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With the March 20, 2020 release of debut album "Unraveled" on Outside In Music, Johnson steps out with her first album under her own name. Produced by bassist Steve Rodby of the Pat Metheny Group, it’s an arrestingly beautiful project by an extravagantly creative artist fully in control of her craft as an improviser, arranger, composer and bandleader. Rather than trying to make a splash with an ad-hoc cast of veteran all-stars, Johnson bided her time to record with the stellar musicians who’ve accompanied her on a years-long journey. She arranged all the pieces, but fully credits her bandmates, who first came together in 2014, with shaping the music over the course of dozens of gigs, particularly regular performances at the lamented Cornelia Street Café.
“I’ve been wanting to record for a while, and it took me time to really live with the music,” Johnson says. “It took me years to feel comfortable recording my stuff but we honed these pieces on stage and I’m so happy with how it turned out.”
Possessing a luminous, elastically crystalline soprano, she’s joined by a sterling band built on a highly responsive rhythm section with pianist Chris Ziemba, drummer Jeremy Noller, and bassist Matt Aronoff (who gained particularly relevant experience touring with Luciana Souza). Adding
 striking orchestral textures are violinist Tomoko Omura and Michael Sachs on bass clarinet and alto sax. The great Brazilian jazz musician Vitor Gonçalves adds masterly accordion work on two tracks.
The album opens with the gorgeous Johnson-arranged jazz/pop
excursion “No More ‘I Love You's’,” a hit for Annie Lennox originally written and recorded by the 1980s English duo The Lover Speaks (aka David Freeman and Joseph Hughes). Johnson accentuates the dreamy vibe with a gossamer setting, her voice gliding over Sachs’ woody bass clarinet counterlines.
Johnson includes two songs by her colleagues, but the album serves most significantly as a showcase for her impressive songwriting. The heart- bearing ballad “Love Again” revels in vulnerability, with a melody that rises as the emotional stakes get higher. Set to a seductively slinky groove played with precision by Noller, the title track combines a spritely, dancing melody with a devastating portrait of depression. The languorous “Lie In Wait” captures the nagging inner monologue inspired by prolonged separation in a relationship, and “These Days” is her captivating, art song setting for a verse by her brother, the poet Gentry Johnson.
The two songs contributed by her bandmates offer a glimpse into the deep pool of talent in which she’s delving. Michael Sachs composed and arranged the sumptuously detailed pop jazz song “Happy to Stay,” an exquisite melody buoyed by Tomoko Omura’s insistent pizzicato pulse. Omura, knowing Johnson’s affinity for Brazilian music, composed and arranged the unusual samba “Voice Is Magic” for Johnson, adding the additional challenge of a lyric in Japanese.
For sheer, breathtaking beauty, it’s hard to surpass pianist Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks,” a tune also known as “A Timeless Place” after vocalist Norma Winstone added her lyrics. Rarely sung until recently, the song requires tremendous poise, control and range, and Johnson makes the piece her own. Her abiding passion for the treasure-laden Brazilian songbook adds another jolt of creative energy to the album’s concluding tracks. She renders Jobim’s bossa nova standard “Dindi” in Portuguese with just the right sense of saudade (or wistful longing), while taking some liberties with the melody the second time around.
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Rob Mullins is a Grammy nominated composer with 39 albums out. Find Rob at his website at http://planetmullins.com

For video episodes and more visit Rob's channel at https://youtube.com/planetmullins