tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:/blogs/articles-interviews?p=1articles-interviews2024-02-25T13:06:08-08:00gretchen parlato falsetag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/73570942024-02-25T13:06:08-08:002024-02-25T20:29:20-08:00GRETCHEN PARLATO AND LIONEL LOUEKE'S SACRED SYNERGY<div class="s_header_wraper" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(68, 68, 68);font-family:Lato;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin-top:28px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="s-post-header container" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(17, 17, 17);margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;max-width:100%;min-width:0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;width:970px;"><div class="meta" style='box-sizing:border-box;font-family:"Archivo Narrow";font-style:normal;font-weight:400;line-height:1;'>
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<a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.musicconnection.com/category/magazine/cover-stories/">COVER STORIES</a>, <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.musicconnection.com/category/magazine/">MAGAZINE</a>
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<div class="post-date" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(136, 136, 136);display:inline;font-size:13px;letter-spacing:1px;margin-right:3px;text-transform:uppercase;" itemprop="datePublished">FEBRUARY 23, 2024</div>
<div class="post-author" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(136, 136, 136);display:inline;font-size:13px;letter-spacing:1px;margin-right:3px;text-transform:uppercase;" itemprop="author">BY <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.musicconnection.com/author/andrea_beenham/"><u>ANDREA BEENHAM</u></a>
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<p><i>Photos by Lauren Desberg</i></p>
<p><strong>ON THE HEELS OF THEIR GRAMMY® AWARD</strong> nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album, Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke continue to make their mark on the jazz scene, while remaining as humble and appreciative of their journey as ever. Born and raised 7,500 miles apart (California and Benin), their creative synergy is pure magic, the result of 23 years of friendship and musical collaboration.</p>
<p>Their individual careers are impressive; Loueke formed West African-influenced jazz trio Gilfelma (alongside Ferenc Nemeth and Massimo Biolcati), is part of Blue Note’s Allstar Band, recorded and toured with Chick Corea, and has been touring with Herbie Hancock for over 10 years. He performed on 2007’s Grammy-winning album of the year, <i>River: The Joni Letters</i>. in addition to garnering extensive vocal awards, Parlato’s stylings appear on over 80 recordings, including Grammy-winning albums with Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Taylor Eigsti. Their combined credits include Wayne Shorter, Robert Glasper, Marcus Miller, Terrence Blanchard, Kendrick Scott, and others. The duo head out on tour to Europe next month.</p>
<p>Juggling touring, teaching, and balancing family life, the duo’s Grammy-nominated project, <i>Lean In</i>, has brought them back to where it all began.</p>
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<p> </p><img src="https://www.musicconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-23-at-10.49.15-AM.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="642" width="1636" /><p> </p>
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<p><strong>Music Connection: </strong>You refer to yourselves as musical soulmates, have used each other’s music on other projects, and have been connected for so long. What was the inspiration for <i>Lean in</i>?</p>
<p><strong>Lionel Loueke: </strong>There’s no one else out there I feel so connected to. When it comes to music, it’s clear for me. As you said, I play on her album, she plays on mine. We had our own life. We grew as musicians, we’ve been through COVID. I don’t think we could have done it earlier. I feel like everything was landing at the right time. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>You [Loueke] wrote two other records during COVID. What made this different? It struck me as so positive, which may be counterintuitive for a lot of people coming out of such a dark space?</p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>Absolutely. We all know what we’ve been through and Herbie [Hancock] often says on stage that ‘COVID has taught us one thing: that we need to take care of each other. Otherwise, we are going to die.’ We are one family, you know? For me, it’s important to celebrate life, enjoy the moment, not take for granted what we have earned, and do the best we can while we’re here. </p>
<p><strong>Gretchen Parlato: </strong>I agree. Even the title—<i>Lean In</i>—it’s wonderful you feel it’s positive and has something joyous, but someone else might hear it and lean into their suffering or pain. That’s what it is to me. When you study about embracing your suffering, acknowledging it, sitting with it, and trying to move through it—not pushing it away. <i>Lean In </i>is an offering for ourselves, for each other, to just feel it all. That, to me, was the message of COVID. The whole album was an offering and, in a cool way as artists, we end up creating something we can use as our own healing, but it can also have the effect on other people and listeners. We always feel very lucky, very grateful to be artists. We suffered a lot during COVID, but we were able to tap into something deeper and create. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>The way you see that pain and let it pass, as opposed to holding onto it, definitely speaks to Buddhist fundamentals. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>It comes up a lot in different readings…leaning into your every emotion like you’re holding a newborn baby and saying, ‘it’s okay, I’m here for you. Let’s be here together.’ Whether it’s amazing or tragic, it’s just here, and you’re taking care of it. With Lionel and I both being parents, it’s a really important, very deep message to pass on to kids to process their own emotions. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>I practice Buddhism, so it’s a big part of who I am and what I do. It comes through the music, through a way of living. The biggest difference for me compared to 20 years ago was music was everything for me—not anymore. Music is just what I do, not who I am. If I put my focus on who I am, if I can be a better person, then whatever I touch—music being one of them—will be at a good place too. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>Does that makes the music deeper or more meaningful now?</p>
