By MAURIZIO SPENNATO | altriSuoni.org |December 2006
(Thanks to Stephan Cocron for translating the article from the original Italian into English)

A New Leaf is the very diverse and interesting debut CD from pianist and composer Ramona Borthwick. Indian by origin and English by adoption, Borthwick avoids every temptation of dominating or abusing her position with respect to her valid collaborators , and instead gives each of her fellow musicians the space they need to fully express themselves creatively, resulting in a resounding success.

In this project Ramona takes on many different styles of music, from ballads, like the track A New Leaf, to the passages of Home, which starts with a strong rhythmic component and then moves to flamboyant, almost tribal repetitive vocals, and then flows to unexpected resolutions and modern, original phrases that seem to want to repeat over and over again; in short, the song spans the entire cycle of the evolution of human musical expression, ranging from the early rudimentary beginnings to the construction of more contemporary avant-garde and innovative styles.

But there is no lack of other musical styles on this CD, which features some latin jazz tracks as well as influences from other parts of the world. These influences can be heard coming from the likes of Argentinean bassist Fernando Huergo, the strong and evocative presence of American trumpetist Phil Grenadier, as well as constant support of Israeli drummer Ziv Ravitz and finally the result of Borthwick’s passionate search for additional vocals leading to singer, bassist, and composer, Esperanza Spalding.

All of the tracks were composed by Ramona, with the exception of Two’s Complement, which was co-written by trusted collaborator Noel Borthwick, and Dark Secrets of Three Blind Mice, which was written entirely by Noel. Apart from being the guitarist of the group, Noel supervised all of the technical aspects of the CD; his regular gig is “software engineer” in the music industry, developing digital audio for recording engineers from around the world.

All the work is then pervaded by a subtle poetic vein (inspiration), which becomes palpable in the printed lyrics that complete the music and in which the individual tracks are commented on by Ramona and accompanied by delicate verses of poetry.

The result, then, is music, and poetry, but much more than that: even the graphical aspects of the CD were designed by Ramona, because as a complete artist, it is clear that all of visual, graphical, and Web, etc, arts, are all interconnected. All you need to do is take a glance at her website and you will see right away that she is a truly accomplished, “all encompassing” artist…

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(Original article as published in the Italian magazine AltriSuoni)

Molto vario ed interessante questo A New Leaf, il primo CD inciso da leader dalla pianista e compositrice, indiana di origine ed inglese di adozione, Ramona Borthwick che, evitando ogni tentazione di protagonismo e di prevaricazione nei riguardi dei suoi validi collaboratori e lasciando a ciascuno tutto lo spazio necessario per esprimersi compiutamente, ha conseguito un risultato brillante.

In questo lavoro Ramona si è confrontata con diversi stili, dalle ballads, come nel brano A New Leaf, ai passaggi di Home, caratterizzati inizialmente da una forte componente ritmica e da vocalizzi ostentatamente ripetitivi, quasi tribali, e successivamente da risoluzioni inaspettate e fraseggi melodici moderni ed originali, che sembrano voler ripercorrere così, in breve, tutto il percorso evolutivo dell’espressione musicale del genere umano, dalle rudimentali espressioni delle origini ai costrutti più avanguardistici e spregiudicati dei giorni nostri.

Non mancano infatti spunti modali, brani in puro stile latin-jazz ed altre influenze musicali di varie parti del mondo, dovute anche all’incontro con il bassista argentino Fernando Huergo, alla presenza forte e significativa del trombettista statunitense Phil Grenadier, al sostegno costante del batterista di origine israeliana Ziv Ravitz e una sensibile ricerca in campo vocale della stessa Borthwick assistita dalla vocalist, ma anche bassista e compositrice, Esperanza Spalding.

Tutte le composizioni sono di Ramona, con l’eccezione di Two’s Complement, di cui è coautore il fidato Noel Borthwick e Dark Secrets of Three Blind Mice di cui è autore proprio Noel che, oltre ad essere il chitarrista del gruppo, ha curato gli aspetti tecnici del CD, anche grazie all’altra sua professione, quella di ‘software engineer’ che opera proprio nel campo dei software musicali e delle registrazioni digitali per note case di livello mondiale.

