Melody Gardot Live in Europe

Melody Gardot
Live in Europe
Decca Records

This new release by the singer-songwriter and instrumentalist is taken from several years of concerts across Europe which she calls a "a postcard from our tours around Europe." She initially listed to over 300 shows, initially looking for some of the more perfect performances, but at some point realized that what she needed to get at was something different. "it’s not about perfection or ego or demonstration - it’s just about what happens live - because live there is only one element that counts: heart." While tagged as a jazz vocalist, she is more of a stylist whose sensual, smokey singing might suggest to some a cabaret vocalist drenched in Peggy Lee's sound. With mostly spare accompaniment (including cello on a number of songs instead of bass), many of these are moody, atmospheric performances, most of which came from her pen.

The stark backing of guitar, cello and drums with subdued sax adds to the gloomy mood of her vocal "Our Love Is Easy," with Stephan Braun's cello accompaniment under her vocal along with Irwin Hall's very sober saxophone solo matching the mood engendered by her singing here. Then there is the soft vibrato of her vocal on "Baby I'm a Fool," with her slurs, slight variations in pitch and her scatting as if singing in French, set against sparse backing of her guitar with cello and drums on another haunting performance. Chuck Stabb's drums are more prominent on "The Rain," with cello and bass lending a mesmerizing feel before Hall enters with some riveting saxophone with a Middle eastern tinge followed by Gardot on piano mixing in some chords before she sings with a bit more volume and heat before Hall has a fiery solo. 

There are other performances that musically break out of the understated, restrained tenor of many of these performances such as Gardot's "March For Mingus," where she opens with a fragment of the spiritual "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and she  her bass player Sam Minaie who takes a taut solo as she adds chords or short single note runs. Drummer Stabb adds a light marching rhythm before she takes a brief piano interlude that transitions to some intense, driving playing from saxophonist Hall and trumpeter Shareef Clayton. The pair's unison passage evoking (to this listener) Rashaan Roland Kirk before Gardot returns and sings fervently. From this same 2016 Utrecht performance comes a dramatic, bluesy performance "Bad News," as she shouts a bit against horn riffs and biting guitar lines, with some impassioned sax. Other delights include the bossa nova tinged "Lisboa," with hints of Stan Getz in Hall's tenor, Devin Greenwood's guitar having a lovely Brazilian feel and a lovely flute solo from James Casey.

Repeated listening to the songs here brings out new facets of the performances and provides a sense of why Melody Gardot is such a moving and original musical voice.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review was written in 2018 and it was submitted but never published. She has a new recording out which review I will be posting in the near future. Here is a live performance of Melody Gardot.