“NoteSpeak (In a Word)” is the kind of album that’s been building toward itself for years, and when you finally hear it, you understand why Lisa Marie Simmons and Marco Cremaschini needed all that time.
Lisa Marie Simmons grew up in Boulder, spent her formative years as a writer and performer in New York, and now works from Italy. Marco Cremaschini brings a distinctly European jazz perspective. Together, they’ve created what’s been called a global jazz hybrid, and that’s actually the most accurate shorthand available. Jazz sits here alongside spoken word, electronica, hip hop, r&b, and cinematic arrangement. Nothing stays in one place long enough to be comfortable.
The record moves between moments of real tenderness and passages that burn with intention. Simmons’ lyrics balance the personal with the political in a way that demands you actually listen. This isn’t music content. This is music that believes its audience can keep up.
The collaborators tell you something about what this project means. Gillian Margot, who’s shared stages with Sting and Robert Glasper. Jamaaladeen Tacuma, whose bass work shaped avant-garde jazz alongside Ornette Coleman. Vernon Reid of Living Colour. Grammy-nominated pianist Charu Suri. And then Theresa Trigg and Terry Isaiah Johnson of The Flamingos, a pairing that carries real historical weight. Johnson, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, passed away just twelve days after this album’s release. His appearance here is one of his final recordings.
The core band—Lisa Marie Simmons, Marco Cremaschini on piano and keyboards, Manuel Caliumi on saxophone and bass clarinet, Marco Cocconi on electric bass, Federico Negri on drums—moves with the kind of intuition that only comes from genuine trust. You hear it in the space between the notes.
This is Lisa Marie Simmons and Marco Cremaschini’s third album in the NoteSpeak trilogy. The second won Best Spoken Word Album at the World Entertainment Awards. This one’s already earning recognition from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and the American Songwriters Song Contest. Previous installments received five stars from DownBeat and praise from All About Jazz that placed the work in serious company.
The influences run deep: Nina Simone, Gil Scott-Heron, Fela Kuti, the Coltranes, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde. On another axis entirely, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan. Contemporary voices like Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, and Rhiannon Giddens. It reads like name-dropping until you listen, and then you realize it’s just honesty. You hear all of it, not as imitation but as the weight of a life spent taking music and language seriously.