Tutto il lavoro è poi pervaso da una sottile vena poetica, che diventa palpabile nel libretto che completa la musica ed in cui, i singoli brani, sono commentati dalla stessa Ramona ed accompagnati da delicati versi di poesia.

Musica, dunque, e poesia, ma non solo: anche gli aspetti grafici del Cd sono stati curati da Ramona stessa; già, perché altra sua attività è proprio quella di occuparsi di arti grafiche, web e quant’altro ad essi connesso. Basta dare un’occhiata al suo sito per avere l’immediata percezione di un’artista ‘a tutto tondo’…

Maurizio Spennato

By RICK HOLLAND, JazzRadio247.com, September Issue, 2006

Ramona Borthwick’s A New Leaf is a new recording which introduces Ramona as a composer, bandleader and fine
pianist. She surrounds herself with some fine musicians including guitarist Noel Borthwick, to bring us a set of new music which pushes the boundaries both harmonically and rhythmically. The result is a fresh and creative disc that is not for the faint of heart.

One of the captivating things about Ramona’s music is she is so influenced by world rhythms, and she is able to incorporate these rhythmic ideas into her landscaped compositions. Her tunes convey contrast, and they seem to have a story-like quality to them. This is jazz music that reflects world ideals and these ideals are translated in a variety of ways to give the listener contrasting viewpoints.

Ramona is joined by Noel Borthwick, a fine guitarist, who is a proclaimed self-taught musician. However, Noel spent a year of private study with acclaimed Indian sarod player Shekhar Borkar. His primary concentration happened in his late teens. He began to develop a strong interest in bebop, modal and mainstream jazz styles, and was inspired by guitarists such as Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Jack Wilkins and the music of John Coltrane. Noel brings a genuine sense of joy to this project, and is a fine compliment to Ramona and her group. Continue reading →

TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF By JENETTE BARNES
The Standard Times, August 10, 2006

Whaling City Sound artist Ramona Borthwick says that what she loves about jazz is the improvisation. Rooted in traditional jazz, Ramona Borthwick’s sound reflects her
international life: She was born in India, and lived in Ottawa, Canada, before moving to Boston seven years ago. The jazz pianist will perform this evening as part of AHA! Night, a monthly arts and culture night in downtown New Bedford.

Her latest album, “A New Leaf,” released in May on Whaling City Sound, spans 10 years of composition and performance. One track, “Ottawa Thaw,” expresses her longing for spring after long Canadian winters; “Home” is a reminder of India, but makes a statement about feeling at home in other places, too, Ms. Borthwick said. “That’s what home really means,” she said, “is to make yourself at home where you are, (so) you are no longer pining. It’s just freeing. It’s kind of like comfort food.” Continue reading →

By KEN DRYDEN, AMG-Billboard, July 2006

Jazz pianist Ramona Borthwick, a native of India who has lived in Canada for a long time, makes her recording debut as a leader with A New Leaf, a quintet date which focuses on her formidable skills as a composer and arranger. Accompanied by guitarist Noel Borthwick, bassist Fernando Huergo, trumpeter Phil Grenadier, and drummer Ziv Ravitz,

Borthwick effortlessly blends influences from the music of many lands throughout the sessions.

The lush opener is the easygoing, Latin-flavored ballad “A New Leaf,” featuring a fragile solo by Grenadier that is reminiscent of Tom Harrell, along with Borthwick’s lyrical piano. Noel Borthwick contributed the brisk but eerie “Dark Secrets of Three Blind Mice,” in which the guitarist and trumpeter exchange licks over the pulsating rhythm section to build the tension until it releases into a more conventional post-bop setting. Vocalist Esperanza Spalding (with the pianist singing the rhythm underneath her lead) is added for the infectious, multicultural “Garbarero,” which blends elements of Argentinean and Indian rhythm in a powerful post-bop setting, as well as the lively samba “Lotus Lake.”

Ramona Borthwick has made a major statement with this superb initial release.

