Brenda Earle Stokes - Motherhood
(Self Produced, 2024)
Brenda Earle Stokes is one of the dangerous ones. Like Dena DeRose, Patricia Barber, and Blossom Dearie, Stokes is both a pianist and vocalist. When one adds "composer" to the mix, it fully reveals her embarrassment of riches. And compose she does on Motherhood, Stokes’ musical expression of having become a mother. Motherhood is a collection of ten original compositions addressing different aspects of becoming a mother that include identity, fear, expectations, body image, friendship, and personal growth.
Motherhood is the Canadian’s fifth recording as a leader, her most recent release being Solo Sessions, Volume 1 (Allsheneeds Records, 2019). Since releasing her debut as a leader in 2006 with Happening (Bandcamp), Stokes got married, had a child, and continued to develop an artist. She stops and reflects on this in a no-nonsense, straight-ahead manner, devoid of cheap romanticisms. Stokes captures and expresses the good and bad of motherhood with bracing eloquence and eclectic grace.
Motherhood finds its roots in jazz, and Stokes drew additional inspiration from singer-songwriters, musical theater, spoken word, and 1960s protest songs. Stokes shares her personal experience, addressing the mothering experience while also being brutally honest about the challenges of the modern mother. She takes on modern life, calling out a world of intense stress and fear, combined with the dangers and toxicity of social media, financial insecurity, gun culture, and the demands and necessity in navigating these issues while also appearing thin, vibrant and youthful. Powerful is “Kathleen” which explores these concerns directly, sharpening her attitude in the eight-minute juggernaut “Sharp Edges,” replete with blue notes and wisdom from Ingrid Jensen on trumpet.
In "The Endless Wait," Stokes meditates on how she integrates the identity of the child she carries with her own. “Who Am I Now?” is an interrogation of self identity in the broadened perspective of family and commitment. On “Where Are the Mothers?,” Stokes recognizes a loss of self identify to that of mother and child. “Saying Goodbye” is the finest song in the collection, describing the bittersweet feeling of watching your child grow up before your eyes all too quickly and knowing that one day, they will inevitably grow up and leave.
Motherhood is a dead-serious acknowledgement of what parenthood is, told with mirth, humor, anger, rage, and all the things that make us human. Stokes accomplishes something that lesser artists never will, being authentic with a smile on her face.