“An insightful observer of the scene and narrator of a thousand hipper yesterdays, Golda Solomon lays it all out with streetwise authority on Word Riffs, the second recording to document her compelling partnership of poetry and jazz.
Solomon delivers with a passionate flair and on Word Riffs, her dynamic delivery is cut with a kind of sly humor that can be traced back to her Flatbush roots. With an eye for detail and an ear for rhythm, she demonstrate a strong affinity for the inherent nuances and happy accidents of improvised music while also reveling in a clever turn of phrase, a well chosen word, just the right touch of alliteration. She loves the sounds of words as much as the meanings they convey. A gifted wordsmith with a syncopated soul, she paints vivid imagery and plants seeds of wisdom while honoring the groove and capturing the rhythm of blues in her poetry. It’s all raw material to toss around on this provocative canvas called Po’Jazz.
Backed here by the highly interactive, mood-shifting Center Search Quest, bassist Christopher Dean Sullivan, drummer Michael T.A. Thompson, and pianist Eri Yamamoto, with special guest Saco Yasuma on alto saxophone, Golda conjures up scenes of Harlem night and potluck jams, her word riffing strewn with hip references to Monk, Duke, Sun Ra, Charlie Rouse, Roland Kirk and the Ebbets Field of her Flatbush youth.”
– Bill Milkowski