Early in 2021, Martina DaSilva set a goal for herself. Once a week, the jazz singer and New York City-native decided, she would invite a group of friends and collaborators over to her house, and they would shoot a song on video. She would organize everything — coordinate the band, pick the music, craft the look of the footage, then release it on social media. And she would do it all on a shoestring budget. Having stayed true to her weekly plan, DaSilva is now bringing together all of her recordings to date, releasing them in a series of eclectic, deeply enjoyable compilations. For the second installment, DaSilva has chosen to highlight her collaboration with acclaimed singer/bassist Casey Abrams, due out November 12 as Martina & Casey.

At the heart of Martina & Casey’s tracklist are DaSilva’s and Abram’s knockout vocal performances. DaSilva, who spearheads the duo’s song selection, has a keen sense of her own tastes — “I like really lyrical music,” she says with frankness, “I choose songs with beautiful melodies.” This leads the two singers to a delicious array of material: they find their melodies in jazz, R&B, bossa nova, and in particular two excellent renditions of Beatles classics. As a result, Martina & Casey has treats for listeners of all stripes. And no matter the genre, the duo’s ability to work wonders with a melody, and their sheer charisma as performers, remain dazzling constants.

DaSilva also took Martina & Casey as a chance to embrace the full scope of her creative interests, appointing herself director, production designer, editor, and more. She immersed herself in the smallest visual details, obsessing over colors and the feel of the camerawork. The result are videos that have a distinct look — hip, DIY, fun — and that draw you in. “I come from a family of visual artists,” she explains, “that was my first artistic language.” After spending a decade intensely focused on the jazz world, she felt a need to reincorporate her other passions. “To me, I’m half a visual artist, half a musician. It took me a long time to be brave enough to embrace both parts of myself, and to realize that doesn’t diminish my musicality, it actually expands it. Doing this made me feel like an artist again.”

Quite intentionally, Martina & Casey also functions as a piece about the New York jazz community today, and who is part of it. “I think some of the best musicians alive are in this community,” she says, “and I felt it wasn’t being documented in a contemporary way that could bring in a larger audience. And I would like it to have a larger audience.” For DaSilva, this means removing the distance between spectator and musician — she literally brings us into her living room alongside her and her band as they play. Short of sitting front row in a club, DaSilva’s videos offer one of the most authentic, intimate — and enjoyable — views you can get of jazz as it exists today in New York.