The Standard is the Standard

Stina Hellberg Agback, harp. Prophone, 2025.

Swedish jazz harpist Stina Hellberg Agback offers a glorious exploration of jazz from many perspectives in her smooth new album The Standard is the Standard. Her take on the standards is refreshing and oh, so laid back. In Mancini’s “Moon River,”  she is part of an exacting ensemble that seems to read each other’s minds with Filip Augustsson on double bass and Jon Fält on drums. Agback not only captures the necessary groove, but draws our attention to the sheer beauty of the harp as the lead voice. Her solos in Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” are utterly creative and expansive, so much so that we don’t want to let her go. Meanwhile, Harry Warren’s “There Will Never Be Another You” trips along filled with joy. Agback performs four of her own on the recording, of  which the subterranean bubbling forth “Växter” (“Plants”) is my favorite. Agback’s sultry “Misty” by Erol Gardner captures just the right mix of ineffable transcendence and hushed soul. 

Wild Medicine

Hattie Webb, harp. Missing Piece Records, 2024.

The uber-talented English singer-songwriter-traditional harpist Hattie Webb hits just the right note in her second album Wild Medicine.  As someone who has pushed the boundaries of the harp’s narrow narrative of gentle and calming, Webb’s album results in an explosive heartfelt mix of Celtic Folk, Pop and Americana. Favorites include an empowerment anthem “Ruined in the Rain,” the words encouraging us to trust our instinct and inner wisdom even after a period of suffering. “Shakespeare’s Shores” marries Webb’s lustrous and ethereal voice with her savory harp. The title track makes owning this album a must, Webb singing in a yearning overdubbed chorus of voices which eventually fall away to leave the harp alone, as beguiling and intense as the album suggests.