Eva Cortes, La Malinche on The UrbanMusicScene!
Jazz Voclaist, Composer and Songwirter Eva Cortes Releases Her Ninth ALbum, La Malinche
Cortes Call La Malinche “Protest Meets Rhythm,” An Album born from Urgency, from Raids and Systematic racism to Abuse of Power and Erased Histories.
Featuring Pepe Rivero, Roman Filiu, Zaccai Curtis, Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez
Available June 5, 2026 via Truth Revolution Records
On Her ninth album, La Malinche, Jazz vocalist, composer and sonwriter Eva Cortes sings back loudly, rhythmically, and without apology. The album is a record born from urgency, from raids and systemic racism to abuse power and erased histories. She calls it “Protest meets Rhythm”: music as vindication, memory, and collective dance floor.
La Milinche, which focuses on identity, history, and cultural memory, features collaborations with Pepe Rivero, Roman Filiu, Zaccai Curtis, Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez and other leading musicians. Additionally Cortes has recorded with Jon Cowherd, Elio Villafranca, Luques Curtis, Kendrick Scott. Eric Garland, Luisto Quintero, Doug Beavers, Marvin Sewell, Lou Soloff, Romero Lumbambo, Mark Whitfield, among others.
Recorded in Madrid and New York, the album brings together musicians Cortes has admired and collaborated with throughout her life, creating what she describes as a deeply joyful, high-energy studio experience, part recording session, part collective ritual. Cortes says the album was initially inspired by an indigenous girl from San Carlos, Arizona, who disappeared from her group home in Mesa in January 2025.
“The following month, her body was found,” Cortes says. “This tragedy shook me to my core in a way I couldn’t even articulate. Shortly after, I wrote the lyrics for ‘Letters to Heaven.’ The following summer, I traveled to the San Carlos Apache Nation to honor her life and visit her people. While there, beneath a white cross, I was inspired to write ‘Letters to Heaven.”
Coming June 5th, 2026
