It was sheer serendipity that led to” The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni”, the acclaimed 2022 collaboration between the influential poet and activist Nikki Giovanni and saxophonist/composer Javon Jackson. For their second recording together, wonderfully entitled, “Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies” the album offers another crop of Giovanni’s favorite songs – in this case from the Great American Songbook. Many of these selections are composed for Hollywood classics. Also, the repertoire this time out draws from a broader range of sources, including Jackson originals and one from the pen of his heroes, Sonny Rollins. “Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies” ends up referring at least as much to the friendship and mutual respect shared by Giovanni and Jackson as it does to the music they’ve chosen to create together.