gretchen parlato

In a musical world increasingly obsessed with effects, speed and instant impact, Gretchen Parlato offers something much more difficult to manufacture: sincerity. Her voice remains human, her musicians remain musicians rather than decoration, and the arrangements leave enough room for us to dream. However you approach this album, it rewards an actual listening experience. You can analyze it, you can simply enjoy its atmosphere, or you can let it carry you somewhere inside your own head. For me, that is where The Wise Ones succeeds. It is beautifully made, deeply intimate and quietly ambitious, and after several listens, you may discover that what first appeared restrained has gradually become impossible to ignore.
— Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move

The coolly aerated vocal style that Gretchen Parlato brought to modern jazz in the mid-aughts — laid-back yet locked-in, with Brazilian and R&B influences finding common cause with the enlightened Herbie-and-Wayne cohort — created a lane so routinely traveled that it’s now just part of the infrastructure…  makes smart use of [Glasper’s] hallmark gospel harmonies, as Parlato sings with muted but firm conviction about a hopeful symbol of inclusion emerging from the gust and the gloom.   — Nate Chinen

“has the same spell-weaving qualities of her earlier vocal work: a close-to-the-mic intimate timbre, immaculate jazz phrasing and faultless pitching and intonation.”
— David Shiers, UK Jazz News

"The combination of skill and artistry that has characterized her career is on full display in the songs from her latest album, The Wise Ones."
— Imani Raven, Shatter the Standards