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Melody Gardot  

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BOTTI AT SEA

OLT Rivierenhof

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Managing to forge a music career after a life-threatening bicycle accident, Melody Gardot (born February 2nd, 1985) has found critical success with her jazz-infused pop, finding comparisons with Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell and Eva Cassidy.

Born and raised in New Jersey, US, Melody Gardot took to music from an early age, eventually becoming a regular performer in Philadelphia, US nightclubs, during her time studying as a fashion student at the Community College of Philadelphia. Gardot's life was turned upside down, after suffering a bicycle accident that left Gardot fighting for her live, eventually spending several months recovering from multiple head injuries and pelvic fractures.

Whilst in recovery, music was to be the therapy that Gardot needed, helping combat her amnesia and find her past musical talents once again. The accident left her with hypersensitivity to both sound and light, which meant she could only listen to soft, gentle music, influencing her own direction. Whilst in her hospital bed, she taught herself guitar and began to write the songs which would eventually become her debut EP, "Some Lessons," released in 2005.

Having improved dramatically over the year, Gardot decided to pursue a career in music after recovering, with her debut EP being followed by her independently recorded full-length, "Worrisome Heart." The album caught the attention of Verve, who reissued the record in 2007. Her extremely personal music has found widespread praise for her emotive, gentle blues. Her personal story makes her rise to success even more impressive, releasing two further albums, 2009's "My One and Only Thrill" and 2012's "The Absence." Her records have consistently found international chart success, managing to top the charts in Norway and Sweden.

Live reviews

With a name like that, she was surely born to sing, although there’s plenty more to Melody Gardot than meets the eye; she hails from Philadelphia, but considers herself a “citizen of the world”, and despite being just twenty-nine years of age, she’s already made a major impression in the jazz world, a genre often seen as inaccessible for people of the younger generation. It helps, of course, that Gardot writes all of her own material, but it’s also true that there’s touches of the Latin influence to her sound. She’s been nominated for Grammys and seen her records go platinum in parts of Europe, but she’s not all about recording; she’s also a committed advocate of music therapy, dedicating a sizable amount of her time to helping others through sound. As a touring artist, she’s stuck reasonably close to jazz convention at her own shows; with her extensive live band, she can deliver career-spanning sets that delve into every aspect of her music - as well as the typical guitar and drums setup, she brings a brass section, including a saxophonist, on the road with her too. She’s just completed an extensive European jaunt, which kicked off with a performance at London’s Barbican Hall and included a stop in Brighton further down the line; she’s seldom away from the territory in which she’s met with the most success, however.

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Melody Gardot in the Noches Del Botanico in Madrid: an open air show on a hot summer night and amazing music from one of my favourite singers. Melody is a natural performer, reaching to her audience with her songs and little stories once in a while and with her outstanding band (featuring young sax player Irwin Hall), she can do whatever she wants … slow and quiet as in the beautiful and touching Baby I’m A Fool or powerful and engaging as in Preacher Man or She Don’t Know from her latest CD Currency Of Man. She is an artist who can touch me deeply, as she did with her incredible rendition of Morning Sun from the same album and a simple, but extremely powerful See-Line Woman, the iconic song by Nina Simone, which she made completely her own in a version full of respect for the original, but still being able to add something special to it. The Madrid audience was fully behind her and sang with her creating some extremely beautiful moments. Melody Gardot and her band were in great form last night and delivered what easily could be the concert of the year for me. Sensational!!!

Philadelphian Melody Gardot may only be thirty years old yet she has already made quite an impression on the jazz scene with her impeccable musical talent and honest songwriting voice. There is a wonderfully personable, warm mentality to Melody's stage demeanour and she clearly enjoys the company of her accompanying musicians as they involve each other during earthy, acoustic instrumentals.

There is an assumed manner about the singer, she simply seems grateful to have the opportunity to stand onstage and share her music with the attentive audiences. She is constantly thanking them for the huge applause the likes of 'The Rain' and 'So We Meet Again My Heartache' receive. You would never believe this lady is so esteemed in the music world, having been nominated for numerous Grammy awards. A note perfect rendition of 'Baby I'm a Fool' makes the audience understand as to why many have compared Melody's music to Nina Simone. There is a rich, natural tone to her vocal and an organic humanistic approach to the way in which she makes music.

It was a fantastic evening with smooth jazzy soul-funky music. Melody Gardot was surrounded 360 degrees by audiences in the DR- concert hall, and she managed to take us all in and have a dialogue with us. The elegant way she masters both singing within a wide range of tonality and volume/intensity and also both playing the guitar and piano so skillfully is absolutely amazing and a gift to experience. She and her 7 man band received an immediate standing ovation from a sold out concert hall. I walked out into the night feeling somewhat changed in mind and heart. My sense of connection with the friend that I brought to the concert had somewhat deepened. And on top of frightening terrorist acts in Paris the week before, this gave us love and hope and a sense of connectedness in our hearts. Music is powerful

A bit much noise of sound and whispering. lack of really singing and playing the songs as strong as there are on cd.

It was a bit disappointing as a show. I drifted away from concentration too often. Sometimes Melody sang beautifully concentrated in the ballads like 'Our love is easy" and " Baby, i'm a fool " My personal highlights.

Overall she did not make much of an impression to me with her new poppy and loud screaming sound, although the instrumentalists were great sometimes trumpet, sax, guitar etc).

She talks a lot but is hard to actually hear what she is mumbling. Im a die hard fan from her first album till the fourth, which are all very good albums This is my third concert and it wasn't the best. Might not go anymore for a next gig.

It was the coolest grooviest Jazz concert that I have ever been to. Her voice moves you and her band fill out the room with their melodies.

I will definitely go to her concert again next time that she is in town.

Superbe concert, Melody Gardot a une voix impressionnante et beaucoup de présence sur scène. Elle est magnifique par sa voix et sa présence, j'espère assister à un autre de ses concerts très prochainement.

It was an amazing show, as usual. Melody is a great artist and entertainer, and did not disappoint the expectations. Also, what a great new album! Looking forward to the next concert.

It was a great experience to listen her live. She is just amazing on the stage and the atmosphere in Opernring was beautiful. I will for sure will go more concerts of her.

