She's only 22 years old, but jazz singer Nadia Washington is already more accomplished than most Dallas musicians. Her early established love for performing earned her spot at Booker T. Washington High School, where she scored the Bill Cosby Presidential Scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, she honed the smooth and sultry vocals that she showcases so well on her debut album, Journey.
The aptly named record starts with the title track, where Washington's fluttering voice sings "I'm ready to reach for the impossible." And on the record's six remaining songs, she proves that she's more than ready.
Journey does exactly what it suggests, taking the listener on a pathway through ambitious numbers, jazz standards and relaxing starlit ballads. Washington has a lot of fun,too—maybe a little too much fun in sections of the scat-heavy "When You Fall." But after all that excitement dies down, a lightly plucked classical guitar soothes on the album's strongest song, "One & Only Special Someone," a peaceful love song that does everything short of tucking you in.
Journey starts you up, then lets you down easy. And it shows that Washington has more than just potential. Hell, she's already found her voice.
