[Cover photo credit to Erika Kapin Photography]

Jazz singer-songwriter Allegra Levy has released an album themed on queries, titled Out of the Question, her fifth release from SteepleChase Records. The album is composed entirely of songs in search of answers, from “Where Are You Going?” to Carole King’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”

It features an all-star, all-women band, including Carmen Staaf on piano, Allison Miller on drums, and Mimi Jones on bass, with special guests Roxy Coss on sax, Aubrey Johnson on vocals, and Andrew Baird on guitar.

A Connecticut native now based in New York, Levy has appeared at most of the Jazz venues in NYC, including the Jazz Standard, the Blue Note, Birdland Theatre, Zinc Bar, and the Bitter End.

Last Spring, Levy ventured into Jazz for kids with a children’s album, Songs for You and Me. This new project aimed at adults was the brainchild of Levy’s longtime collaborator, pianist Carmen Staaf.

Levy shares:

She pointed out that some of the most beautiful songs are questions, not answers, and I became fascinated with the concept. As I get older, I find that it really is more about the questions.

The question remained what songs to choose. Although there were countless cross-genre standards to choose from, from Irving Berlin’s flapper-era “What’ll I Do?” to Michel Legrand’s 1969 melody “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?”, the album also includes two classic instrumental numbers for which Levy wrote lyrics: “Are You Real?” by Benny Golson, and Horace Silver’s “Que Pasa?”

There are two of Levy’s originals as well, entitled “What’s In a Name?” and “What Are You Waiting For?” The latter is a sort of “musical pep talk about going for what you want rather than waiting for dreams to magically come true.”

Levy says:

It’s a message I want to pass on to newcomers and other young women on the scene, to make your own dreams and shape your own existence, because nobody is going to hand it to you.