Tawanda. Remember the name.

She is a young singer who represents the future of jazz music, a phenom on the order of Sarah Vaughan or Ella Fitzgerald. At twenty-six, Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim (her full name) has just released her first album, SMILE, and what an album it is, packed with heartfelt, beautifully delivered songs that touch the heart and mind.

Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico to a German mother and a father from Mozambique (which explains why “Bridges” is sung in Portuguese), Tawanda was educated at Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where she studied with jazz singer Mirabai Daniels, before moving to L.A. and signing with Resonance Records.

On SMILE Tawanda interprets several jazz standards (such as “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” and “You and the Night and the Music”) in her own unique way, emphasizing clarity and intensity while always managing to swing. Then she reveals her joyous, light-hearted side in tunes like “Out of This World” and “Lucky To Be Me.”

As these titles indicate, Tawanda’s debut album is all about feeling positive and upbeat about life. As Charlie Chaplin reminds us in “Smile” (which Tawanda sings twice), “Smile though your heart is breaking, smile though your heart is aching.” Good advice in these dark, parlous times.

Backing Tawanda are such top-flight musicians as Josh Nelson, Tamir Hendelman, Kevin Axt, Gene Coye, Ray Brinker, Anthony Wilson and Gary Meek.

(Resonancerecords.org)