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• Federico Aubele (9)
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About Melody Gardot

Melody Gardot

• FROM A DISTANCE: Melody Gardot on Love, Lockdown, and Working With Sting
• November 14, 2020
• By Charles Waring

Combining a soft, sensuous, silky purr with a tremulous vibrato, Melody Gardot’s voice is distinctive enough to be instantly recognisable; it’s a rare quality these days and puts her in that elite cadre of chanteuses that includes such legendary figures as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Astrud Gilberto. It may be early days yet – Gardot is still only 35 – but on the evidence of the five studio albums she’s delivered thus far, the singer originally from Philadelphia who now lives in Paris is writing herself into the pages of jazz history.

As the lush musical canvas of her latest long-player, the 13-track ‘Sunset In The Blue,’ reveals with its iridescent fusion of jazz, pop and Latin styles, Gardot occupies a unique niche; she can bring a fresh but timeless interpretation to well-worn jazz standards like ‘Moon River’ and ‘I Fall In Love Too Easily’ but also writes many of her own songs, some of which – like ‘If You Love Me’ and ‘From Paris With Love’ – sound like future standards.

But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the birth of what became ‘Sunset In The Blue’ was not an easy one. “We set out in January 2020 to begin demos and recordings of this album hoping we would finalise in the spring,” the singer explains. “Mid-way through that process, however, all operations had come to a grinding halt.”

Despite the restrictions that lockdown and social distancing brought, Gardot felt an impulse to persist with completing the album; even if it altered the way she approached recording. “We decided to push forward,” she says, “and continue to find a way to make music despite these trying times – and it was in that moment that we discovered great beauty.”

The old adage about necessity being the mother of invention rang true for the American singer. One of the songs she had written for the project, the poignant, richly orchestrated ballad, ‘From Paris With Love,’ became the catalyst that sparked a new approach to making music. “The song took new life, serving as a beacon of light in dark times,” she reveals with pride. “It offered a chance to break the mould in terms of how we create music and also provide a number of musicians the opportunity to work, maintaining their livelihood as performers.”

In a “eureka” light bulb moment, Gardot, locked down in the “City of Light,” recorded the single ‘From Paris With Love’ in May by using social media to make contact with string players, who formed a virtual orchestra and recorded their parts separately. Some of them appeared in her promotional video for the song, which also included footage submitted by several of the singer’s quarantined fans around the world. Its theme is that love and togetherness can be a transcendent, unifying force in challenging times; and the sense of distance and isolation we’ve all felt has only served to emphasise our need for closeness and kinship with one another.

“We managed to bring the gesture of connection full circle by donating – with Universal and myself – our respective royalties of this song to a charity for healthcare workers,” says Gardot. “We did what we could with what we had.”

The sense of achievement that Gardot felt after completing ‘From Paris With Love’ propelled the album project with greater momentum. “I felt incredibly inspired to keep searching for a way to make music and keep musicians working,” she says. “Our team worked nonstop in that moment until we were graced by the presence of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road to help us finalise the remaining recordings at distance.”  

The Abbey Road recording in June was remarkable as it was the first Covid-safe studio session in the world. “Absolutely fantastic,” is how Gardot recalls the experience. “(It was) incredible to be able to do this long distance. These musicians are just stellar. A fabulous cast involved on all sides, from the team at Abbey Road, to conductor Cliff Masterson, and arranger Vince Mendoza. It was something out of a dream.” 

The new album reunites Gardot with Larry Klein (pictured left), who began his career as a jazz bassist before becoming a Grammy-winning record producer whose forte is working with female artists (which include Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman and Madeleine Peyroux). His first collaboration with Gardot was on her second album, 2009’s Grammy-nominated ‘My One & Only Thrill,’ which went both platinum and gold in various countries around the world and established the then 24-year-old singer as a global star. Klein worked with her again in 2015 on the singer’s last studio album, ‘Currency Of Man.’ “Larry and I jokingly say we’re like an old couple,” laughs Gardot. “We’ve known each other for many years, and we have a certain way of working where we set out with an idea but then tend to turn it on its head, neither of us knowing really where the road of reinvention will lead us. It’s a free-flowing palette in terms of creation; a bit of a compromise as much as a surprise.”

Orchestrator, Vince Mendoza (right), had also worked with the singer before on the album projects that were helmed by Klein. “Vince is a phenomenal arranger and conductor,” Gardot gushes. “It was a pleasure to have him on board. Most admirable was his willingness to help us create the backdrop of ‘From Paris with Love’ with a global digital orchestra in tow. Not an easy feat by any means.”

Completing the holy trinity behind ‘Sunset In The Blue’ is veteran studio engineer Al Schmitt, now 90 (pictured below with Melody), who’s a long-time associate of the late producer Tommy LiPuma. According to Gardot, his expertise was crucial to the sound of the album.  “It doesn’t get any better than Al,” she states. “Just in terms of recording live sounds – his drum sound alone can make you lean into the speakers to get a closer glimpse of what has been captured.”

She adds: “He’s a genius in his own right. If you search quickly the projects he has worked on you would understand. In his most recent book, he even shows how he placed the mics to capture artists like Bob Dylan and Sinatra.” 

The experienced triumvirate of Klein, Mendoza and Schmitt conspire to frame Gardot’s voice with a host of impeccably elegant musical backdrops. Stylistically, the album is radically different from her previous opus, 2015’s  Currency Of Man , which had more of a retro-soul ambience.  “In terms of style, I had wanted to return to something more feminine and sensual, as we had been developing this sound the two years prior while on tour,” says the singer, explaining her return to her jazz roots. “Quite simply, I felt it was time to take that energy and that more orchestrated approach to the studio.” 

The mood is generally downbeat – but not downcast –  and among its numerous highlights is the languorous ballad, “If You Love Me,” featuring noted German flugelhorn player, Till Bronner (right). It’s the album’s tone-setting opening cut and the first of eight songs that the singer either wrote or co-composed on an album that she says was inspired by love. 

One of her original songs, ‘Ave Maria’ – not to be confused with the well-known Schubert piece with the same name – finds Gardot’s sublime vocals augmented by Mendoza’s cinematic orchestral touches. With its poetical lyrics, the song highlights the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter’s skill as a storyteller. “This album focuses on all aspects of love, and I wanted to take that one step further with ‘Ave Maria,'” she discloses.  “Here we discover a young woman about to enter the convent, where she is questioning the love she’s been explained that she must have for an otherwise ‘invisible’ being.”

“There is no political or religious statement behind it,” she explains further: “It’s just one moment imagined as a young woman looks at the path before her, about to give her hand in marriage to someone she cannot see. She hears the people singing ‘Ave Maria,’ and begins to wonder… ‘Ave Maria…what does this all really mean?'” 

