We Speak Music

The Violet Mine Share New Album ‘White Night’

Published

3 years ago

February 16, 2024

When up is down and black is white, how do you make sense of what makes no sense? Maintaining equanimity, innocence, and authenticity within a world of deep fakes, media manipulation, and 24-hour news is what inspired many of the ten songs on The Violet Mine’s new album White Night. Slated for release on February 16, 2024, White Night is a collaboration between singer-songwriter, Meredith Minogue and songwriter-guitarist, Jim Barry along with an all-star cast of local New York City musicians who have collaborated with the duo for years.

On their latest compilation, the band delivers their eclectic blend of alternative, melodic indie-folk and rock and roll. White Night is an atmospheric tapestry with splashes of new wave and dream pop that explores themes of vulnerability, exploitation, and faith.

The duo approaches the recording process like painting a picture. The recordings start as live band performances in the studio that are then layered with textures of other instruments to create the perfect environment for the lyrics to shine and tell the story of the song.

The opener, Perfect Host, begins with an organ swell and acoustic guitar sending an innocent songwriter into the uncertain world of the music business. The frantic, off-kilter rhythms of Some Say are reminiscent of a Punch & Judy puppet show going off the rails. Air Ride’s sleek stylized rock tells the story of a paranoid, panic-stricken traveler and a slick hijacker intersecting during the golden age of air travel. So, the Devil, an apocalyptic rainstorm drenched in a harmonium drone, closes the album.

Speaking of the focus track, The Violet Mine comments, “‘Do No Harm’ was written and recorded at home on the first day of the COVID lockdown in New York. The lyrics focus on the historical character of the plague doctor. These unqualified doctors traveled from town to town grifting desperate people who were dying from the disease. Their appearance, which included a primitive “respirator” fashioned from a beak stuffed with herbs to ward off bad air, signaled to townspeople that death was near.”

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We Speak Jazz

Zahili Zamora Wins Two Global Music Awards and Brings Her Afro-Cuban Jazz Quartet to Regattabar

Published

1 hour ago

November 2, 2026

We Speak Media

Zahili Zamora seated in a burgundy dress, her braided hair styled in a top bun

Zahili González Zamora. Photo by Robert Torres.

Afro Cuban jazz pianist Zahili Zamora brings her Afro Cuban Jazz Quartet to The Regattabar at The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, Cambridge, on Friday, November 6 at 7 pm, with special guest Yosvany Terry on saxophone. The quartet features Gerson Lazo Quiroga on bass and Zack O’Farrill on drums. Tickets are $35 and $25 plus fees and are on sale now.

Zamora returns this week from a week in Seoul, Korea, where she was performing and auditioning students for Berklee. She has won two Global Music Awards for her recent album Overcoming, taking Silver Medals for Latin Jazz and Afro Cuban music and for album art and graphics. She is also nominated for the Boston Music Awards 2026 Latin Artist of the Year, with winners announced at Big Night Live on Wednesday, December 16, and WBUR has saluted her as one of its 2026 Makers, its annual series highlighting creatives of color making an impact in the local arts scene. Earlier this year she also won the InterContinental Music Award 2026 for Best of Latin America for her composition “Negra.”

The run of dates continues overseas and back in New York. The Zahili Zamora Afro Cuban Jazz Trio, with Gerson Lazo Quiroga on bass and Julien Miltenberger on drums, plays Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London on Sunday, November 15, with shows at 2 pm and 8 pm. Zamora then plays duo sets with clarinetist Juan Fer Ruiz at So & So’s in New York on Saturday, November 28, Five Spot Jazz in New York on Sunday, November 29, Fat Swami’s Jazz Bar & Lounge in Guttenberg, New Jersey on Thursday, December 3, and The Delancey on Thursday, December 10.

About special guest Yosvany Terry, The New York Times has written that the Cuban saxophonist, percussionist and composer “has helped redefine Latin jazz as a complex new idiom.” Bassist Gerson Lazo Quiroga, a Chilean born Berklee Presidential Scholar, has performed at Carnegie Hall, SFJAZZ and the Montreal, Monterey, San Jose and Panama Jazz Festivals. Drummer Zack O’Farrill, son of pianist Arturo O’Farrill and grandson of composer Chico O’Farrill, performs regularly across the United States and the globe.