For Your GRAMMY® Consideration

LUBA MASON • TRIANGLE

LUBA MASON JOE LOCKE JAMES GENUS SAMUEL TORRES RENATO NETO

Category #31 • Best Improvised Jazz Solo
Track | “Haled’s Song” - Joe Locke, Vibraphone
Track | “In Walked Bud” - James Genus, Acoustic Bass

Category #32 • Jazz Vocal Album
Album | Triangle - Luba Mason

Category #66 • Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals
Track | “Ticket To Ride”
Arrangers: Joe Locke, Luba Mason

Track | “Toxicity” Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals
Arrangers: Felipe Fournier, Luba Mason

Category #67 • Packaging
Vinyl Album | Triangle
Art Director: Orosman de la Guardia, Luba Mason

Category #71 • Production
Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Album | Triangle
Mixing Engineer: Todd Whitelock
Mastering Engineer: Mark Wilder

The Tracks

Below is the SoundCloud widget with all of the TRIANGLE tracks as embedded above. If there is a blank space, it must mean that you are viewing this in the newest version of Safari or there is some other problem with the widget. If you’d like to listen to the full album on SoundCloud, go to [ TRIANGLE here ]

PresS

JAZZIZ
“…a version of The Beatles’ classic ‘Ticket to Ride’ like you’ve never heard before, courtesy of the surprising instrumentation and the production work of
Prince collaborator Renato Neto.” 

DOWNBEAT ★★★★
“Her voice is great and left confidently plain. Mason doesn’t need acrobatics. She’s there.”

BILLBOARD
“Luba Mason’s voice is a supple instrument that can traverse many styles…[she] shines a light on her versatility in her new album TRIANGLE with
unexpected covers of well-known songs, ranging from The Beatles’ ‘Ticket To Ride’ to System of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’...it’s an impressive and
tasteful performance."

ALL ABOUT JAZZ ★★★1/2
“A bass and vibraphone rhythm section is rarely employed. Based on this outing from Genus and Locke one might wonder why. They fitted like a glove,
played off each other really well, and their collective sound was spot on. As for Mason, is there any song or type of song she can't sing and turn
into exactly what she wants it to be? A uniquely gifted and talented woman for certain.”

BISTRO AWARDS
“Smart, funny, sensitive, playful…Ms. Mason’s exquisite control and beautiful voice are wonderful, I’m so impressed with the depth of interpretation
Luba imparts in such an understated way…‘Ticket to Ride’ and ‘Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover’ are delightful surprises.”

BROADWAY WORLD
”Luba Mason brings to the light what may be her best album yet…she is here to break barriers in the arts, to push envelopes, and to create something
unique, which is exactly what she has accomplished with TRIANGLE. The sound is fresh, it's sexy, it’s innovative.”

JAZZ WEEKLY
“Vocalist Luba Mason creates intimate moods in this live in-studio session with the deft support of vibist Joe Locke, bassist James Genus
and percussionist Samuel Torres." 

LA JAZZ SCENE
“[Mason] excels in this intimate setting which includes the warm ballad ‘Inolvidable’ and a duet with vibist Locke on  ‘Ceresne.’ Locke is a major
asset throughout both as a soloist and accompanying the singer while Genus and Torres are subtle and swinging in support."

SOUNDS OF TIMELESS JAZZ
“Overall the diversity and beauty of TRIANGLE are why you’ll love this recording. The choice of songs and the rarely heard format of vibraphone,
bass, and vocals in a trio setting is another reason to add this remarkable recording to your collection.”

PROJECT BIO

With her last album, Mixtura, vocalist Luba Mason established her own musical genre, a “blend of different musical currents” that draws upon a staggeringly eclectic palette of influences and approaches. Her breathtaking new release, Triangle, carries the concept forward with a wholly unique, spare yet vibrant new line-up. Captured before an intimate gathering of invited friends, family, and fans at Manhattan’s renowned Power Station studio, the album features an unprecedented trio of vocals, vibraphone, and bass featuring master musicians Joe Locke and James Genus and produced by longtime Prince collaborator Renato Neto.

Triangle exemplifies the passion for fresh perspectives and unexpected choices that led Mason to trademark the “Mixtura” name. The material is jaw-droppingly diverse: from pop classics by the Beatles and Paul Simon to a Monk standard, a Slovak folk song and a recent Broadway hit, and surely the first time that Brazilian legend Antonio Carlos Jobim and heavy metal band System of a Down have been represented in the same repertoire.