The album’s romantic ambience is further enhanced by carefully selected covers, including a revamp of English folk singer Lesley Duncan’s minor UK hit, ‘Love Song,’ which was also recorded in the early 1970s by jazz singer Peggy Lee. “Larry Klein suggested the song to me and I fell in love with her writing style on this tune,” says Gardot. “It stood out as a beautiful piece to reinvent.” 

Those who are familiar with the singer’s third album, 2012’s ‘The Absence,’ will know that Melody Gardot has a passion for Brazilian bossa novas and Mediterranean music. Her musical love affair with Latin grooves and moods is in evidence on ‘C’est Magnifique,’ a smouldering duet with the mellow-voiced crooner,  Antonio Zambujo (left).  “Antonio is a fantastic singer and artist from Portugal, who I had been listening to and admiring for many years,” enthuses Gardot. “His voice is just perfect for the song and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to sing with him.”

The album contains another duet with a more high profile participant; Sting. The ex-Police singer appears on the set’s final song, a bonus track called ‘Little Something.’ “It was surreal and groundbreaking, in the sense that I never imagined it possible to create a duet long distance,” exclaims Gardot. “The track was brought to me by French producer, Jen Jis. It was then recorded while in quarantine and released early September. Up until that point, I had never met Sting; we only met through the music. It’s quite funny, but beautiful in a way to work like this; all that mattered was the music.”

The album’s overall mood is captured by its extraordinary and eye-catching abstract artwork. “The album cover is a painting by the (American) artist Pat Steir (pictured below, right),” Gardot divulges. “She is an incredible artist. The work is called Untitled IX, 2019 (Taipei). Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Fondation Cartier, Paris; Louvre, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Gallery, London and many more.”  

Gardot says she decided to showcase Steir’s work to show solidarity with other creative people whose livelihood has been affected by the pandemic. “While there is a deafening silence in the arts at this moment, I think it is more important than ever that we seek opportunities to support each other in any way we can,” she says. “The choice to use her piece – which I love – as a cover is as much symbolic as it is heartfelt. In the absence of any galleries being open due to Covid, I wanted to provide an outlet with this cover for an artist to be showcased to the world. This is the first time her work has been reproduced anywhere.” 

Reflecting on her life in music thus far, Melody Gardot says her first time recording in Hollywood’s Capitol Studios back in 2008 stands out as a highlight but one of the most memorable moments of her career has been today in 2020 with the making of ‘Sunset In The Blue.’  “This album holds a special place in my heart,” she confesses, “because although it sounds quite mellow and sensuous, there is a massive amount of sweat and hard work within it by all parties involved.”  

Melody Gardot’s ‘Sunset In The Blue’ is out now via Decca Records

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Life is a song, love is the music

Interview: Melody Gardot’s ‘Sunset in the Blue’, an Open Window Amongst Closed Doors

Melody Gardot’s ‘Sunset In The Blue’, a jazzy saunter to a bossa nova strum, is a multilingual journey through the heart’s wins and losses.

Stream: ‘sunset in the blue’ – melody gardot, i t’s artists like jazz singer/songwriter melody gardot who embody a type of boundary-free worldliness, that are role models for us all in this occasionally closed-minded world..

Ms. Gardot leads by example in the lessons of, how to cast the right kind of light across the globe to inspire appreciation, acceptance and understanding of the other.

She’s a real xenophile.

Through travel, the arts, fashion, and then some, Gardot brings together the richness of all she hears, sees, tastes and feels as a citizen of our world, to create her own unique, Melody Gardot-chic. Our world is filled with a plenty of diverse beauty. If only we would cash in on opportunities to experience and appreciate it all, as does Gardot.

But let’s face it: Nowadays, and for the foreseeable future, it’s possible that our ability to travel the globe, and make good on the opportunities afforded us by the bounties of its multicultural offerings, will be seriously limited by our current COVID-19 crisis. But, no matter: We have works like Gardot’s fifth and most recently released studio album, Sunset In The Blue (10/23/20 via Decca Records), to help us escape the confines of this lockdown and immerse ourselves in the colorful tapestry of the world’s cornucopic euphony.

With one of the singles off Sunset In The Blue entitled “From Paris with Love,” Gardot and her label Decca Records took the idea of helping the world community from an amorphous spiritual sonic support, to a sleeves rolled up, let’s create jobs and put food in people’s mouths type of support.

Musicians from the United States, Armenia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Norway and beyond who became unemployed and could not perform due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, came together to record, “From Paris with Love.” Ms Gardot made sure these musicians were paid a fee relative to a standard UK musicians studio wage in return for their time and expertise.

Regarding the “From Paris with Love” project, Ms. Gardot explains that it was “a stunning example of how music is a universal language and how our global awareness is greater than ever. Seeing what’s happening around the world, we cannot ignore our need for love and connection during this time. I am so happy to see the generous response displayed in the vast array of characters, from all corners of the globe, coming together to create this unique piece of music. It is a symbolic gesture for the way we can offer hope as we look towards the idea of creation in the future.”

Though just shy of esperantic status, Sunset In The Blue’s track list boasts Melody Gardot’s ability to both sing and compose music in English, French, and Portuguese.  Oscillating between languages, based on their natural cadence and feel on her tongue, Gardot helps us to experience the varied rhythms and flows of each dialect as if they were each a separate musical instrument, capable of expressing different emotions with each sound.

Sunset In The Blue is rich with layers of standard swooners like Mercer and Mancini’s “Moon River” and Frank Sinatra’s classic, “I Fall in Love Too Easily” by Styne/Cahn. It is exquisitely swirled with Gardot’s originals like the album’s bittersweet title track, “Sunset In The Blue” and standout beauty, Portuguese original “Um Biejo.” They tell stories of the heart with an understanding mixture of hope, pain and honesty.

Tantas vezes procurando meu destino Tantas vezes perguntando no caminho Tantas vezes uma pedra nas correntes Ser mulher com um colar desse sementes

Mas eu tava esperando alguém pra amar alguém pra me dar um beijo eu, passaro sem par tava esperando alguém pra amar, so many times searching for my destiny so many times asking along the way so many times a rock in the chains being a woman with a necklace from these stones, but me, i’ve been awaiting someone to love someone to kiss me me, a birdy without a match i’ve been awaiting someone to love.

