(April _, 2024) Jef Kearns has been using his flute to explore some of the great songs of the golden age of soul music – the 1960s and 70s. His recent SoulTracks featured songs found Kearns pairing his flute with the vocals of Aria Zenua to reimage The Supremes’ “Stop, In the Name of Love” and The Jackson Five’s “ABC.”
Kearns latest foray into his reinterpretation of classic soul leads him to the songbook of the great Roberta Flack. Kearns and Joanna Majoko, a talented vocalist who is truly a citizen of the world, team up to cover “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” Flack’s 1973 reinterpretation of the song is the best known and most beloved version. It serves as the reference point for many of the cover versions that followed.
Majoko, who was born in Germany and has also lived in Zimbabwe and South Africa before relocating to Canada, is vocalist at ease with pop, world music, R&B and jazz. Those jazz chops serve her well here, due to her comfort engaging in a musical conversation with Kearns and his flute.
The duo works well together, and this version provides Kearns with space to improvise on his flute. Check out “Killing Me Softly With His Song” featuring Jef Kearns on flute and vocalist Joanna Majoko here.
By Howard Dukes
Jef Kearns feat. Joanna Majoko
“Killing Me Softly”
