THE Rwanda-born singer Ineza, says of her striking and beautifully sung first album Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories: “Its unifying theme is championing the works of female composers, singers and songwriters in the jazz world.”

Her accompanying band are all women, with the exception of pianist Alex Webb: bassist Charlie Pyne, Katie Patterson on drums, trombonist Rosie Turton and tenor saxophonist Maddy Coombs. There is also an all-women string quartet of violinists Johanna Burnheart and Annalise Lam, with Julia dos Reis on viola and cellist Miranda Lewis-Brown.

Adopted by a Belgian family, Ineza tells me: “For the majority of my youth I knew nothing of my biological family. My adopted parents enjoyed listening to classical music but weren’t musical themselves. I visited Rwanda for the first time when I was 18, before then I knew little of Rwandan culture.”

At 17, during her final year of secondary school in Bruges, she would dream of becoming a musical theatre actor. Then she discovered Amy Winehouse, then Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz vocalists like Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter. “I fell totally in love with the genre,” she says.

She arrived in London in 2015 to study Jazz Vocals at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in Greenwich, and lived in Charlton, Lewisham and Hither Green. “I found Britain had such a rich and diverse pool of musicians.” Singers like Brigitte Beraha, Pete Churchill and Liane Carroll gave her powerful encouragement.

Her album Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories is a paean to some of the great women jazz vocalists. “My favourite tracks are Billie Holiday’s Who Needs You? which she wrote, but never had the chance to record; Betty Carter’s I Can’t Help It — I love the boldness of the lyrics — and Abbey Lincoln’s Throw it Away. The lyrics are beautiful, introspective and sensitive. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time analysing and learning about vocal phrasing. Listening to the freedom exhibited in their singing has greatly influenced my approach to any tune in any genre.”

What about her band? “I mostly perform with male bands. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I do wish there were more women in jazz. I enjoy the company of women musicians. It creates a different, supportive atmosphere on stage.”

“The album is Alex Webb’s brainchild. He pitched the idea to me and created the arrangements. The band is called The Copasetics, reflecting the highest compliment to the hep world, mostly associated with Duke Ellington’s close collaborator, Billy Strayhorn.”

There are some intense ensemble sequences throughout the album, and stirring solos. Ineza’s conversational vocal stylings radiate artistry. Hear her message on Don’t Waste Your Time, her thoughtful, lyrical rendition of Good Morning, Heartache with Coombs’s brief, soulful solo, or her floating defiance on Free Your Mind. Tell Me More pours out Billie’s poignant heartsong with Pyne’s plunging bass and Webb's empathetic keys.

How does she think Billie, Abbey or Betty would have reacted to these young women singing and playing with such verve and assuredness? 

“I can imagine how pleased they would be to see so many of us taking up jazz. There was a time when jazz saw women in only a small and insignificant niche. Today’s cohort is certainly changing that narrative. We can thank the great women jazz pioneers of the past for all that progress.”

Women’s Words, Sisters’ Stories is released by Copasetic Records