By MARSHALL ZUCKER, Jazz Improv Magazine, 2006 Summer Issue, Volume 6, #4

Although there are numerous influences on Ramona Borthwick’s music, the way she uses the many influences makes her music so much her own. The quintet (with an additional vocalist on two tracks) works as a unit throughout. We can only hear Ravitz featured on the final track and bassist Huergo only a bit more. All compositions were written by Borthwick, although track 3’s co-composer was Noel Borthwick and track 6 was Borthwick’s own composition.

The CD’s opener, its title track, takes us into a musical journey of such extreme depth, a feeling of such deep serenity and yearning, as well as great hope and subdued optimism that I would have been hoping to follow a similar journey as we travel throughout the CD. Trumpeter Grenadier’s beautiful sound is maintained throughout the solo. Borthwick seems to have listened to Bill Evans, but expresses herself very originally. The ten tracks that follow all go off in different directions. “Garbarero” begins with a wordless vocal. It is influenced by an Indian folk style, and is in 6/8. The other vocalist sings another line while the first still sings. Bassist Huergo is the element that keeps everything going. Once the solos begin- first trumpet, then guitar – there are alternating sections of straight-ahead swing and 6/8 time. There is a nice vocal/trumpet climax at the end. “Two’s Complement” also features changing rhythmic and harmonic directions. “Home” is the most extended of the pieces. The piano introduction demonstrates the Evan’s influence. Continue reading →

By VANGELIS ARAGIANNIS, Apopsy, July 2006

There are quite a few musicians hailing from India who have made a remarkable career in the US jazz scene during the last years. The most renowned among them are pianist Vijay Iyer, sax player Rudresh Mahanthappa and drummer Sunny Jain. A recent addition to this list is pianist Ramona Borthwick, who already makes her presence perceptible with her recording debut “A New Leaf”, just like the new leaf that “unfurls like a phrase on a staff” in her poem on the CD sleeve.

Ramona was born in Bombay, where she studied classical piano, discovered jazz while in her teens and settled in Boston after some years of residence in Canada. Compared to the three artists mentioned above she is more inclined to mainstream and less allusive to her birthplace’s tradition. The album is throughout dominated by lyricism and  Borthwick’s sentimental yet controlled playing. When she backs the piano with her vocals, she tends to enrich the music with latin feeling. This becomes more profound on the two tracks featuring Esperanza Spalding’s impressive scat vocals. Borthwick’s quintet also features her husband Noel Borthwick on guitar and the outstanding Phil Grenadier (Larry Grenadier, the bassist in Brad Mehldau Trio is his brother) on trumpet, mainly known by his superb work on Bruno Raberg’s recent albums.

By KARL STOBER, E-Jazz News, June 22, 2006

Ms. Borthwick is the treasure of the week under the Clef Notes signature. Borthwick’s energy behind the strokes of the keys and arrangements expose an unadulterated jazz talent with a road still yet traveled.

“Home” hits the spin cycle I feel, a sensational comfort as a foundation musically is expressed with this piece. The ivory precision allows that blanket of excellence to hover over the listener. Nice touch! With straight ahead jazz the focus on Lifelines is that of the appeal of one’s life in limbo. However the instrumental performance defines the exact term with numerous sounds through a diverse arrangement. The work is exceptional. Catch the sounds of Spalding on Lotus Lake a fine experiment…

“A New Leaf” has fallen into lap of jazz – let it relax and nurture its existence upon yours…

By GEORGE CARROLL, The Musicians’ Ombudsman, E-Jazz News, June 08, 2006

The power of piano dynamics….This is what you are left with when you taste the style & pianistic jazz talent(s) of one Ramona Borthwick. This, plus her striking persona, (she’s beautiful!) will keep you magnetized to her artistry.

Ramona approaches jazz as a communicator of this her idiom, and she brings wit, intellect and joy to her listening
audiences. We are soothed by her superb keyboard craft, as well as her lovely melodic & harmonic improvisational bent.

Press Release, Whaling City Sound/Mixed Media Promo, May 2006

Sometimes jazz can be so virtuosic that it becomes relentless unforgiving, and tiring. That’s why a more delicate touch, a woman’s touch, can remind you how beautiful the idiom can be as well. Ramona Borthwick’s debut as bandleader, A New Leaf, is just that kind of reminder.

