Kim Nalley - Lullabies For My Daughters (2019)

When I went into Studio D to record this children's album, it took a couple of tries before I got my band to change gears. I told them this album is for my daughters and other babies. We aren't impressing jazz critics, we aren't trying to win awards, we are simply going to play some beautiful, quiet, music. Less is more. Once all the egos were put aside, we ended up playing what I think is the best music we have ever recorded. For those of you who know me for my powerful multi-octave voice, get ready to hear something completely different. The song selection was dictated by my daughters and the hushed sound is my sound when my stage is the edge of the bed and my audience is my babies."For Lydia" is an original tune written by Tammy Hall as a birth present when Lydia was born. There are original additional lyrics to "Hush Little Baby" written by me. I try to stretch that song out as long as I can to lull my daughters to sleep. This is an intimate snapshot of me as a mother. I hope you enjoy it.

With an international reputation as one of world's best jazz & blues vocalists, Kim Nalley has graced concert halls from Moscow to Lincoln Center and festivals from Umbria Jazz to Monterey Jazz. She had a solid background in classical music before switching to Jazz for the freedom it provided. A true Renaissance woman, Kim Nalley has been a featured writer for JazzWest and SF Chronicle's City Brights, shortlisted for a Grammy nomination, a produced playwright, and the former jazz club owner of Jazz at Pearl’s. She is a Ph.D. candidate in history at UC Berkeley, and an avid Lindy Hop & blues dancer. She was shortlisted by Downbeat Critics Poll in 2017 as a "Rising Star" (Deserving Wider Recognition) and all of her albums have charted on Jazz Week. Nalley's many philanthropic endeavors include founding the Kim Nalley Black Youth Jazz Scholarship. She has collaborated and performed with artists such as Rhoda Scott, Terri Lynn Carrington, Angela Davis, David "Fathead" Newman, Houston Person, James Williams, Branford Marsalis, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.