“My tastes span the musical spectrum,” says Mason. “I like to represent that in my performances. By trademarking ‘Mixtura,’ I wanted to challenge the accepted musical formats that tells one that you need to record or perform in one specific genre, and to give the artists complete freedom from labels or limits.”

While Mixtura was realized by a six-piece ensemble, Mason wanted to pare down the line-up for her follow-up, eager for more space to explore and greater opportunity for focused dialogue with her collaborators. But true to form, the idea of a traditional piano, bass and drums band felt too familiar. It was Neto’s left-field suggestion to experiment with vibes and bass, a format that has never been attempted before in the annals of jazz.

Despite its seeming limitations, the unique trio proves to be as thrilling as it is diverse. The joyful opener, composer Sxip Shirey’s “Bach, Stevie Wonder and Janelle Monae,” is both a love letter to the music of one’s mind and something of a “Mixtura” anthem. The yearning “Haled’s Song About Love” comes from David Yazbeck’s Tony-sweeping 2017 Broadway musical The Band’s Visit. Colombian percussionist Samuel Torres makes the first of three appearances on the Lennon/McCartney classic “Ticket To Ride,” remaining for the Jobim favorite “Waters of March.”

The coming-of-age folk song “Ceresne,” performed in duo with Locke, is Mason’s tribute to the Slovak community in which she was raised. Its wrenching emotion stands in stark contrast to the buoyant swing of the trio’s take on Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud.” The oft-recorded bolero “Inolvidable” is the vocalist’s nod to her Latinx fanbase, while “Toxicity,” which retains the tension if not the brutal volume of the System of a Down original, is the album’s most shocking piece. The Frank Loesser/Jimmy McHugh standard “Say It” is rendered with a lush tenderness before Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” with Torres, concludes in high spirits with an audience clap-along.

The challenge of venturing into unexplored territory comes naturally to Mason, in part a natural outgrowth of her unique background. A first-generation American of Slovak descent, she grew up in Astoria, Queens, and studied classical piano and voice. She went on to realize her dream of starring on Broadway, with performances in Jekyll & Hyde and Paul Simon’s The Capeman, starring as Velma in Chicago opposite Brooke Shields and in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Matthew Broderick, among others.  At the same time, she’s enjoyed a rich life in jazz, dueting with Al Jarreau on the legendary singer’s final recording and collaborating with such esteemed musicians as Hubert Laws, Randy Brecker, Jimmy Haslip, and Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Most recently Mason learned to play the drums for her role in Conor McPherson’s Girl From the North Country, the critically acclaimed Broadway musical based on the songs of Bob Dylan. After the year-long pandemic, shut-down, performances, have returned to Broadway’s Belasco Theatre again with Luba in the role of Mrs. Burke. Making the transition from stage to screen, Mason has guest-starred in episodes of shows like Law & Order and Person of Interest and co-starred with her husband, the Panamanian musician, actor, and activist Rubén Blades, in Tonya Pinkins’ recent political horror film Red Pill.

Mason’s acting talents come to bear in her musical life as well, allowing her to fluidly segue between genres and emotions as if taking on a new role with each song. Triangle is her fourth solo album, following her 2004 debut Collage, the Brazilian-inspired Krazy Love, and the genre-defying Mixtura. It was on Krazy Love that she first worked and co-wrote original songs with Neto, a native of Brazil who played keyboards in Prince’s New Power Generation band off and on for nearly a decade.

“I respect Renato tremendously as a musician,” Mason says. “He has impeccable taste. But the most important aspect of our relationship is trust. When you work with a producer, you’re putting your baby into their hands. I really trusted that Renato would take care of it and bring it to its best potential.”

As soon as she determined to act on Neto’s offbeat suggestion, Mason knew that she had to find just the right musicians to realize such an improbable sound. In Locke she enlisted one of the leading voices on the instrument, a versatile and virtuosic vibraphonist whose wide range of collaborators has included Grover Washington Jr., Cecil Taylor, Dianne Reeves, The Beastie Boys and Ron Carter. A familiar figure from his long tenure as bassist for the Saturday Night Live band, James Genus is also an acclaimed jazz bassist whose three-decade career includes work with Herbie Hancock, Dave Douglas, Branford Marsalis, Chick Corea, and Michael Brecker, among countless others.

For Your Grammy® Consideration Luba Mason • Triangle