With its grounded vulnerability, Gardot’s  repertoire  keeps us company in our feelings of weeping, wanting and sometimes, waiting. A very stark difference from “Little Something,” the pop latinesque single Gardot released with Sting just prior to dropping Sunset In The Blue. It appears on the album as a bonus track.

As an album, Sunset In The Blue is nuanced with many of the same stratum that make up Gardot herself.  An equal balance of vivid culture, romantic verse and vintage class, it’s almost a microcosm of the artist herself.

Sunset In The Blue smoothly sways with its percussive brushes. A jazzy saunter to a Bossa Nova strum, it is a multilingual journey through the heart’s wins and losses. With lyrics like these from Ms Gardot’s “There Where He Lives in Me.” Do you have a text that needs to be translated into different languages ? then search translations in UK as they can help in multilingual translations.

There where all our tears are just from laughter There we are always together Even when he’s gone forever There where he lives in me There where he lives in me

so intimate in its annunciation, Sunset In The Blue makes it impossible to deny the complex emotions that have been woven into each moment of the album .

Atwood Magazine was honored to spend some time with Melody Gardot and discuss the creation of Sunset In The Blue . Now that this album is available, take the opportunity to travel the world with your heart and soul through each glorious track.  Sunset In The Blue offers us an open window amongst the many closed doors of quarantine. It’s a real delight to behold.

Stream: “If You Love Me” – Melody Gardot

A CONVERSATION WITH MELODY GARDOT

Melody Gardot : Of course none of us expected that this album would be halted by a pandemic. We set out in January 2020 to begin demos and recordings of this album hoping we would finalize in the spring. Mid-way through that process however, all operations had come to a grinding halt. In revisiting the recordings, we decided to push forward and continue to find a way to make music despite these trying times, and it was in that moment that we discovered great beauty. The song “From Paris With Love” took new life: serving as a beacon of light in dark times, it offered a chance to break the mould in terms of “how” we create music and also provide a number of musicians the opportunity to work, maintaining their livelihood as performers. We then created a video with the help of fans who were quarantined around the world and managed to bring the gesture of connection full circle by donating (with Universal and myself) our respective royalties of this song to a charity for healthcare workers… We did what we could with what we had. I felt incredibly inspired after this moment to keep searching for a way to make music and keep musicians working. Our team worked nonstop in that moment until we were graced by the presence of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road to help us finalize the remaining recordings at a distance.

Melody Gardot : In terms of style, I had wanted to return to something more feminine and sensual, as we had been developing this sound the two years prior (while on tour). Quite simply, I felt it was time to take that energy and that approach (also much more orchestrated) to the studio.

Melody Gardot :  It’s not an easy process in the sense we start with a very large pile, but Larry Klein made it easier by bringing some wonderful suggestions. He was the one who brought “Moon River” and “Love Song” to the table. Afterwards, the rest came quite naturally.

Melody Gardot : Up until this pandemic I traveled nonstop due to the nature of this occupation. Now, I split my time more frequently between the US and France because I’m working on another project. I have “lived” many places if you count the stints between records as “home,” and always find inspiration in the places I go. I believe as an artist, it is part of the desire and also our job to continue to learn new cultures, new musical styles and new languages. In a way, it’s learning about new techniques…

Melody Gardot : I’ve traveled and spent time in many countries (on purpose). Submerging yourself into a culture, I find, is the best way to learn quickly. After many years of roaming about, I’ve since picked up Spanish, Portuguese, French and currently have my heart set on mastering Italian and German. I love being able to speak multiple languages. Writing in another language (since you ask about music here) is as enriching as mastering a new instrument. It provides a new palette of colours for one to work with and at times is a tool to maintain interest in creation. Otherwise I would tend to get bored (with only one option on the table).

Melody Gardot : Often I don’t, the songs tend to choose themselves, bizarrely. Chalk it up to being multilingual. In certain cases, I will deliberately choose the words based on the sound they provide to the listener. For instance the word “leaves” can be quite hard sounding and less interesting to sing (and to listen to), whereas the word “folhas” floats off the tongue. This is why the word “folhas” is in the song ‘Cest Magnifique’. It’s merely because I liked the sound of it better.

Melody Gardot : The song served a purpose that none of us could have anticipated. However, the result is so much more beautiful now – don’t you think?

Melody Gardot : Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say. Perhaps some will fall even more in love with the current distance playing part – we can only hope so.

Melody Gardot : My two chihuahuas.

Melody Gardot : Every day is a new adventure. The road is always more interesting when we don’t know what’s waiting around the bend. All I can hope for is that it will be beautiful.

:: stream/purchase Sunset in the Blue here ::

Connect to melody gardot  on facebook , twitter , instagram, discover new music on atwood magazine, :: stream melody gardot  ::.

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About Melody Gardot

Melody Gardot is an American jazz and pop vocalist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She started singing at a very young age and also experienced piano and guitar. Her music is influenced by traditional jazz, blues, and Latin music. Gardot released her debut album, Worrisome Heart, in 2006. She had strong reviews which helped her gain international recognition as a rising jazz vocalist. Gardot has toured extensively and has released four studio albums, three live albums, two EP's, and seven singles. Her work has been sampled in many other artists' music and her album My One and Only Thrill was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010. Melody Gardot continues to tour and release new music and is a highly acclaimed and sought-after jazz vocalist.

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Melody Gardot: ‘What is the problem with an ass? It’s not a weapon’

The jazz singer meets craig mclean at a paris cafe to talk about her new album, lockdown blues, media negativity and posing naked for the sleeve of her much-loved live record, article bookmarked.

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T he Melody Gardot I met 10 years ago felt like the Greta Garbo of jazz.

Cool, striking, blonde (usually), with a dramatic sense of style and a breeze-soft, mystery-filled, soulful voice that, three albums into her career, had established the American as one of the most admired singers of her time, she sat curled in the corner of a hotel dining room in central London. The drowsy afternoon atmosphere was amplified by the already-dim lights being wreathed in scarves.

There were more scarves draping the interviewee, and a turban, and hair that was very different from the cascade of black curls on display at the previous night’s classily theatrical concert at the grand Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden. The sunglasses stayed on throughout our encounter, as they had for the duration of the show. The walking cane with which she’d carefully entered the stage lay propped by her armchair.

“The biggest influence that I have at the moment is things like cabaret and burlesque,” the American told me in a feathery voice – although I was also aware that Gardot, 27 then, was still recovering from a traffic accident eight years previously. Back home in Philadelphia, where she was a fashion student at the time, Gardot had been knocked off her bicycle by a Jeep that shot a red light. Her injuries were devastating: shattered pelvis, spinal damage, severe head trauma. She was bed-ridden for 11 months and had to learn to walk again – and to live with the after-effects of neural damage, including memory loss and sensitivity to light, temperature and barometric pressure.

