Solace of the Mind – Amina Claudine Myers

In Solace of the Mind, Amina Claudine Myers both interprets and invokes. At 81 years old, this solo recording presents itself as a living continuity where time, memory, and spirituality coexist on the same plane.

From the opening track, African Blues, the music carves out a space where silence and sound share equal density. Each chord appears with an internal logic, as if emerging from a memory that predates the physical gesture. The piano asserts itself as a true presence.

Myers's practice is rooted in a tradition that connects with figures like Pharoah Sanders and John Lee Hooker, articulated from an interiority where gospel, blues, and jazz live together as a single language. Although the format is solo, there is never a sense of isolation. The album’s "lineup" expands through her own performance, as we hear her on piano, performing spoken word, and on the Hammond B3 organ.

Through this multiplicity, the music takes shape as an inhabited space. In Song for Mother E and Ode to My Ancestors, sound activates memory. The organ introduces a spectral dimension where repetition takes on a ritualistic character.

In Hymn for John Lee Hooker and Steal Away, form condenses into precise gestures. Twilight and Cairo shift the perception of time toward a circular movement. In Beneath the Sun, the album finds a state of sustained openness.

Solace of the Mind establishes itself as a space for listening where remembering, feeling, and being present occur simultaneously.