Raul Midón is a singer-songwriter steeped in the jazz and Latin traditions, who received Grammy nominations in 2017 and 2018 in the Best Jazz Vocal Category.

His latest self-produced album, Lost & Found, adds elements of ‘alt-pop and smooth folk’ to the overall Latin jazz feel. Interestingly, the lyrics of the songs adopt a pessimistic and worldly-wise narrative focussing on life’s challenges, but the music itself is strongly upbeat and optimistic. In this, Midón is supported by the keys/piano, bass and drums trio of Federico Peña, Richard Hammond and Andrés Forero.

The opening title track, ‘Lost and Found’, sets the mood with lyrics talking of how a person facing life’s challenges can join Midón in Lost and Found. In ‘Going Away’, Midón sings of leaving for another place, leaving behind his problems and looking for peace of mind. However, on both of these tracks the nature of the music is highly rhythmic, positive and optimistic. On ‘Keep On Keeping On’, Midón suggests that ‘things will work out fine’ as long as he has his walking shoes.

On ‘A Condition of Love’, Midón is joined by the Ethiopian singer Wayne; they sing of ‘slowly drifting into love’, whereas on ‘The Ganja Song’ the focus is on the inspiration brought by cannabis.

Overall, the joyful nature of the music combined with lyrics focussing on life’s challenges gives the album a certain engaging charm. It is also extremely welcome that the words of the songs are clear and can be clearly heard by the listener.

Raul Midón is currently on a European tour and will play two dates in the UK: 

Friday 15 November: Trading Boundaries Restaurant, Sheffield Green, East Sussex, TN22 3RB, nr Fletching

Saturday 16 November: Soul Mama, Gantry Hotel (Curio Collection by Hilton), London, E20 1DB

from https://ukjazznews.com