I’m so excited to share my new album, Beneath the Skin, it’s a collection of deeply held songs exploring love, loss, and the power of the feminine gaze.
For nearly four decades, I’ve shared my heart through song, standing on stages across the world, interpreting the jazz tradition with love, depth, and authenticity. But today, I’m inviting you into a new chapter—one that’s perhaps the most personal of all.
My latest album, Beneath the Skin, is my first collection of all original songs. These songs came to me in the quiet, in the ache of absence, in the beauty of remembering. They are stories—of love, of loss, of what we carry and how we grow. They are also celebrations of resilience and joy-the call and response of life
Alongside the music and touring, my new book, Beneath the Skin of Sorrow: Improvisations on Loss (published by Duke University Press), offers another path through the landscape of grief. After losing my beloved husband Phil and my dear sister Debbie, I turned to improvisation—not just in music, but in life—as a guide. This book is a meditation, a witness, a hand to hold for anyone navigating the raw and sacred territory of loss.
Both the album and the book are born of the same creative breath. They speak to one another. They ask: How do we keep singing when our hearts are broken? How do we make meaning from the silence?
These works are a love letter—to Phil, to my sister, to family, to all who have known sorrow and still choose joy.
Thank you for being here. I’m honored to share this journey with you.
With love,
Nnenna
My last two Grammy-nominated recording projects Time Traveler (2022) and Ancestars (2024) have centered my sojourn with grief and love. On Beneath the Skin, I’m excited to celebrate a nearly 40-year music career with my first recording of original songs. These are new stories written from the pieces of my life stitched together by love and family. Alan Pasqua leads the ensemble on piano, Keith Ganz, guitar Jonathan Richards bass and Steve Hass on drums. An Origin records release, I’d be honored if you take a listen
Over a period of just six months, eminent jazz vocalist and composer Nnenna Freelon’s life changed irrevocably. Her soulmate and husband of nearly forty years, the renowned architect Phil Freelon, passed away from ALS, her sister Debbie succumbed to cancer, and the family dog, Basie, died as well. In the immediate wake of these compounding losses, Freelon could not find a way to process or understand her grief and lost the ability to read, sing, and improvise. The inner melody that had vibrated inside of her since childhood went silent. She then realized that the only way to move forward was to lean into her grief.
A podcast about loving greatly through grief.
Jazz singer Nnenna Freelon extends an invitation to improvise with loss in her award-winning podcast Great Grief. As a widow and self -described grief sojourner, Freelon uses tools she learned as a jazz musician to live with sorrow’s song. Bearing witness to loss and change with musically supported storytelling, listen to Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon. Find it wherever you find your podcasts.
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