As to her coping with, and managing, her pain: “In very severe moments, ultrasound, Tens unit, shiatsu, acupressure, acupuncture, myofascial release, craniosacral, osteopathic manipulations – any of these works very well. And I can use them in a balanced way to pull myself back into shape momentarily.” A carefully controlled macrobiotic diet helped, too.

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What a difference a decade makes. The Melody Gardot I meet in a bistro in the 16th arrondissement in Paris is a wise-cracking, chic, olive-green jumpsuit-wearing dynamo who strides across a boulevard with a swish of blonde mane (her own) and the clack of heels.

When I comment on how she looked and presented back then (“Oh God I had so many wigs!”), and start to commend her on her seeming physical reboot after a long period of strict regimes and regimens, she interjects with an airy “that’s changed”. And she is indeed a totally changed woman. Her fragile health is improved to the extent that she hasn’t had to shield during the pandemic. Well, not medically. She did feel overwhelmed with the nightly news bulletins on French TV, tallying up infections and fatalities in each country.

“To me, it was playing with people’s emotions, just enough to make fear so that when they gave instructions, people would follow them. That’s not a conspiracy thing – it’s the news in general. If you watch it in the news too, it’s all negative, negative, negative, negative.

“I’m too sensitive, so I needed to find a way to protect myself,” she continues, and she means it emotionally. “But I wasn’t worried about me [physically].” She’s still not had Covid and isn’t concerned about infection. “Nah!” she says, sounding very Philly. “Believe me, if a car can’t kill me, that ain’t gonna kill me.”

She does, I say, look immeasurably more robust.

“That a nice way of saying I’m a little fatter?” she cracks. “That’s Covid, man,” she adds of (non-existent) lockdown weight gain. “But, yeah, a little bit! I’m alright with it. Even cars need spare tyres, man.”

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Gardot remains very much a star, but now cast in a very different light. The shades still stay clamped to her face, although now they’re more Presley than Piaf. And she does move us from one lunchtime venue to another – but not because the first doesn’t meet her rarefied needs. It’s too snobby, she frowns, indicating her disdain by flicking the tip of her nose like a schoolkid. And, after 10 days’ Covid-protocolled playing of European festivals in support of her exquisite new piano-and-vocals album, Entre Eux Deux , she needs earthier sustenance: omelette and chips.

Of summer 2022’s touring rules and regulations, “everything is kinda jump through hoops”, Gardot sighs as she parks her handbag on the seat next to her, packet of fags poking out. “Also, instead of having a tour bus – we weren’t able to acquire one – the minute you wake up, you get a taxi, a train, then another car, then arrive at the festival. And then you do the same again the next day. It’s really weird, we don’t usually travel on show days. And because you have those hours, you don’t get breakfast, lunch and dinner. So it’s been Hunger Games for the last 10 days!” she concludes, ultimately, cheerfully.

Hence the need for proper French bistro fare, including a fresh orange juice. “Un autre, s’il vous plaît,” she asks the waitress as she drains the first practically in a oner.

Entre Eux Deux is billed as a duo album, a collaboration with French-Brazilian pianist Philippe Powell. An accomplished player herself, on her sixth studio album, Gardot cedes control of the instrument to her collaborator (son of revered Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell). She focuses on the singing – the inhabiting – of a set of songs comprising Brazilian standards, French love songs and new, co-written compositions. It’s a very different record to 2020’s Sunset in the Blue , begun in Los Angeles with crack players and collaborators recording at the legendary Capitol Records Studios, concluded during lockdown with remote recordings by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road, and topped off with a duet with Sting.

“I just felt it was a bit like Warhol/Basquiat,” she says of her partnership with Powell in a manner that sounds way less bumptious than that might read. “Two people who are competent are working on a project together, and giving each other the space necessary to do so. That’s in terms of composition and recording, and in terms of the sound.”

How concerned was she that the lyrics would land with English speakers?

The briefest of pauses, and then, “Never thought about it, ha ha!” Gardot hoots. “But there’s English songs on the record! And music is international. So to me, the feeling is most important. This was the first record I produced, top to bottom, outside of the live one,” she says of 2018’s Live in Europe . “And I said to the engineer: look, people are either gonna love or not love these songs. But there’s one thing we have to make sure: that it sounds great.

“But I guess if you’re curious about what the songs mean, like watching a foreign film, you can look at the lyrics and translate them.”

Nonetheless, she’s aware that the joke of the seemingly timelessly classy “Fleurs Du Dimanche” – in which a diva complains about being awoken to receive flowers on a Sunday morning because, like any good diva, she’s been out carousing till the wee hours – might not widely land. “That’s a really funny song, we did it outside France and nobody knew what we were talking about! But maybe that’s what makes it fun: you have to make an effort.

“But I don’t think that’s off-putting. It’s not about exclusivity, it’s just about working within another culture.”

Gardot has been based in Paris for five or six years, and is so well regarded in France that, on the day of her new album’s announcement this spring, she was awarded the title of Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres , the country’s highest cultural accolade. Truly a citizen of the international jazz diaspora, prior to that she spent time living in Brazil and Portugal. She’s 37: does she think that she needs to have travelled, and lived, and be here in Paris full-time, to make records like these? And that she couldn’t if she was still living in America?

“Yes,” she replies firmly. “It’s observational. It’s Bukowskian. You know the record Tijuana Moods by Mingus?” She’s talking about the 1957 album by the jazz great. “He had a stint there and created that record just after. You have to put yourself in the shoes of a [local].” But, she adds, she’s always done that, recorded and interpreted in situ: she describes 2015’s fourth album Currency of Man as “an LA record. And especially as an American, if you want to learn something about a culture or a language, you have to go to that place, period. There’s no faking it! That’s it!” she laughs lightly. “You can’t fake it till you make it!”

Her adoptive neighbourhood in the French capital is “pretty familiar, cool, working class”. It’s on the other side of town, within close view of the Eiffel Tower, but she won’t say which arrondissement. “It’s not you. There’s wackadoos,” she says, keeping those metaphorical sunglasses firmly on. But overall, “I can’t buy [property] in this city. There was a graffiti artist a couple of years ago who drew one square metre on the ground and wrote ‘10,000’ in it, because it was 10 grand a square metre. Now I think it’s almost 20 in some areas. I don’t know which is the most expensive. But the 16th is up there!” she says of our current location.