<p><strong>LL</strong>: Absolutely. </p>
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<p><strong>MC: </strong>The way you use space really is very deliberate and conscious. What makes you stand out is that you’re both conscious on stage. That may be obvious to most people, but I think it gets missed in the doing for a lot of artists. I’m wondering if, because you’ve both created that space in your own live on some level, that the art is more palpable, or lands differently now?</p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>For me, it’s definitely beyond the music—we inspire each other. We play our journey through music. 20 years ago, it was all about the notes; now it’s not about that—‘nothing is wrong, or everything is wrong.’ Be true to yourself and be real. If it’s honest, people feel it. They don’t need to understand the musical technology that jazz musicians usually focus on. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>[Lionel] You’re known for moving in the ‘brave space’—letting go of control and creating. The two of you do that in such a trusting way of surrendered symbiosis, and so much is improvised. Where does that trust come from? </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>It’s been 23 years since we met and started playing together. I’m not sure if we could define it back then? When Lionel mentions ‘it’s not who I am, it’s what I do’—I remember at UCLA, even before meeting Lionel, that Herbie Hancock said that in a lecture. I took it in, but I didn’t really get it. We were working so hard for our music—it was all-encompassing. Now I understand and that’s why this project makes sense, [why] we waited this long. There’s more for us to say. There’s a higher, deeper level to connect on. There is an unexplained, wonderful other world that both of us individually fall into when we play, when we create. We’re deep in that individually. When it connects the two of us, I completely lose myself. It’s transformative from the first to the last note of a gig as a performer, let alone a listener. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but it’s an amazing connection to have with somebody. We’re playing off each other and the energies in surrender. It’s hard to explain. It’s hard to teach. I think you just have to live it.</p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>When I saw you at the Bowl (2023’s Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival), it was very conscious and deliberate energetically, but it’s as if you weren’t there physically? You’re almost not really aware—it’s just happening. Talking to you before the show, you’re there, but in that moment of creation, it’s almost like the two of you disappear and there’s this thing that just comes through you?</p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>I love that that’s what it was. We need someone like you to explain. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>Yeah. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>It’s a beautiful thing. That’s really what it feels like—especially at the Hollywood Bowl. There’s 18,000 people there and we’re a very intimate duo project, in this giant environment…</p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>The way it landed was something very intimate and powerful.</p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>Thank you. I’m going to add a few things about that. Connected to the title, we lean on each other. There’s a trust, a high listening, and no judgment—we go with the flow. The mistake is a big part of what we do, too. Nothing is perfect. We don’t want to play perfectly—it’s not music. We challenge each other. It’s not that we sat in a comfort zone for 20 years. I don’t know where she’s going to go and I trust her. I go on that journey completely blind. That’s the beauty of what we do. We don’t question it, we just go for it and, because we move listening and trusting each other, we find our way back home. There’s no preconception. You don’t get it wrong in progress, you get wrong because you don’t know where you are. There’s no judgment. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>There’s no failure. It’s just an unexpected opening… and Lionel’s never wrong. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>Oh, yeah. You know. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>That’s why it is so fresh-sounding.</p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>Absolutely. If you saw us tonight and you saw us tomorrow, it’s going to be a completely different show.</p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>As a listener, it’s meant to be an experience, to be authentic and evolving. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>For us, too. If we do the same thing, we get bored; how you can expect people listening not to get bored? It’s not the perfect music, it’s not the cleanest, but it’s natural. That truth for me goes with mistakes—everything is there. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>What has been the most surprising outcome from the record? </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>The Grammy nomination.