Product description

NKA318

Review

Gretchen Parlato has redefined how a generation views vocal jazz.

Reviewing Gretchen Parlato is a bit presumptuous, consider this a public service announcement as her latest effort will street on October 8, 2013. A live CD and DVD packages captures the magic and intimacy of what transpired at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City over two nights. To attempt a critique using a somewhat antiquated phrase as vocal jazz as the litmus test of her work seems painfully lacking when considering her talent. Parlato is not a jazz singer but a vocal artist that paints vivid imagery with a pristine voice that can play catch and release with a single note as well as any of her contemporaries.

The band is actually made up of two different ensemble casts over this engagement. The first group consists of Taylor Eigsti, Alan Hampton and Mark Guiliana while the second cast of musical co-conspirators is once again made up of Eigsti along with Burniss Earl Travis II and the fabulous drummer Kendrick Scott. A one word review that would capture the essence of this stellar project would be connectivity. Parlato casts a broad net and cuts a wide if not breathtaking sonic path that is simply the harmonious union of kindred spirits. Musical cohesion or synergy with a vocalist of Parlato's gifts and the accompanying band is stereotypically lacking, the band is merely an afterthought but it is the obvious chemistry that inspires Parlato to pull off a live release worthy of serious acclaim. All the stars were indeed in perfect alignment.

While the nine live tracks on the audio disc are pulled from her three studio releases, these are imaginative transformations of previously released material into previously unimagined lyrical portraits of deceptively subtle nuanced flavor and harmonic development. Four of these nine tracks appear on the DVD which is shot and edited beautifully. This is not Parlato at the top of her game. This is a most organic self portrait of the evolution of perhaps the most gifted vocalist to burst onto the scene in the last twenty five years. A jazz singer, a vocal artist, a lyrical poet all seem to be futile attempts at labeling a talent that truly transcends genre.

A stunning recording. A sublime experience. You never rate genius, you celebrate it. --Brent Black - Bop N Jazz.com

Since her professional debut ten years ago, Gretchen Parlato has filled her band book with contemporary soul, r&b, pop and Brazilian songs. While of the tunes on her new CD/DVD Live in NYC have appeared on her studio albums, In a Dream and The Lost and Found , the live versions reveal stunning transformations these songs have made through live tours. The album features Parlato s longtime pianist Taylor Eigsti with two different bass/drum teams, Alan Hampton & Mark Guiliana, and Burniss Earl Travis II & Kendrick Scott. Guiliana s broken time feel gives Butterfly , Within Me and Holding Back the Years completely different atmospheres than their studio versions, while Scott s lazy 6/8 groove throughout much of All That I Can Say enhances the overall interpretation (The same can be said about Scott s unique push-pull feel throughout On the Other Side ). Some of the other changes are quite subtle, like Parlato s newly asymmetrical phrasing on Weak and the audience-as-ethereal-choir on Better Than . But the biggest changes come on a song that seems continually in flux: Wayne Shorter s Juju . Hampton s free-form bass introduction has morphed into an atmospheric rhythm vamp. Guiliana s drums bring a new urgency to the groove, and Parlato s improvisation flirts with Indian scales while delaying the buildup to the solo s climax. Eigsti is more active behind Parlato than in earlier versions and he takes a solo of his own after Parlato finishes. Hampton s interaction seems more active here as well, and he is much more prominent when Parlato comes back for the final melody statement. The ending of the arrangement has also been extended with a repeating vamp and Parlato s chanting of the last line, followed by a gradual dissipation of the sound. Now that Parlato has given us a before-and-after picture of this quartet repertoire, hopefully she and Eigsti will record some of their duet performances for a future album. --JazzHistoryOnline.com

A singer with a deep, almost magical connection to the music. --Herbie Hancock