As to what she thinks about her homeland, this American in Paris is of course appalled by the most recent mass shootings in the US, but also wearily sanguine. Raised poor in Philadelphia with her single mother, she remembers “coming up in a city where you gotta run two blocks and walk one. Where a neighbour takes his garbage out and gets killed in a drive-by. Where your 15-year-old friend jumps in front of his mom to stop the robber getting to the cash register, and he’s shot. Where six-year-old kids are toting guns instead of going to kindergarten.”

Beyond that, when I ask what this exile misses about the US, she has “really stupid answers”, ones she wants to ensure are read as they’re intended, in a light-hearted way. “Dunkin Donuts. Just a bagel hot off the grill at four in the morning that you can pick up through a drive-thru on the highway. I’d love to have a seriously crappy coffee! And I miss the facility to pick up everything you need in the pharmacy – birthday card, soda, candy, vitamins, clothes, hairspray. Here you have to go to five places! So I miss the ability to do more with less time. The food is the same, but you have to go to different places for fruit, cheeses, bread, meat… Which is cool. But buying dinner is a half-day endeavour. And I miss barbeques.”

She also concedes that lockdown was hard. So much so that, after the initial confinement, she left for the States. “It was a little bit weird here. There was a ‘show me your papers’ vibe,” she says, adopting what I haltingly describe as a Gestapo accent. “That was a little bit strange. I forgive Paris for having the attitude it did. But not for me.”

More generally, “not doing music period is the death of a musician. We’re not meant to be cooped up like that. Nobody is!”

Did she feel lonely?

“Um, I missed my band. And I tell you what,” she adds with a conspiratorial wink (I imagine – those shades ain’t coming off), “playing alone, it’s a bit like doing it alone, man: it can only last for so long. And it’s just not the same.”

As we’re unexpectedly on rather intimate territory, I ask about the lyrics to the two devastating songs that close the album, “Ode to Every Man” and “Darling Fare Thee Well”. The skeletal former, based on a poem she wrote a few years ago, is a spoken-word lament that speaks of her “merciless sadness and my ever-ruined veins”. The hushed balladry of the latter repeats the heart-sore, sanguinary imagery: “Oh my love, what happened to your heart?/ Weren’t you the one who started up this fire in my veins?”

Was that written from personal recent experience?

Another pause. “What isn’t?” she smiles.

Has Gardot had a ruinous split over the last couple of years?

“Multiple! Of course!”

Is she with anyone right now?

She mimes zipping her lips closed. “Next! Ha! I don’t mean to be a d***, but I’ve never gone anywhere with my personal life, with regards to that [particular] stuff. Just ’cause it’s also a pain in the butt if it does go wrong, then everybody has to be there to know about it. I’m kinda hoping for the one that goes right. If it works for 10 years, then we’ll talk about it. YouknowwhatImean ?”

Fair play. We had a memorable encounter 10 years ago. This one has been up there, too. I’m down for another a decade hence.

This, then, is Melody Gardot: an American artist in exile, a jazz voyager, forever seeking out new musical adventures in the genre. She is, then, alive and thriving in Europe, as amply evidenced on (sorry) Live in Europe , the 2018 album that featured 17 tracks picked from 300 concerts over several years. Famously, the black and white album sleeve featured a naked Gardot on stage, shot from behind. Did she receive much criticism for that?

“Ah, not to my face.”

To your back?

“Ha ha ha!” she laughs, gamely. “Look, man: I’m not in it for the credit. I didn’t pay attention. If there’s stuff out there, you’d have to be the person to tell me. I’m curious: were you shocked to see something like that. What was your takeaway?”

I thought it was sexy, sensual and an image of a woman who’d endured horrific injuries and was now transformed and reborn. In short, very cool.

“Thank you. The whole thing took 20 minutes,” she begins. In the first six shots, taken to establish lighting, she was stripped to her underwear. “It just looked like some Eighties hair metal band [photoshoot] – the underwear made it sexy, provocative. But when we got to image seven and I was naked, it just shifted into sculpture, like something at the Musée d’Orsay.”

She was playing the guitar, finding a position and angle that was comfortable, which was “ contrapposto , ’cause I always stand on my right leg. And that shift made my body look like that – I thought, ‘that’s beautiful. That’s not out of context here, with this idea of being reborn.’ And I cried.”

As she points out, when she first started out playing music after her accident, “I couldn’t stand up. It took me until 2015 until I could stand up with these heavy guitars. Now I’m here and f***ing doing it! And that image represented what that record is: [songs ranging from] 2009 to 2016, everything we’ve done, everything that’s happened. And honestly, it’s the result of being pushed beyond what I thought was my limit of existence, that I was able to get better. So as much as it was hard [to do], this is the image.

“Then I gave it to the label and they had a kitten. They wanted to put a sticker on my butt.”

Her butt? Wow. She nods and shrugs.

“They weren’t going to release it in the US because of my butt. I said, ‘Good! People will order imports and it’ll get more expensive.’ Honestly, if I wanted to be offensive, I might have turned the other way around and spread, baby. What is the problem with an ass? It’s not a weapon, man. Couple of months later Lizzo comes out with a record, naked and huge on the front. I’m like, that’s fine! And she’s great! Yes! And I hope more people do it!

“It’s your body,” she continues. “Nobody put me up to it. It wasn’t to sell records – and believe me, it didn’t! There was none of this marketing nonsense. And my mom’s gotta look at this thing! I’m not gonna do something she can’t look at.”

I don’t care what the limitations are, I’m going to surpass them

Still, as well as offending some, it hurt others’ brains, too. Given the year of its release, which saw the #MeToo movement go global, “some journalist asked if it was something to do with #MeToo. I was like: next! In what world, man?” she asks, rhetorically, witheringly.

Overall, the image is of a piece with the career, and the outlook, of the remarkable Melody Gardot. As she puts it: “I have a hard time [with] people telling me no.

“Even now. I’m like: ‘No? OK, watch me .’ I don’t know where that comes from. I don’t know if it’s ego, or a belief in a better thing. It’s not for a self-serving purpose in the sense that ‘I need this’. [It’s more like]: I wanna do that thing. I don’t care what the limitations are, I’m going to surpass them – like walking again.”