</p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>That’s what I was going to say!</p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>People say this all the time, but it’s so much about the nomination. I’m so happy—he [Loueke] lives in Luxembourg, so to [have] come all the way to L.A. for the Grammys… I love that we got to be there together with our families. It’s all about the acknowledgment and celebration of that day, no matter what happens. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>What does the process look like when you’re creating together? </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>With this project, it was a combination. We sent each other different ideas, whether complete or just a little section that needed work. We weren’t sitting in the same room writing together, but we could go back and forth and add to each other. There was a lot to piece together and when we finally got together in person, it was rehearsal the day before, then two or three days in the studio. I’m not sure we’ve [ever] written a song together in person?</p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>We’ve done interviews and improvised together. With collaborations you [Parlato] send me, I add chords and already have the record, then you come up with the melody. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>That’s the process and it’s worked really well. You have your space to focus in between, to sit with things. When I’ve been writing in a room with somebody and it’s kind of immediate, I just want to sit—sometimes I need that space. I think it’s worked well. There are plans to continue to write but we make do with what we have. We had improvisation [from] Bernice Travis on bass and Mark Jonah on drums. They would play for half an hour, record, and then I went to listen. I picked up interludes and clips and then wrote melody and lyrics. It’s a collaborative effort.</p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>The way you’re writing together speaks to your creativity on stage because you’re leaving it room to breathe that might otherwise have been lost. Maybe because there’s no container, there’s the idea of infinite possibilities, nothing is defined?</p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>That’s so true. I realize that’s why it’s worked so well—that’s how my brain works. Oh, that’s really cool. Let me sit with this. Let me work with this. I want to do this on my own in private—I’ll come back and offer something. That way of writing is interesting and became popular during COVID [since] we all had to work remotely. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>The shows are much more exciting because it’s the first time the two of you are playing it live together.</p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>That’s true—and many people don’t know Gretchen is a record producer. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>I don’t even know that I… </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>[To Gretchen] You should you should be producing. [When recording,] you are so </p>
<p>into the music that you need to hear from somebody from outside. You start focusing so much on yourself instead the whole piece of music. We didn’t have any producer for this—we did it on our own and everything she [Parlato] said was right on point—double my voice here… That is a quality of production—not everybody has it. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>Your joint commitment is to the sound and the creation—there’s no ego so it allows for space and room for it to breathe. It’s not about trying to prove anything. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>Exactly right. That’s the point. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>So, with all his expansiveness, have there been any poignant moments that stand out, that took it to another level? </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>The Hollywood Bowl was a pretty out-of-body experience. That was a high for me. I really enjoyed the Blue Note in New York City for a couple of nights. My family was able to sit in [and] I love the memories of that, the intimacy of the club. Most of our history is in New York City together, so there’s an energy of the room and a real connection. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>It’s hard to describe. Something happens I couldn’t put a word on it. You cannot control it.</p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>You’re both incredibly humble and grounded, and a lot of that comes from your belief systems. Are there any practices you commit to that keep you from getting swept up? </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>My chanting is the first thing I do in the morning for 15- 20 minutes. It sets me up for my journey and keeps me calm. I don’t chant for myself, I chant for people suffering. That has kept me going. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>We chanted together on tour and that was really special to do before shows. In a technical sense, think of it as a warm up. You’re vocally connecting, but there’s an emotional and spiritual aspect. I wake up very early, diet keeps me well—and exercising daily. I’ve started reading some sacred text every morning and taking notes. That process helps my brain to take it in. It’s that balance of creative time, independent time to be healthy, and balancing family giving and connecting. When we’re home with family, it is very different from touring, so we have to find balance and appreciate both. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>You’re both so open about the creative process, while also deeply committed to self-evolution. There’s a beautiful parallel that creates space to create. Would you say fate has played any role in the journey?