Throughout these eleven compositions, all of which were either written or co-written by Borthwick, the filigreed beauty of Ramona’s jazz piano and lilting voice stands out. Despite shifting styles and a diversity of color, Borthwick’s choices and techniques exhibit the immense tastefulness and gorgeous restraint of a veteran bandleader. Which is why Borthwick’s debut, genuine and self-assured, is one of the jazz community’s most intriguing and exciting bows in recent memory.

Her bio begins this way: Born in Bombay, a bustling port city on the west coast of India, Borthwick was introduced to music early in life by her father, also a professional musician and composer. She began piano lessons at six, and pursued studies in classical music, earning performance degrees through the Trinity College and Royals Schools of Music in London. In her 20s she discovered jazz piano and vocal stylings. Excited and inspired by the concept of improvisation, she began to explore jazz improvisational and accompaniment skills. ‘Sound Matters’ (1991), her first recording released in India and was hailed by critics as the first indigenous recording of mainstream contemporary jazz in India.

Since then, Borthwick, now a Boston resident, has seen her artistry mature and grow in dimension and sophistication. Her piano flows in dazzling flourishes of cliché-free styles, especially on tunes like the progressive “Gabarero” and the dynamic burner “Dark Secrets of Three Blind Mice,” a composition written with her husband Noel Borthwick. Her band on the album — bassist Fernando Huergo, drummer, Ziv Ravitz, trumpeter Phil Grenadier, and guitarist Noel Borthwick—share that same tactile sensibility. They can swing when Ramona takes them there, ease up with sexy romance, or find darker places to dwell as on the variegated “Lifelines.”

In fact, Borthwick has rendered A New Leaf as a multi-faceted, many-tentacled set, an exhilarating, pastel-hued effort that finds the artist dipping into a variety of idioms in search of interesting tone, mood, and feeling, and coming up with a stunning array of fantastic results. Borthwick’s Whaling City Sound debut serves as an early high water mark in the pianist’s career, one rich in melody, impressive in terms of talent, and expressive in a way similar to great poetry or richly rendered art, all led by the strong personal touch of the exquisitely capable Borthwick.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ginny Shea, Mixed Media

By BUD KOPPMAN at AllAboutJazz.com, March 10, 2006

Ramona Borthwick has produced in A New Leaf a marvelous album that is at turns melodious, swinging, deeply emotional and cool. Like Min Rager’s Bright Road, it is brimming with energy and good vibes, and the compositions are first rate.

The choice of the title tune is always instructive, and the opening “A New Leaf“, exposes Borthwick’s many influences. Starting with a simple, Americana-ish figure, it swerves into a bit of what could be Chopin, only to shift immediately into a subtle Latin beat intro that leads to Phil Grenadier’s first notes. The tune never stays put as Borthwick skillfully blends many styles with her piano work, including Southeast Asian and Brazilian influences.

It must be noted that Grenadier is a player to watch. His playing has a real genuine unpredictability about it, coupled with a trumpet tone that could be a flugelhorn at times.

“Garbarero” introduces some very sensual Brazilian scat from Esperanza Spalding, behind which Borthwick sings, but the tune will not let itself settle into anything that is simply Brazilian. Dark chords enter, and the tune shifts into a subtle groove for more playing from Grenadier who twists and turns over the ever changing rhythm. Noel Borthwick (Ramona’s husband) also makes his first appearance on guitar, with a dark sound and a very fluid attack. Continue reading →

Reviewed at France’s CitizenJazz.com

La pianiste Ramona Borthwick replace ses compositions plutôt mainstream dans l’esprit moderne du jazz actuel d’outre-Atlantique. Elle superpose des couches musicales : voix, onomatopées, instruments sur des rythmiques à la fois latines et nord-américaines (« Garbarero », « Lotus Lake »), en y réussissant parfaitement.

Très colorée, avec ses inspirations culturelles indiennes, nord et sud-américaines (surtout des atmosphères brésiliennes), le dynamisme est ici principalement du au jeu vigoureux du très batteur Ziv Ravitz. On note les interventions souvent excellentes du trompettiste au style flottant et fluide Phil Grenadier et du guitariste Noel Borthwick.

[Link to article]