter to the music that inspired her incredible voice. Lead single ‘Great Day’ is a richly rewarding treat.

Jazz singer Alexia Gardner has shared her new album with the world as she continues demonstrating why she’s one of the genre’s best artists.

Feeling the Love, Songs of My Mother, Songs of My Father was released earlier in 2023 and features ten tracks from across the jazz, soul, and gospel music canon. Gardner’s cover selections are interesting in and of themselves, with everyone from Quincey Jones to Miseducation-era Lauryn Hill covered here. With each track chosen, there’s an apparent effort to mold the music to Alexia’s incredible voice.

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Alexia’s journey has been exciting and varied for those who haven’t followed the artist’s career. As a British singer with Jamaican roots, Alexia began her career in her teens by touring with the British Cabaret Circuit in England and Wales alongside her sister Paula. The duo worked under the name ‘High Profile,’ their beguiling harmonic voices quickly earned them a reputation nationally.

As she continued to be a promising singer, Alexia embarked on a very different – but gratifying – career as an English and Drama teacher in her hometown of Birmingham. She kept performing even as she was teaching, though. And, as she continued to sing, she found her niche in jazz music.

As a solo artist, Alexia’s music career took her to places she never would have expected going to. Her music has led her to perform on luxury cruise liners across the Mediterranean and at luxury hotel groups in Asia. She even had the honor of singing for several Heads of State in her lifetime, including the late Nelson Mandela in Kuala Lumpur in 2001.

Moreover, Alexia has been recording studio albums since as far back as 2002. Her music – which includes covers of tracks that she loves, covers of tracks that she thinks are underappreciated, and covers of tracks that fit her sublime voice – has earned her a massive fanbase. With her latest release, Feeling the Love, Songs of My Mother, Songs of My Father, that fanbase will only increase.

One of the stand-out tracks of Alexia’s latest album is ‘Great Day,’ a rousing cover of Sarah Vaughan’s 1961 jazz track (originally written by Edward Eliscu, Billy Rose, and Vincent Youmans). In this version, Alexia sets herself apart by basking in the beauty that her voice has to offer. ‘Great Day’ is a joyous gospel track; its music, lyrics, and sentiment deserve to shine brightly (rather than be tucked away in the bushel basket). Alexia does full justice to that sometimes-forgotten idea that jazz songs shouldn’t merely be reconstructed when they’re covered – they should be made to shine anew.

Trust us, ‘Great Day’ shines brightly.

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