</p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>Even on the first day… we met at our audition for the institute and were the last two to audition. Of all the people that auditioned, the order that people were in there… no one else was there. Something put us in that place at the same time. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>I truly believe things happen for a reason—good or bad. You meet somebody and it doesn’t work out the way you were hoping, but there’s a reason behind it. We learn from every move we cannot control, we appreciate, and we move on if we have to. There’s a reason behind it because it’s too much to be random. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>Do you feel there’s a resurgence in jazz? </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>It’s always been there - what has changed is how people value [it]. In Europe or Japan, it’s always been there. In the U.S., it’s in the air. I remember the first time I went to Starbucks in Boston and heard Coltrane. I mean, where are you going to hear Coltrane in Starbucks?!</p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>I feel a shift happening: people are craving a real and connective, genuine feel to music. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>We’ve been in the scene and creating—you don’t feel it go up and down. As we age, there’s a whole other generation doing it. It’s amazing. Jazz has always been a beautiful thing where, as you get older as an artist, you become even more appreciated. To hear our favorite artists up to the last breath, it’s all amazing and beautiful, We’re in the right genre. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>People are tired of hearing the same thing over and over. To be a jazz musician, people get a chance to hear something different than what they hear all the time—that has respect. </p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>What do you think jazz means in 2024? Would you say jazz is becoming genre-less? </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>People are just paying more attention. Dizzy [Gillespie] played with Charlie Parker and did a lot with South American musicians, brought Afro-Cuban music to jazz. Today, we have different tendencies from India and places that brought their culture. People paying attention can hear, but people who aren’t don’t realize the spirit of it, the improvisation. </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>We come from years of study, but what we’ve created has always been untraditional. There’s room for the super purist, if that’s what you feel. It’s refreshing to hear when someone’s really in the tradition and continuing that. But I think it’s beautiful, and there’s room for, genre-bending. [In] the world of music, there’s room for everything.</p>
<p><strong>MC: </strong>What advice would you give for anyone pursuing jazz performance? </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>Be true to yourself. Every person is different. I get so happy when I’m playing my instrument and something I’ve been working on for so long is coming out—that’s my joy. You have to believe in yourself; try new things, don’t copy </p>
<p><strong>GP: </strong>It’s all about what’s genuine and honest to who you are. You want your art to be an extension of who you are as a person, encompassing everything about you. The sound on your instrument should just be effortless—the same way we speak is the way you should sing or play. Don’t try so hard to imitate. Ella did it. Let’s just listen to Ella if we want Ella. What can you do? Everyone has a story, something to share, so it should be a relief to realize what’s already inside. Let that out, and not try to grab things. Everything already exists, it’s just the unveiling—and that can take many years. The beauty is the journey, not the final destination. I get to be an artist, it’s a really beautiful thing. This is the way to be happy in life and have less attachments and suffering. </p>
<p><strong>LL: </strong>As a musician, this is what we think, but there’s a whole industry a little against creativity. The labels… it’s not new. The industry has to do the work to look for people who have something else to say. You don’t know how much you’re going to make if it’s new, but go for a new sound. If it doesn’t work, at least you are part of the creativity instead of going for something you know and want to make money out of? Most of the time that doesn’t work because it’s another copy.</p>
<p><strong>6 Quick Facts</strong></p>
<p><strong>• While her first name is of German descent, Parlato is not German. Her mother thought ‘Gretchen’ sounded like something from a fairytale. Parlato has Jewish heritage and her middle name, Sarah, is in honor of great grandmother, Sarah Steinpress.</strong></p>
<p><strong>• Loueke’s first guitar cost him $50 and took a year of savings. Soaking his strings in vinegar to keep them clean, he could rarely afford to replace them when they broke, so he used bicycle brake cables instead (he frequently needed a carpenter to repair the guitar neck).</strong></p>
<p><strong>• Parlato’s grandfather, Charlie, played trumpet (Kay Kyser Big Band, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Lawrence Welk) and sang tenor parts on </strong><i><strong>The Flinstones </strong></i><strong>and </strong><i><strong>Jetsons </strong></i><strong>theme songs, as well as harmonies on Parlato’s favorite: Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>• As a teenager in West Africa, Loueke breakdanced to Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit,” knowing nothing of Hancock’s music or the significance he would later have on him as a professional musician (he studied Hancock later at school in the Ivory Coast and in Paris). </strong></p>
<p><strong>• Parlato has three cats who act as her alarm clock, waking her up at 5:30 a.m. sharp. Every. Single. Day.</strong></p>
