DZIESMU KAMOLIŅŠ / GARLAND OF SONGS 2025

Latvian-born vocalist, composer, and arranger Arta Jēkabsone channels her Baltic roots through a modern jazz and pop synergy on Dziesmu Kamoliņš, a memorable collection that reimagines traditional folk songs with striking originality and heartfelt intimacy. — Obscure Sound, a music column by Mike Mineo

She brings together musical influences from around the world, bonding traditional palettes with modern rhythms and sensibilities, linking the past to the present. She imbibes her audiences with song, filling their hearts and minds with her music, inviting them to carry these tunes with them as they travel through the course of their day. — Jazz2Love, Susan Frances 

She has now released a powerful example of ethno-jazz in an album aptly titled Dziesmu kamoliņš (A Garland of Songs)… This is a compelling example of contemporary global music, in which Latvia’s folk heritage, infused with influences from many other cultures, emerges in an especially unexpected and intriguing light.
— Music Magazine Saule, Kaspars Zaviļevskis

Unfurling a magical, hypnotic aural universe, New York-based jazz vocalist and composer Arta Jēkabsone builds an aural experience that’s incredibly heartwarming and euphoric, a nugget of fable-like charisma delivered by folklore-driven vocals and cathartic choirs. Threading the fine line between folk and jazz sensibility, ‘Dziesmu Kamoliņš (Garland of Songs)’ packs eleven wondrous and elegant pieces, all written by Jēkabsone in the Latvian language, yet with a global appeal. —Mesmerized, review by Gabriel Mazza

From the very first notes, Jēkabsone’s voice anchors the listener — warm, pure, and full of quiet strength. She doesn’t perform these songs so much as embody them… There’s something transcendent about hearing her glide between Latvian lyrics and spontaneous melodic phrasing, bridging the sacred and the contemporary in a way that feels both reverent and daring. — Odyssey Magazine, review bu IAIN JOHNSON

Listening to each of the compositions based on Latvian folk song motifs, one can admire the breadth of Arta Jēkabsone’s imagination and observe how far the composer has ventured from the original source material found in folklore collections.
— Music Magazine Saule, Ēriks Miezis

DEDICATION (FOR GABI) 2024

A magical production that blends wordless vocal beauty with a neo-classical instrumental glow, “Dedication (for Gabi)” is an engaging new track from New York-based artist Nick Marks. Arta Jēkabsone’s vocals are enthralling, cohesively implemented alongside upright piano with inventive effects and electronica aspects. — Obscure Sound, a music column by Mike Mineo

BEACHFINDS 2022

There’s a beguiling oddness to hearing the words “I put the blue bin out in my best blue pyjamas” sung by a voice as clear and as pure as cold water drawn from a well in a fairytale village. This air of ethereal otherness hangs throughout the rest of the collection, like Scandinavian mist…Beachfinds is a very special and affecting collaboration. And aptly named, too. It’s like a beautifully polished piece of sea glass held up to the sun. A bit like Dean Wilson himself. Hats off to Erik and Arta for taking Dean’s words and dressing them up in new and different clothes. — The Crow’s Nest, a music column by Russ Litten

LIGHT 2017

Clear compositional structure, positive energy, and very deep and adventurous timbres… All of these reflect the inner temperature of the band’s relationship with each other.
— Music Magazine Saule, Anna Veismane

An album made with artistically clear intentions—appealing, colourful, and full of creative ideas that create an impulsive grace and feeling of freedom… It is worth listening to what Arta Jēkabsone and her companions are telling us.
— Music Magazine Saule, Armands Znotiņš

“Lightness, elegance, preciseness, warmth, and brightness are the elements that describe Arta Jēkabsone’s music. This whole, like a united story, tells us that music can make the world a better place to be.”
— Music Magazine Saule,Toms Lipskis

Ilona Kudiņa and her Baltic Transit album review on “JAZZin” Electronic Jazz Magazine by Valters Sprūdžs, Issue Nr.33