Stream Now: https://foundation-media.ffm.to/hpv2getready
In a world that seems increasingly determined to give us reasons to worry, Andy James and her creative partners Piero Pata and Jon Cowherd return with another musical reminder that happiness does not mean pretending sadness, heartbreak or uncertainty don’t exist. Instead, they meet those darker emotions with buoyant rhythms, beautiful melodies and an abiding sense of hope. Happy People, Volume Two: Get Ready continues the adventurous flamenco-jazz fusion launched on the original Happy People, while opening the concept into a broader, more nuanced Latin-jazz landscape where the vibrant sounds of Andy’s trademark flamenco aesthetic mingle freely with the expansive vocabulary of jazz. The result is music that often feels joyful on the surface while revealing deeper, more complicated truths underneath.
That evolution reflects the larger arc of Andy’s artistry. After decades as an internationally acclaimed flamenco dancer and years of exploring jazz, she and Piero have no desire to abandon the tradition that shaped so much of their musical lives; instead, they are allowing it to become part of a wider musical conversation. On Volume Two, they use the flamenco guitar with greater subtlety, while piano, violin, horns, electric guitar and an extraordinary rhythm section take on more prominent roles. The album retains the rhythmic sophistication and sensuality of flamenco while giving the musicians greater freedom to explore Latin jazz, fusion and the expressivespaces between them. As Piero puts it, this time around the music is “more Latin jazz rather than just flamenco.”
You can hear that expanded musical vision immediately on the opening “Get Ready,” a bright, brisk and infectious invitation to let go and have some fun. Written in a Tangos 4/4 rhythm, the track combines Vinnie Colaiuta’s driving drums with the exotic percussion of Alex Acuña and Mino Cinelu, while buoyant piano and crisp electric guitar propel Andy’s spirited vocal. Chico Pinheiro delivers an extended guitar solo before Charlie Bisharat’s graceful violin carries the piece toward its coda. There is an intriguing turn beneath all that celebration: Andy’s breezy, carefree delivery ultimately gives way to vulnerability as she sings about a heart that can still be broken. That contrast offers an early glimpse of the album’s deeper currents, where moments of exuberance, sensuality and rhythmic fire coexist with more intimate reflections on love and vulnerability.
That tension between melancholy and musical optimism runs throughout the collection. Piero and Andy deliberately chose to create songs capable of carrying difficult feelings without being weighed down by them. As Jon Cowherd explains, “Even though there might be melancholy themes, there’s always hope in those songs.” His role is crucial to that equation. Given a melody, lyrics and chords, he considers how to put them into the right musical context, finding the arrangement that gives both the song and Andy’s voice the best opportunity to soar. Over the years, that three-way partnership between Andy, Piero and Cowherd has become increasingly intuitive. “I love studying flamenco, and been a new thing for me,” Cowherd says, describing the pleasure of combining that tradition with his own jazz background and trying to fashionsomething original from both.
“Please Don’t Misunderstand Me” offers a particularly graceful example of that approach. Built around the universal story of two people trying to understand one another, the song moves from bustling rhythmic passages into gentler spaces before Bisharat’s violin steps forward with an increasingly impassioned solo. Andy’s voice remains warm, romantic and conversational throughout, delivering the simple plea at the heart of the song with remarkable clarity. That clarity has become central to her evolution as a vocalist. Piero observes that she has developed into “a wonderful melody singer,” someone who wants listeners to hear and understand both the words and the melody rather than allowing improvisation to distract from the story at the heart of each song.
The musicians themselves are an integral part of the album’s personality. Colaiuta, Acuña, Cinelu, James Genus, Cowherd, Chico Pinheiro, Frank Gambale, Juan Antonio Suárez “Canito,” Charlie Bisharat, Bob Mintzer, Orlando le Fleming, John Ellis, John Beasley and Nate Smith each bring individual colors to an ensemble that already understands Andy and Piero’s musical language. “When a generational player plays, things morph and change,” Piero explains. The arrangements remain open to those moments, with Cowherd sometimes changing the harmonic foundation on the spot to accommodate something a musician has discovered. That spirit of interaction is one reason the performances feel alive rather than meticulously predetermined.
“Love Is Just a Thing” pushes the album’s Latin-jazz energy into especially vivid territory, with Gambale’s fiery electric guitar, Acuña’s explosive percussion and a brisk, funky groove surrounding Andy’s bright vocal. “I Don’t Know Why,” by contrast, slows everything down into an elegant Rumba ballad, pairing Canito’s acoustic guitar and Bisharat’s violin with a deeply vulnerable vocal about the loss and eventual renewal of love. The contrast between the two pieces illustrates how widely Volume Two can travel without losing its identity.
“The Differences” brings a breezy samba character to another meditation on love, choices and compromise, while the brief instrumental “Cajon” gives Acuña an opportunity to turn percussion into the entire musical conversation. “The Thought of You” is among the album’s most cinematic moments, beginning with a smoky dialogue between Cowherd’s piano and Bob Mintzer’s saxophone before gradually expanding into a full ensemble setting around Andy’s tenderrecollection of walking through Central Park with a former love.
“Tu Amor,” another instrumental, further demonstrates the album’s expanding Latin-jazz direction. Smooth saxophone, piano, guitar and shifting percussion move through sensual, hypnotic and more adventurous passages, while “Let Me Love” returns to Andy’s playful,flirtatious side with exotic guitar, handclaps, violin and an exuberant rhythmic groove. The album concludes with the download-only bonus track “Moanin’,” Andy’s long-awaited interpretation of the Bobby Timmons classic made famous by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and later Sarah Vaughan. Here the sadness of the lyrics cleverly collides with a swinging, high-energy arrangement, creating what might be called a happy lament—proof that even sorrow can dance.
Perhaps that is the real alchemy behind the Happy People concept. Andy and Piero are not pretending that heartbreak, disappointment or loneliness do not exist. They are simply refusing to let pain and disappointment have the final word. Their music gives sadness room to speak, then surrounds it with rhythm, melody, color and possibility. After the success of the first Happy People, they immediately knew there was more to explore, and Volume Two is part of a larger unfolding journey that already includes a nearly completed third volume.
For Andy James, happiness has never meant ignoring life’s darker corners. It means finding the music on the other side of them. With Get Ready, she and Piero Pata, Jon Cowherd and this extraordinary ensemble invite us to do exactly that: listen closely, feel everything, and then, whenever possible, dance anyway.
- Jonathan Widran, August 2026