<p><strong>• Bassist for Frank Zappa, Al Jarreau, Don Preston, Barbra Streisand, Henry Mancini, Paul Horn, Gsbor Szabo, Buddy Rich, and Don Ellis, Dave Parlato, is Gretchen’s father (known for television and film recordings).</strong></p>
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</div></div></div><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.musicconnection.com/gretchen-parlato-and-lionel-louekes-sacred-synergy/" data-link-type="url">»read article @musicconnection.com</a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/72319552023-06-24T20:44:19-07:002023-10-16T07:56:02-07:00Learning to lean in: A conversation with Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loueke<p><span style="color:rgb(118,118,118);">By </span><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.wbgo.org/people/angelika-beener" aria-label="Angélika Beener">Angélika Beener</a></p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.wbgo.org/season-2/2023-06-23/learning-to-lean-in-a-conversation-with-gretchen-parlato-lionel-loueke" data-link-type="url"><strong>»» LISTEN TO INTERVIEW</strong></a></p><p><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);">GRAMMY-nominated musicians Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke discuss their brand new, long awaited album and how their journey through friendship, decades of collaboration and unprecedented times brought the stunning project to life. We also discuss their mutual mentor Herbie Hancock in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his groundbreaking funk-meets-jazz album, </span><i>Head Hunters</i><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);">.</span></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/72221662023-06-04T13:00:00-07:002023-06-06T13:08:39-07:00Lionel Loueke, Gretchen Parlato to play back-to-back at 150-seat La Jolla Athenaeum and 17,500-seat Hollywood Bowl<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/417453/0bd01c375e69c905b8221280a1ee63a034b646a6/original/dsc-6866crop-final.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/story/2023-06-04/lionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-small">by George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, June 4, 2023</span></a></p><p><strong>The duo may be the first jazz artists in history to perform in less than 24 hours, at the two historid music venues, one after the other</strong></p><p>How does a genre-blurring music duo go from performing in a 150-seat arts library in La Jolla to performing in a 17,500-capacity amphitheater in Los Angeles less than 24 hours later?</p><p>Acclaimed singer Gretchen Parlato and award-winning guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke are about to find out. The two —who have collaborated since meeting in 2001 at USC’s Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz — are now on tour to promote their fetching new album, “Lean In.”</p><p>On the evening of June 16, the two longtime musical collaborators will take the stage at the La Jolla Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. That 10-row venue is so intimate some audience members are just a foot or two away from the performers.</p><p>On the afternoon of June 17, Los Angeles native Parlato and West African native Loueke will perform at the Hollywood Bowl. That 100-row venue is so large — measuring 450 feet from the lip of the stage to a back row perched 100 feet higher than the front row — there are escalators to help attendees get to their seats.</p><p>Parlato, 47, and Loueke, 50, have separately performed multiple times at the Athenaeum. Both have also performed multiple times at the Hollywood Bowl — she most recently at last year’s all-star Frank Sinatra/Peggy Lee tribute concert, he as a member of keyboard legend Herbie Hancock’s band.</p><p>But this will be the first time the duo has performed back-to-back concerts together, one day apart, at both the Athenaeum and the bowl.</p><p>“The audience at the bowl is so far away that it’s like an out-of-body experience!” Parlato said, speaking from the L.A. home she shares with her husband, drummer Mark Guiliana, and their son, Marley. “I have to think of it as being just the same as a smaller venue, because almost anything is smaller than the bowl.”</p><p>Loueke, who lives in Luxembourg with his second wife, Annabel Moroni, and their two children, agreed.</p><p>“The size of the Athenaeum and the Hollywood Bowl is obviously different,” he said, speaking from a late-May concert tour stop in Basel, Switzerland.</p><p>“But in terms of what could change for us from one venue to the other, it might be the choice of songs we decide to do. Because the crowd at the bowl is like a sea of people and you can sometimes hear them on stage. So, we might have to shape our set to adjust.</p><p>“There is something about playing in a small place like the Athenaeum. You can hear a pin drop or someone coughing. You can hear every detail and I feel the energy of the people because they are closer.”</p><div class="enhancement" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(51, 51, 51);clear:both;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:30px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;width:680px;word-spacing:0px;' data-click="enhancement" data-align-center=""><figure><picture><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><img src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/550d0ac/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4000x2667+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F99%2Fd8%2F7e22ae714376aec4df2f0db58b2d%2Fhttps-delivery-gettyimages.com%2Fdownloads%2F1414663750" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Lionel Loueke at Way Out West, Aug. 13, 2022 in Gothenburg, Sweden." height="800" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:block;height:auto;margin-bottom:10px;max-width:100%;vertical-align:middle;width:760px;" width="1200" /></picture><div class="figure-content" style='background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--primary-text-color);font-family:var(--service-font),arial,"helvetica neue",helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:0.75rem;font-style:normal;font-weight:500;line-height:0.875rem;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;'>