Making music for her, then, is “physical, man. And the day you’re out of ideas, you’re done. I don’t want to drop that level where I make things for the sake of making it. If you really don’t have anything to say, I guess you shouldn’t say anything at all, right? And they do not stop asking me to do standards records,” she says of her UK record label. “I’m like, ‘ NO! ’ I’ll do that when I have no more ideas. ‘Do a Christmas record!’” she mimics, adopting a prim English accent. “ NO! Call Michael Bublé! I’m not saying there’s something wrong with that. But that’s not me.”

‘Entre Eux Deux’ (Decca) is out now. Melody Gardot plays London’s Royal Festival Hall on 19 November

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Melody Gardot

Following an extensive two-year world tour in support of her highly successful major label debut, My One and Only Thrill, Melody Gardot was restless and ready for new adventure.

Perhaps it was fate that a girl named Melody was ultimately saved by music. At the age of 18, Melody Gardot was struck by an SUV while riding her bicycle. She sustained various injuries and was confined to a hospital bed for the better part of a year. She began writing songs and playing guitar at the encouragement of a physician who believed music would help with the healing process of her brain. These songs would later turn into the EP, Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions that was released in 2005. She began performing these songs live where she eventually caught the attention of the radio station WXPN and later Universal Music Group. Her first album, Worrisome Heart , was released in 2008 to critical acclaim and found itself in the U.S Billboard Top 200 among other charts. Since then her following four albums have earned her gold, platinum and multi-platinum status around the world.

Mary Levitan

+1.604.630.3199 [email protected]

Jazz Album of the Week: Singer Melody Gardot's Gorgeously Simple, Bossa-Tinged Sunset in the Blue

January 11, 2021. Sunset in the Blue , vocalist Melody Gardot’s new album, works on the listener in a deliberate, almost methodical way, as though it knows it’s playing a long con. So if you find yourself preoccupied or not fully present at first listen— if you haven’t yet had your daily yoga, or engaged your mindfulness app, or done whatever it is one must do in early 2021 to attain clarity and presence, don’t despair. Gardot’s fifth full-length, studio album, and first in five years, will work on you anyway. It doesn’t hit you until you’ve listened once through and get up to make a snack, or walk the dog, or simply go about any of the things life requires that aren’t active music listening. And then you’ll find that these dozen seemingly benign, bossa-seasoned musical muscle relaxers are insidious in the most delightful way.

The tunes have stayed with you, and you find yourself thankful for the work your subconscious has done on your behalf. It’s about time, you think. That mindfulness app really does work, you surmise.   But I’d blame that intoxicating feeling you’re experiencing on the 2020 Gardot, music that’s quaffable, self-assured and elegant in the simplicity and quality of its ideas and ingredients. For a 2020, this offering presents as a much more distinguished vintage.   And it opens up beautifully. “If You Love Me” is one of those rare songs as good for the in-love as the lovelorn. Imagine a classic Motown slow dance in three, like “A Sunday Kind of Love” or “At Last,” reimagined for a trio of vocals, acoustic guitar (Anthony Wilson) and brushes (Sam Minaie) at a sidewalk Parisian café. Then imagine Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) strings show up to back them with understated gravitas. Now you know you’re dreaming. Except you’re not; it’s all here. Throw in Till Brönner’s trumpet, and you’ve got a tune with deceptive depth; it’s the type of song that’s somehow perfect for a first dance or for leaning into the sadness of a fresh breakup or for contemplating the strangely reassuring quality of heavy rainfall.

Gardot, a multilingual vocalist who’s played piano and guitar capably on past records, is exclusively a vocal artist here, supported with deft sensitivity by sidemen who subsume their considerable individual talents in service of an aesthetic that’s minimalist yet very warm and generous.   Brönner reappears on “Um Beijo,” the first of two that Gardot sings wholly in Portuguese. RPO woodwinds introduce vocals that are seductive and alluring in the manner of Astrud Gilberto’s. Brönner’s part is inconspicuous but indispensable, like vermouth in a good martini.

  “Ninguem, Ninguem,” another Gardot original, follows and is the other tune sung from start to finish in Portuguese. This hip-shaker is a welcome change of pace in the middle of an album that’s not monochromatic mood-wise as other critics have suggested—it’s the complex emotional ambivalence that makes so many of the selections affecting—but is, more often than not, gazey and pensive. Paulinho Da Costa (percussion) and Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) propel the piece but combo guitars—Wilson on electric and Nando Duarte on acoustic—imbue the piece with a playfully antagonistic chemistry that lodges itself in the brain’s auditory and rhythmic pleasure centers and doesn’t let go.   “From Paris with Love,” the album’s first single, comes next. This one’s received a lot of positive attention for how it was produced; Gardot put together what she’s termed a “digital global orchestra” comprising musicians from around the world whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic. Each musician played and submitted their parts remotely, and Gardot and Decca records donated royalties from sales of the single to a charity supporting healthcare workers.

The song itself is not among my favorites; it’s an agreeable, if formulaic, pop-ballad that calls to mind an orchestra-backed “Me and Mrs. Jones” or any of the handful of original singles Michael Bublé has had such enormous success with.   Better in my mind are “There Where He Lives in Me” and “Love Song,” the third and fourth cuts, respectively. The former resides somewhere in the sweet spot between “Manhã de Carnaval” and “Rio de Janeiro Blue” and is ripe for inclusion on a James Bond soundtrack. At nearly six minutes, one could argue it’s about 90 seconds too long, but that feels petty for a tune that really makes you think hard about a love so strong it takes up residence in your soul. This one might be the gem most likely to be overlooked here.   “Love Song” is one that was originally written for Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection, and the four-note bursts of cascading riffs from RPO’s strings and the Julian Lage-style twang of Wilson’s electric guitar imbue it with the rusty, dusty, country-like essence of Elton’s “Madman Across the Water.” Though it lacks the energy and fury of “Madman,” it feels possessed of a certain sub-surface darkness that permeates the classic John/Taupin tune.

Saxophonist Donny McCaslin makes an appearance on the next one, “You Won’t Forget Me,” a tune originally written for Carly Simon that’s sultry almost to the point of being haunting. McCaslin and Wilson, again playing a very Lage-like electric guitar, strike that balance of sensuality and just slightly possessed that Gardot affects throughout this one.   If you find yourself attracted to this slightly haunting quality, try the penultimate tune, Gardot’s take on Mancini and Mercer’s “Moon River,” which evokes a feeling similar to that of listening to the version of “Edelweiss” performed by Jeanette Olsson for Amazon’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s T he Man in the High Castle. It’s not deliciously foreboding in the same way, but Gardot does have a similar knack for implying subtext and mystery and amorphous depth that transcends well-worn, facially anodyne lyrics.

