Kadhja Bonet, Childqueen

Kadhja Bonet, Childqueen

The daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, Kadhja Bonet is a multi-instrumentalist with a tendency to obscure her jazz roots by dressing it up with sounds borrowed from other genres. Probably at least half a dozen genres suggest themselves as the music’s central framework — R&B, champer pop, folk and soul among them — each to be discarded after a song or two. At its heart, Childqueen is cosmic jazz; sunny, intricate, spacious and warm. Everything else is flavoring. Strings, woodwinds, electronic sounds, bass guitar and drums are all regular contributors, but Bonet’s prime instrument is, unmistakably, her voice, which floats and lilts and soars, often in three-part harmony with itself, warmly expanding into the benevolent ether of jazz that does not sound like jazz. Highlights: “Procession,” “Joy,” “Mother Maybe”

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Album Reviews by Stefan Wenger

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