<div class="figure-caption" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;">Benin-born guitar innovator Lionel Loueke returns to San Diego this month for an Athenaeum concert with singer Gretchen Parlato.</div>
<div class="figure-credit" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;margin-left:5px;">(Julia Reinhart / WireImage)</div>
</div></figure></div><h2 id="a-living-room-feel"><strong>‘A living-room feel’</strong></h2><p>Parlato chuckled when asked about the intimacy of the Athenaeum. It was founded in 1899, 23 years before the famed Hollywood Bowl opened.</p><p>“You can hear a piece of sheet music fall on the floor at the Athenaeum,” Parlato said. “It has a living-room feel and you can tell the audience stories. We’ll play one set at the bowl. At the Athenaeum we’ll play two sets, so you can hear our whole repertoire. And we probably won’t play any ballads at the bowl.”</p><p>Their duo’s June 16 La Jolla concert is the second in the Athenaeum’s 2023 Farrell Family summer jazz series.</p><p>It opens with a performance next Sunday, June 11, by Venezuelan pianist Edward Simon and Mexican singer Magos Herrera. The four-part series concludes with a July 27 concert by Cuban pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa. (Swiss harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret, who was scheduled to perform with Lopez-Nussa, has dropped off the bill due to a scheduling issue).</p><p>Parlato and Loueke’s June 17 Los Angeles concert is part of the opening day of the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival, which was known from 1979 until 2022 as the Playboy Jazz Festival. This year’s edition features 21 artists over the June 17/18 weekend, including Kamasi Washington, Samara Joy, Poncho Sanchez and Bell Biv DeVoe.</p><p>Growing up in Los Angeles, Parlato regularly attended shows each summer at the hillside Hollywood venue with her parents. Later, when she was in high school, she would attend the annual Halloween concerts at the bowl by the Danny Elfman-led rock band Oingo Boingo.</p><p>“I remember seeing Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin at the bowl, and there have been countless others,” she said. “It’s always a thrill to be on that stage in such an iconic, magical place.”</p><p>“I was a student the first time I went to the bowl,” recalled Loueke, whose first name is pronounced <i>“lee-oh-nell.”</i></p><p>“It was the Playboy Jazz Festival. Herbie was playing and Dave Holland, too. I love the fact that it not only is a huge place, but it’s open-air and that gives musicians even more space. It’s not like an indoor arena.”</p><p>In a venue of any size, Parlato and Loueke have palpable musical chemistry. They first teamed up 22 years ago at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which in 2019 was renamed the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz and is now based at UCLA.</p><p>Parlato remembers her initial encounter with the Benin-born Loueke as if it took place only last week.</p><p>“We were both auditioning for the Monk Institute,” said Parlato, who became the first singer and only the second woman to be admitted into the prestigious program.</p><p>“We were the last two to audition and Lionel was second to last. I heard him audition through the door from the hallway and he blew me away. He’s so captivating that, even without seeing him, I could hear he was absolutely incredible.</p><p>“I saw him with Herbie a few months ago at Disney Hall and had the same reaction to Lionel’s playing, which is jaw-dropping and gave me goose bumps.”</p><p>Loueke, in turn, vividly recalls first hearing Parlato when she auditioned after him at the Monk Institute. Both passed with flying colors and earned full scholarships.</p><div class="enhancement" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(51, 51, 51);clear:both;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:30px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;width:680px;word-spacing:0px;' data-click="enhancement" data-align-center=""><figure><picture><source style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;" type="image/webp" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7cbbc33/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/320x213!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc3%2Fbc%2F5e5832c04631857a9351e12d6478%2Fhttps-delivery-gettyimages.com%2Fdownloads%2F1133211755 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/900a945/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/568x379!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc3%2Fbc%2F5e5832c04631857a9351e12d6478%2Fhttps-delivery-gettyimages.com%2Fdownloads%2F1133211755 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0a935b9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/768x512!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc3%2Fbc%2F5e5832c04631857a9351e12d6478%2Fhttps-delivery-gettyimages.com%2Fdownloads%2F1133211755 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1717d93/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1024x683!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc3%2Fbc%2F5e5832c04631857a9351e12d6478%2Fhttps-delivery-gettyimages.com%2Fdownloads%2F1133211755 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7d20ab1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1200x800!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc3%2Fbc%2F5e5832c04631857a9351e12d6478%2Fhttps-delivery-gettyimages.com%2Fdownloads%2F1133211755 1200w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0f37c8c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc3%2Fbc%2F5e5832c04631857a9351e12d6478%2Fhttps-delivery-gettyimages.com%2Fdownloads%2F1133211755" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Singer Gretchen Parlato at the 2019 Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, March 2, 2019" height="800" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:block;height:auto;margin-bottom:10px;max-width:100%;vertical-align:middle;width:760px;" width="1200" /></source></picture><div class="figure-content" style='background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--primary-text-color);font-family:var(--service-font),arial,"helvetica neue",helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:0.75rem;font-style:normal;font-weight:500;line-height:0.875rem;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;'>