Gardot brings that chilling quality to the closer, too, a gorgeous gut-punch of a take on “I Fall in Love Too Easily” that goes slow, hits hard, and gets out quickly. With just Wilson and bassist John Leftwich as accomplices here, Gardot shows the rare quality of being at her best with fewest adornments.  

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The vocal jazz singer has released four albums for Verve including ‘Worrisome Heart’, ‘My One and Only Thrill’, ‘The Absence’, and ‘Currency Of Man’.

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The Grammy-nominated jazz and blues singer and pianist Melody Gardot has risen to stardom since 2005, releasing three timeless albums that place her firmly in a tradition of such greats as Nina Simone and sophisticated ladies like Renee Fleming, Ruth Cameron, Diana Krall , Norah Jones and Cassandra Wilson. It’s heady company for someone who has only just turned 30 but this East Coast American deserves the plaudits since her discs on the Verve label combine tradition and contemporary vocalese with flair and warmth. Especially popular in mainland Europe it is only a matter of time before the world wakes up to the delights of My One And Only Thrill and The Absence where she collaborates with her multi-instrumental foil and confidante Jesse Harris to fine effect. While Gardot also writes much of her own material she has a reputation for the well-chosen cover: Joni Mitchell , Edith Piaf, The Beatles , Jacques Brel , Cole Porter and Bill Withers sit easily in her repertoire.

Nevertheless, we salute Melody for her originality and her innate ability to create an atmosphere of well-being that leaves audiences purring with pleasure. Much travelled in pursuit of new and ever more exotic sounds to enrich her craft Melody describe her globetrotting as the search for experience – in life and love. “A lot the stories on the record ( The Absence ) come from my experiences – but also from the observation of people, living with them, the sadness and joy that came about in little moments. It was really a mutual connection.” Time to connect with and discover a startling talent.

Born in New Jersey, Gardot’s early years were spent on the road and abroad, living out of suitcases. That wanderlust informs her now. She began playing music aged nine years old and as a teenager, she was performing in Philadelphia bars, becoming a virtual jukebox who could get under the skin of artists she adored, be that The Mamas & The Papas or Radiohead, as well as the great classic standard writers from the golden age of shellac. She had a life-altering moment in 2003 when out cycling. She was hit head-on by a motorist and suffered serious injuries that left her virtually immobilised for a year. But that didn’t deter this remarkable young woman and she taught herself guitar and began to write her own songs as a form of personal therapy. It worked. The soothing soul of sound became her friend and her rehabilitation was enhanced by exposure to the luscious music of Stan Getz and the Brazilian beach songs of the late 1950s / early 1960s.

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As her powers of movement, speech and memory flooded back so her creativity expanded and early forays into the studio produced Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions , an autobiographical account of her state of body and mind that would be the basis for her debut album Worrisome Heart (2006). The diary entry approach suited her style and the title track was released to promote the main disc, soon rising up Billboard’s Smooth Jazz Songs chart and making inroads into the Japanese market.

Musically the album showcases her trilling voice and sumptuous melodies. Assisted by Ron Kerber’s horns, Mike Brenner’s lap steel and Matt Cappy’s muted trumpet Gardot lays down a marker here. Listen to the depth and charm of “Love Me Like a River Does” and marvel at the aching intimacy of “Sweet Memory” or “Quiet Fire.” This is very high-class music indeed.

Live From SoHo , Melody Gardot’s second extended player (an iTunes exclusive from 2009) continues her smart style and habit of trailing her new material to hone it to perfection. Recorded live in New York City, “Baby I’m a Fool” and “Who Will Comfort Me” draw one in with careful scat singing, finger-snapping rhythms and a percussive thrust that is impossible to resist.

The resulting second album, My One And Only Thrill , took her to the West Coast – Capitol Studios, Stage and Sound and Santa Monica’s funky Market Street room, where she clicked with producer Larry Klein and offers us a jazz and blues classic. No doubt. Available with variant bonus Deluxe extras, including a Live in Paris session (where her versions of Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and her own “The Rain” set up the mood) the main event is also blessed by her take on “Over the Rainbow” and the Gardot/Harris number “Our Love is Easy”. It is all subtle and enchanting so no wonder the sales indicate Gold in many territories and Platinum in France, Germany, Norway, Poland and Sweden – places where chanson and cool jazz are revered.

With her own songs like “Baby I’m a Fool” seemingly becoming standards overnight, Melody Gardot took time off to record The Absence (2012) with producer Heitor Pereira, the Brazilian musician whose work has graced Simply Red, Sting , Elton John , Rod Stewart , k.d. lang and Jack Johnson . All that travel time pays dividends here as Melody Gardot expands her fan base abroad and conquers the US Jazz charts by hitting the #1 spot. We’d urge you to discover this as an entire entity – it’s one of those albums you want to hear all the way through. And then repeat. If it’s invidious to have favourites we can’t get over “Amalia” and the closing “lemanja” where the segue into hidden track “Cheque Journeyman” flows into a lengthy and miasmic workout.

Again her choice of sidemen proves impeccable. On Thrill…  she kept it in-house with piano, guitar and voice dominating proceedings while on The Absence  we find specialists like Yamandu Costa on guitar, Hamilton De Holanda on mandolin, Paulhino Dacosta’s percussion and the drumming masters Peter Erskine and Jim Keltner – as well as full strings and horns. This is a terrific disc and really deserves urgent discovery,  that is if you haven’t made Gardot’s acquaintance already.

In Melody’s own words, “Music therapy is part of my life and was an important part of my recovery.” You can hear the results of that on 2015’s Currency Of Man , a warm and rootsy affair with a West Coast soul swing and expert Larry Klein production. This is modern funk and rock abetted by legendary guitarist Dean Parks. Key tracks include a nod to Sam Cooke on the title piece and echoes of Bill Withers on “Don’t Misunderstand”. Atmospheric strings courtesy of Clement Ducol and smoke-filled jazz club rapture throughout make this a compelling listen. For further live evidence head to Live At The Olympia Paris DVD, recorded at the legendary Belle Époque-era venue.

Like the best of spell-casting singers, she draws the listener in and provides a warm and seductive resting place. She is a remarkable artist and we’re pleased to offer her music here. Get some Melody into your life.

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