(CD)

Swedish born Iranian rooted vocalist/composer Helen Salim's long awaited debut album ”Imaginary Gardens” takes the listeners into her unique, story-telling landscape of modern sounds combined with the traditional use of acoustic instrumentation surrounding her light, crystal clear voice. Jazz has, since early years, become Helen’s genre to love and advance in. After many years of studying music, professionally touring with her own bands and others, graduating from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm became the start of focusing to find her voice and sound in her own compositions.

Helen’s influences include modern jazz musicians like Ambrose Akinmusire and Becca Stevens as well as the large voices of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and the rhythmic feel of Bud Powell and Charlie Parker. She tied the sack with her Persian ancestry – and so new compositions were written. The album idea came to Helen in the beginning of 2020 when she started to develop the knowledge of the her Persian strains. This resulted in 7 songs, all composed with the intent of being able to open up her voice in a brand new way.

Helen Salim, voice, Britta Virves, piano, Mattias Olofsson, guitar, Tomas Sjödell, upright bass, Jonas Bäckman, drums, Mikael Vilhelmsson, synthesizer (tracks 3, 4), Johan Christofersson, alto saxophone (tracks 1, 5)