<div class="figure-caption" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;">Singer Gretchen Parlato is now on tour with guitarist Lionel Loueke and bound for La Jolla. She is shown here performing at the 2019 Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta.</div>
<div class="figure-credit" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;margin-left:5px;">(Robertus Pudyanto / Getty Images)</div>
</div></figure></div><h2 id="completely-free"><strong>‘Completely free’</strong></h2><p>“I remember listening to Gretchen because I was packing my gear up when she sang for the judges — Herbie, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard,” Loueke said. “I heard her voice through the door, a beautiful, natural, right-in-tune voice.</p><p>“I love to play with Gretchen because I don’t feel like I have to be frustrated. I say this because most of the time with singers, you have to play the chords that are written to make them feel more comfortable.</p><p>“With Gretchen, I don’t have to do that. I’m completely free because I know that — whatever I play — she will sing something that fits the chord and vice versa.”</p><p>Although they grew up nearly 8,000 miles apart, Parlato and Loueke shared some of the same musical passions when they began collaborating in two of the Monk Institute ensembles.</p><p>One of them is Brazilian bossa nova great Joao Gilberto, whose 1970 classic, “Astronauta (Samba da Pergunta),” is given a fresh new take on Parlato and Loueke’s new album. Another is American vocal wizard of awes Bobby McFerrin.</p><p>“The duets and collaborations Bobby has done have been an inspiration for me and for Lionel as well,” said Parlato, who in 2004 won first-place honors at the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition. At UCLA, she had a double major in jazz and ethnomusicology.</p><p>That makes Parlato an ideal foil for Loueke, who credits the late Congolese vocal and guitar great Tabu Ley Rochereau as an early key inspiration, followed by George Benson, with whom Loueke would later collaborate.</p><div class="enhancement" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(51, 51, 51);clear:both;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:30px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;width:680px;word-spacing:0px;' data-click="enhancement" data-align-center=""><ps-promo data-module-id="00000188-7e57-dc36-ada9-7f7701610016" data-promotable-id="0000016a-e126-db5d-a57f-f927ff190000" data-content-type="article" data-show-img="" data-click="promoSmall"><div class="promo-wrapper" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:flex;flex-direction:row;">
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</div></ps-promo></div><p> </p><p>“I was only doing African music,” he recalled, “until somebody played me Benson’s (1979 live album) ‘Weekend in L.A.’</p><p>“Up to that point, I had never heard anybody play guitar like that. And the access to music was very restricted then, especially music coming from the United States. African music was everywhere, but not jazz.”</p><p>Loueke laughed when asked if he was influenced by Benson’s trademark unison guitar and scat-vocal lines.</p><p>“Absolutely!” he replied.</p><p>“I was trying to imitate him, although I don’t have a voice close to George Benson’s. It was very inspiring for me to imitate his scatting and to have a cassette tape of his guitar playing, which I could slow down to try and catch the notes he was playing.</p><p>“Because I don’t consider myself a singer, I use my voice like a guitar pedal or effect. And it helps my phrasing (on guitar).”</p><div class="enhancement" style='-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;caret-color:rgb(51, 51, 51);clear:both;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:30px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:start;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:auto;width:680px;word-spacing:0px;' data-click="enhancement" data-align-center=""><figure><picture><source style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;" type="image/webp" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e318872/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x800+0+0/resize/320x213!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fc4%2F1b413c0e42e49fbf33f04ae5aebe%2Flionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato.png 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/dd1c7b4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x800+0+0/resize/568x379!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fc4%2F1b413c0e42e49fbf33f04ae5aebe%2Flionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato.png 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5dda214/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x800+0+0/resize/768x512!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fc4%2F1b413c0e42e49fbf33f04ae5aebe%2Flionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato.png 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/65ffa73/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x800+0+0/resize/1024x683!