Nicely put, Btv. I guess I only get cyncal about it when it's done badly, and in her case, it certainly isn't.
Melody Gardot in concert she's in Seattle 6/19
Melody Gardot played Portland's Aladdin Theater last night, and her performance was nothing less than jaw-dropping. I've been a fan since hearing two cuts from her album in a New Years Eve countdown of the year's best releases on Portland's KMHD, but nothing could have prepared me for the power of her live performance. Twelve or fifteen songs from her two releases, most of which were done in a completely different style from the albums, and a band--drummer, bass, and a sax/flute player--with an astonishing range. THE most remarkable combination of vocal talent and songwriting ability that I've yet enountered.
Waiting for my wife outside the theater after the concert, I watched people come out of the theater in near disbelief: did we just hear that? Most concerts you come of of, people are talking afterward about where to go for a drink. The people I saw were all talking rapturously about the performance they'd just seen. Seattleites out there, do yourself a favor and get to the Moore Theater tonight. I'm sorely tempted to get on the road and see her a second time.
Waiting for my wife outside the theater after the concert, I watched people come out of the theater in near disbelief: did we just hear that? Most concerts you come of of, people are talking afterward about where to go for a drink. The people I saw were all talking rapturously about the performance they'd just seen. Seattleites out there, do yourself a favor and get to the Moore Theater tonight. I'm sorely tempted to get on the road and see her a second time.
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As an example of what bothers and intrigues me at the same time, see this video taken by an audience member during the June 29 performance in Athens (start of the summer tour of Europe). Melody starts with a brief quote from 'Don't Explain' (Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog), and then launches into a radical re-interpretation of her own 'Love Me Like a River Does' (from 'Worrisome Heart'). The original is so perfect that I can hardly stand the thought of it being tampered with, so my initial response was dismay. That feeling didn't completely dissipate, but I couldn't help but be drawn in by what the band does with it. (By now I've played the video several times.) The young German jazz cellist Stephan Braun has been part of many of her European dates this year, and his playing is at the core of this arrangement. Melody's own contribution on piano is also interesting. I think many fans—especially in the U.S.—of the two released albums may be nonplussed by the direction she is taking now, but that is inevitable. She is just too talented a musician, her artistic interests are too broad, and her range of experience is expanding too quickly, to be constrained by those early expectations and assumptions. European audiences will probably find it easier to keep up with her evolution. |
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