“Blackity Black Black Is Beautiful is the very first solo record by Fay Victor, whose 30-year-long music career has covered everything from House, New Music, Jazz (Blues) and Free Improvisation. Her deep history with dance music, her genreless output, and her lived experience as a Black woman in the world shaped the brand new process she used to create this prismatic album which touches on all the decades of her life like diary snapshots. It’s a mesmerizing collection of composed work that could only be made by an extraordinary improviser.
From hearing the raw, almost gospel vocal style over a heavy beat of Donna Summer and Sylvester, to obsessing over shows like Soul Train, Solid Gold, and Dance Fever on TV, to experiencing the sweat and groove, the freedom of bodies moving at NYC clubs like Danceteria, The Loft, and the Paradise Garage – her life changed forever. As she was developing as a jazz singer in Amsterdam in the 90s, she danced to trance music in clubs like Mazzo and The Soul Kitchen. She landed on the Billboard charts with a club hit “You Make Me Happy” in ’91. Stoned on the sacred dance floor, Fay found ecstasy in the moving body, the groove, the beat.
As she entered deeper into the world of jazz, she was attracted to the rhythmic qualities of Thelonious Monk, Eddie Harris, Eric Dolphy, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Betty Carter, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nicole Mitchell, Milford Graves, Julius Hemphill, Charles Mingus, Herbie Nichols. Their confrontational rhythm sends her soul leaping, connecting her back to her clubheadheart.
With Mavin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” as a template, Fay started thinking about how her solo album might unfold. She sang, played keyboards, added textures and further dimensions with no other humans, without electronics. That was her process. Thoroughly creative, composed with music and words straight from her spirit.”
Blackity Black Black is Beautiful is ALBUM OF THE DAY on Bandcamp!
https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/fay-victor-blackity-black-black-is-beautiful-review
CD/Digital OUT NOW via Bandcamp
| “This impressive album is a thoughtful, obviously personal journey of a unique and wise artist that trusts the power of music and knows that music can motivate people and bring positive change, even with one song.“ Eyal Hareuveni | https://salt-peanuts.eu/record/fay-victor/ |
| EDITOR’S CHOICE! “Fay Victor tells a first-person story about accidentally getting lost in Breezy Point, a private enclave in Queens that is a bastion of Trump supporters in liberal New York City, on “Breezy Point Ain’t Breezy,” the new single from her upcoming album, Blackity Black Black Is Beautiful.” | https://www.jazziz.com/jazziz-editors-choice-norah-jones-jon-batiste-antonio-adolfo-more/ |
| “Governorship/Senate (for Stacey Abrams)” From Blackity Black Black Is Beautiful makes the UK’s The Wire Playlist for August 2023 | https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/on-air/phil-england-presents-adventures-in-sound-and-music-68943 |
| One Man’s Jazz Playlist: Fay Victor, Tyshawn Sorey, Matthew Shipp & Jaimie Branch. “Vocalist Fay Victor‘s new solo album, Blackity Black Black Is Beautiful, is one of the featured new recordings in this episode of One Man’s Jazz.” | https://www.allaboutjazz.com/fay-victor-tyshawn-sorey-matthew-shipp-and-jaimie-branch-fay-victor |
| ALBUM OF THE DAY – AUGUST 24, 2023// BANDCAMP | https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/fay-victor-blackity-black-black-is-beautiful-review?utm_source=notification |
