Everyday is mother’s day – ask your therapist

After the ‘Mother’s day’ overload, it feels a little strange, not being bombarded with ‘mother’s day gift ideas’ every single time you turn the tv on, or you walk into a supermarket; but I guess we’ll manage. I’ve been trying to avoid the subject but then, out of coincidence – if there is such thing as coincedence – I run into a Charles Mingus tune, bearing one of the most brilliant titles in the history of song titles:

All The Things You Could Be By Now If Sigmund Freud’s Wife Was Your Mother


Amen.

Then I remembered another jazz legend, one that I had the pleasure to see live, Cedar Walton, and his tribute to his own mother, which is as far away from mingus’ anger as you can get. It’s absolutely heartwarming.

Yes, but what about the mother’s point of view? You can’t go wrong with Sheila Jordan, another one of my favourites, making ‘Dat Dere’ her own.

On the opposite side of Sheila Jordan, in any way conceivable, but just as amazing a singer, Dee Dee Bridgewater – who will grace this year’s Melbourne International Jazz Festival with her presence – is currently on the road with her own daughter, the equally wonderful China Moses. An explosive mother-daughter combination, if there ever is one.

Still, if you’re going to listen to one jazz mother, look no further than Chris McNulty and her – for lack of a better word – nurturing voice. The singer has released a new album, Eternal, devoted to her late son. Yes, it is emotionally charged. And yes, it is absolutely beautiful.