Andy James On Her New Album, 2025 Touring Plans, Flamenco & More - "Paltrocast" Exclusive

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After many years as an internationally-acclaimed flamenco dancer based in Madrid, Andy James traveled the globe with some of the genre’s most acclaimed musicians and performers -- from theaters in Spain to venues in France, Germany, Czech Republic and Japan. Leaving the flamenco circuit for a new life in the U.S., James began recording her favorite jazz standards. Making an artful transition into jazz, both as a singer of heartfelt originals and stellar interpreter of timeless classics and jazz renditions of the Great American Songbook era and beyond, she released her debut album, Caravan, in 2018. S

Andy James' full-length album, Let Me See Your Heart, was released worldwide via Le Coq Records in August. The LP's first single, “New York State Of Mind,” is a bluesy, powerhouse rendition of Billy Joel’s fan-favorite classic. Said renowned jazz critic Will Friedwald (New York Times, WSJ, Entertainment Weekly), “The song that best sums up everything that’s great about this album may, in fact, be ‘New York State of Mind’ -- it sounds so new and so different, not only does it makes me feel like I never really heard the song before, but it makes me look at the city itself with whole new eyes. For a lifelong New Yorker, that’s really saying something.”

The 12-track album includes an eclectic mix of originals and fresh twists on well-known Songbook and pop standards, and features some of the genre’s most venerable and legendary studio musicians including pianist and arranger Jon Cowherd, drummer Nate Smith, percussionist Alex Acuna and bassist John Patitucci; Grammy Award winning keyboardist John Beasley, saxophonist and bass clarinetist John Ellis, guitarist Chico Pinheiro, and famed Hammond B-3 organist Ronnie Foster. Additionally, the album features three new songs penned by James, her husband and co-producer, Piero Pata, and Cowherd: “Let’s Talk of Love,” which James has called “our take on a 1940s style swing tune”; the haunting, melancholy “Let’s Try”; and the mid-tempo bluesy ballad, “Let Me See Your Heart.”

In September 2024, I had the pleasure of speaking with Andy James via Zoom, as embedded above and set to air via the Long Beach, New York-based Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz television series. While not discussed within our conversation, reportedly, Andy James is also working on a new flamenco vocal project that will feature Acuna, bassist Carlos Del Puerto and drummer Marcus Gilmore, with special appearances by legendary guitarist Carlos Santana.