There are records that arrive quietly and there are records that feel like they were building for years. “NoteSpeak (In a Word)” is firmly the latter. The duo of poet and lyricist Lisa Marie Simmons and pianist and composer Marco Cremaschini have spent years threading together a world that refuses to sit still and refuses to be easily named. Jazz, spoken word, electronica, hip-hop, r&b, free verse and cinematic arrangement all fold into each other here, and the result is something that feels genuinely alive.
Simmons grew up in Boulder, Colorado, came into her own as a writer and performer in New York City, and now calls Italy home. Cremaschini brings a deep European jazz sensibility to the project, and together they have built something their peers have taken to calling a global jazz hybrid. It is a fair description. The record moves fluidly from tender and interior moments to passages that blaze with intention and urgency, and the lyrics carry the personal and the political in equal measure. This is music that trusts its audience to keep up.
The album opens with “Intro”, a piece featuring the extraordinary resonance of Christof Bernhard on gong, and across its thirteen tracks it draws in an astonishing range of collaborators. Gillian Margot, the Toronto-based vocalist who has shared stages with Sting and Robert Glasper, takes the lead on “Once Upon This Time”. The legendary Jamaaladeen Tacuma, whose bass playing has been a cornerstone of avant-garde jazz since his years with Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time band, appears on “Taijitu” alongside percussionist Maurizio Giannone and vocalist Chanele McGuinness. Vernon Reid, founder and guitarist of Living Colour, brings his unmistakable presence to “Solid Ground (Meet Me There)” and the closing “Outro”. Grammy nominated pianist Charu Suri, who became the first Indian-born jazz composer to perform at Carnegie Hall, brings something quietly compelling to “Winner Takes All”. And Dorian Holley and Nayanna Holley share the spotlight on “No Time at All”, two voices that between them have graced the stages and soundtracks of some of the most celebrated productions of the past two decades.
Then there is “Solid Ground (Meet Me There)”, which features The Flamingos: Theresa Trigg and Terry Isaiah Johnson. For anyone who cares about the history of American music, that name carries real weight. Terry Isaiah Johnson, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and the man who arranged the Flamingos’ iconic “I Only Have Eyes for You”, passed away on October 8, 2025, just twelve days after this album was released. His appearance here is one of his final recordings, and it is something to be heard and held.
The core band throughout the record is Simmons alongside Cremaschini on piano and keyboards, Manuel Caliumi on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Marco Cocconi on electric bass, and Federico Negri on drums, with Laura Masotto contributing violin to “Submersion”. It is a tight and intuitive group, and you can hear that trust in the way the music breathes.
NoteSpeak (In a Word) is the third album in the NoteSpeak trilogy, released on Ropeadope Records, which has garnered numerous awards and nominations. The first, NoteSpeak (Amori e Tragedie in Musica), was released in 2020. The second, NoteSpeak 12, was released in 2023 and won Best Spoken Word Album at the World Entertainment Awards. Simmons’ poem “Last Supper” from that album was also shortlisted for a Creators of Justice Literary Award. The trilogy’s third installment, NoteSpeak (In a Word), released in September 2025, continues the series’ momentum. Individual tracks have already been recognized as finalists in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and semi-finalists in the American Songwriters Song Contest.
“NoteSpeak (Amori e Tragedie in Musica)” received four stars from DownBeat. “NoteSpeak 12” earned five stars from DownBeat, with J. Poet noting that Simmons moves freely between singing and speaking, blurring the line between poetry and music in a way that feels completely natural, and was named one of their Best Albums of 2023. All About Jazz awarded the record four stars from senior editor Chris May, who placed the album in the same company as its celebrated predecessor, describing it as top-end poetry and top-end jazz in equal measure. In a widely shared All About Jazz feature, Chris Slawecki put NoteSpeak in a lineage running from jazz poets like Ishmael Reed through to Queen Latifah, which is about as considered a frame as you could hope for.
Influences across the project run deep and wide: Nina Simone, Gil Scott-Heron, Fela Kuti, John and Alice Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye, Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde. Then on another wall entirely, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Ani DiFranco. And threading through the contemporary: Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, Vijay Iyer, Rhiannon Giddens, Anderson Paak.
It is a long list but it does not feel like name-dropping. It feels like honesty. You hear all of it in the record, not as imitation but as the accumulated weight of a life spent paying close attention to what music and language can do when they are treated seriously.
NoteSpeak (In a Word) is out now on Ropeadope Records.
Track listing:
- Intro 2:47
- Shaping the Yet-to-Be 6:20
- Worm in a Book 4:29
- Once Upon This Time 3:11
- Taijitu 6:34
- Intent 6:21
- Solid Ground (Meet Me There) 5:47
- B.A.C.H. Bold as Love 7:15
- Winner Takes All 5:52
- Submersion 5:03
- Frequencies 4:43
- No Time at All 4:43
- Outro 6:00
Quotes:
From NoteSpeak (In a Word) – “Worm in a Book” was a 2025 Jazz finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
“Shaping The Yet-to-Be” was shortlisted in the International Songwriting Competition.
“Beautiful and Powerful” – Giuseppe Saulo Rai Radio 3 “Battiti”
“Poetry and Jazz have been influencing each other for a long time. Lisa Marie Simmons, a poet, singer and composer, draws on that rich history for NoteSpeak 12… As with her previous efforts with the NoteSpeak ensemble, Simmons flows freely between singing and speaking/reciting, blurring the lines between poetry and music.” 5 Stars J. Poet Downbeat Magazine April 2023
“Lisa Marie Simmons – Notespeak 12 A storyteller, an essayist and an impressive singer/songwriter, equipped with an expressive speaking and singing voice. The conclusion and the highlight of this Soul Voices!” 5 Stars Olaf Maikopf JAZZTHETIK Magazin, Münster DE
“NoteSpeak 12 finds Lisa Marie Simmons settling into a very relaxed groove with her partner, Marco Cremaschini. The interplay of the two, between poetry and music, feels like a dance with no need for choreography. Rather than poetry set to music or music that follows poetry, this is a conversation – about life, about love, about EVERYTHING – between the artists and the band. The words and the individual instruments all blur into a landscape of human experience, like sauntering through a cafe as conversations come and go.” Louis Marks CEO Ropeadope, Director at The Ropeadope Cultural Center
“Notespeak 12 is a lyrical album and an ensemble of centuries of the sonic lifeworlds of Black people. I walked away, hearing new articulations of jazz that sounded like Zora Neal Hurston’s words on the page. It’s an ode to the sounds we make in community and punctuated by theatrical curiosity and professional knowledge expressed through well-attended craft. It travels to many places and takes the listeners with it. Notespeak 12 is a well-choreographed journey.” DJ Lynnée Denise Artist, Scholar, Writer
“Notespeak 12 is top-end poetry and top-end jazz, so poet Lisa Marie Simmons and composer Marco Cremaschini set themselves a high bar. But they have succeeded, just like they did on the earlier album Notespeak: Amori e Tragedie In Musica (Ropeadope), a succès d’estime and something of a cult hit following its release in 2020.” 4 Stars Chris May- All About Jazz
“Lisa Marie Simmons uses arresting lyrics and warm vocals to co-create the NoteSpeak 12 album with inventive artists and music director Marco Cremaschini. The music of this Italian-based band, billed as “global jazz hybrid,”defies category. Each eclectic song is its own galaxy within the Cremaschini-Simmons universe.” Regina Harris Baiocchi – Composer, Author, Poet
“Lisa Marie Simmons has a powerful magnetizing voice for our time- for all time. Authentic and deeply committed.”- Anne Waldman, author of Trickster Feminism (Penguin Poets).