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Across cultures the world over, the word echo, well, echoes. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the mountain nymph Echo's voice was cursed so that she could only repeat the words of others. In Arabic, ????? (?ada) - meaning Inchecho,Inch Inchring,Inch InchresonanceInch - deeply connotes longing, memory. Given her Japanese heritage, the revered, Brooklyn-based composer, vocalist, shamisen player, and educator EMI Makabe was drawn to her native language's unique iteration eko. InchIt shares the English pronunciation, but it means praying for people who have passed away,Inch Makabe explains. Which resonated deeply with her, as her father passed away in 2021. InchIt was during the pandemic, so nobody could visit,Inch Makabe says. InchI watched him as he was taken to the hospital in a wheelchair, and I was praying that he might turn around just once. He didn't turn back - and that was the last time I saw him.Inch Yet a soul refraction still transpired - one poignantly documented on Echo, Makabe's second album, due May 16 via Sunnyside. Featuring a masterful band in bassist and backing vocalist Thomas Morgan; pianist, accordionist and Wurlitzer organist Vitor Gonçalves; and drummer, percussionist, vibraphonist, and electronicist Kenny Wollesen, Echo also features the estimable talents of guitarist Bill Frisell, MC Meshell Ndegeocello, and pianist Jason Moran. Echo follows Makabe's 2020 debut album, Anniversary, which also featured her trio of Morgan, Gonçalves and Wollesen. JazzTimes noted her ingenuity in bringing the shamisen - a fretless, three-stringed lute - into a jazz context, praising her Inchlight, clear soprano... agile and accurateInch and her writing, which has Inchonly deepened... without losing it's tuneful brio.Inch Elsewhere, New York Music Daily hailed her Inchrapturous, adventurous Japanese folk-influenced jazz,Inch and PostGenre called it Inchunderstated and refin
