Maria Jacobs is a singer-songwriter with a strong and attractive voice, and a wide range in musical interests. She was born and raised in Cleveland, spent an important decade living and performing in Southern California, and is now the vocal jazz professor at Kent State University. While she has been primarily known as a jazz singer, Ms. Jacobs has also performed r&b, pop, folk music, and gospel in her career, composing over 150 songs.

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            Perfect Is Your Will is a very special project for Maria Jacobs. A Christian, the singer performs two traditional religious pieces (“How Great Thou Art” and “Salve Regina”) and ten of her originals, all of which attest to her belief in God. While a few of the songs display the influence of jazz (such as “Tell Them About Me” which could be a sing-along, “You’re The God Of Peace,” and “You Are Highly Favored”), the music is primarily contemporary Christian music that is touched by folk and gospel.

 

            The singer, who forms her own choir via overdubbing on “How Great Thou Art” and plays piano on three numbers, is joined on many of the selections by Pete Tokar  on keyboards and programming. His keyboard work sometimes gives the music an otherworldly quality. Most notable among the other guests are organist Phillip K. Jones on “How Great Thou Art,” saxophonist Matt Horwich during “Rejoice Always” (which has some of Ms. Jacobs’ most soulful singing), and singer-pianist Dr. Reginald Bowens who on “You’re The God Of Peace” engages in some exciting interplay with the vocalist.

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            Throughout Perfect is your Will, Maria Jacobs engages in first class ballad singing, giving the lyrics the optimal amount of passion and restraint. Her sincerity, musicianship, and skill at writing songs (one could easily imagine “I Believe,” “Tell Them About Me,” and “Rejoice Always” catching on) along with her impressive singing (check out her beautiful final note on “My God Is Here”) surely makes this release one of the top contemporary Christian music collections of recent times.

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                                           --- Scott Yanow, Jazz Journalst, Historian, and Author

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