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fc4%2F1b413c0e42e49fbf33f04ae5aebe%2Flionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato.png 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5a2d736/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x800+0+0/resize/1200x800!/format/webp/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fc4%2F1b413c0e42e49fbf33f04ae5aebe%2Flionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato.png 1200w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fc86fb2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x800+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/80/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fc4%2F1b413c0e42e49fbf33f04ae5aebe%2Flionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato" height="800" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:block;height:auto;margin-bottom:10px;max-width:100%;vertical-align:middle;width:760px;" width="1200" /></source></picture><div class="figure-content" style='background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--primary-text-color);font-family:var(--service-font),arial,"helvetica neue",helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:0.75rem;font-style:normal;font-weight:500;line-height:0.875rem;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px;'>
<div class="figure-caption" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;">Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato’s new album, “Lean In,” is the first recording they have made together in 11 years. He lives in Luxembourg and she lives in Los Angeles.</div>
<div class="figure-credit" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;margin-left:5px;">(Lauren Desberg / Courtesy Karen Kennedy)</div>
</div></figure></div><h2 id="multilingual-vocals"><strong>Multilingual vocals</strong></h2><h2> </h2><p>Both Parlato and Loueke sometimes sing wordlessly.</p><p>When performing lyrics, she favors English and Portuguese. Loueke prefers to sing in the languages Fon (from Benin) and Mina (from Togo), to which he adds percussive tongue clicks.</p><p>“Lionel has been such a huge inspiration,” Parlato said.</p><p>“You hear him doing percussion with his guitar and his voice, and it’s unbelievable that he produces all that music and sound on his own. There’s a percussive attack to his singing and to the vowels and consonants he’s using.</p><p>“So, he’s been a teacher for me, in terms of what I attempt to do. And he has such a beautiful, vast range. His low register is incredible and he has a beautiful high range as well.”</p><p>After graduating from the Monk Institute, Parlato and Loueke separately moved to New York in 2003. It was then their musical relationship really began to blossom.</p><p>He performed on her self-titled 2005 debut album and on its 2009 follow-up, “In a Dream.” In turn, she was featured on his 2006 album, “Virgin Forest,” and his 2012 album, “Heritage.”</p><p>Their new joint release, “Lean In,” marks their first recorded collaboration in 11 years — and their first full album as a duo. Much like Parlato’s solo releases, it offers an enticing blend of original compositions and imaginative reinventions of pop, R&B and rock songs, including “I Miss You” by Klymaxx and “Walking After You” by Foo Fighters.</p><p>“For me, that mix is kind of the template,” Parlato said.</p><p>“When we thought of making this (album), it was during the pandemic. And since I live in L.A. and Lionel lives in Luxembourg, we sent (audio) files back and forth to create our repertoire for it and to make sure we had the right arc of original songs and standards.</p><p>“It’s always been important for me to incorporate music from outside the jazz genre, because that’s how I grew up. The point is to have your own connection with a song and sing it in a new way, a way that maybe no one else has done, and allow the listener to hear it in a way they haven’t before.”</p><p>Recording a song is one thing. Performing it live and making it sound fresh and different on stage each night is another altogether.</p><p>“That’s when the magic really happens, when we are outside of our comfort zone and challenging each other,” Loueke said.</p><p>“We listen to each other very closely and I know that, whatever I do, Gretchen has my back. And I have hers.”</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/story/2023-06-04/lionel-loueke-and-gretchen-parlato" data-link-type="url">» read full article with photos</a><br> </p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/72135002023-05-22T12:03:52-07:002023-05-29T13:48:16-07:00Interview with Gretchen Parlato - Lean In<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/417453/0bd01c375e69c905b8221280a1ee63a034b646a6/original/dsc-6866crop-final.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><span class="text-small">by Mitsutaka Nagira, Note</span><br><a class="no-pjax" data-v-c3f14588="" data-v-e0ac1958="" href="https://note.com/elis_ragina/n/ncfb86456653a" data-link-type="url"><span class="text-small">»read japanese article</span></a></p><p>Gretchen is one of the most important figures behind the rise of jazz in the 2010s. The accuracy of her rhythmic approach and the richness of her expression were indispensable to the jazz scene, which needed a "voice". That's why, listening to Gretchen's participation work, she was able to meet an important contemporary jazz artist.</p><p>In the early 2000s, when Gretchen was trying to establish her own music, one of her greatest influences was Benin-born guitarist and vocalist Lionel Lueke. Alumni of Thelonious Monk Institute, the two hit it off and influenced each other. Lionel's music was a great inspiration for Gretchen, as she explored rhythms from around the world, especially in West Africa, and expressed them in her own unique way. Since then, Gretchen has referred to Lionel in various interviews as a major influence on her own music.</p><p>Gretchen says, “Lionel really boosts my sense of rhythm and timekeeping, so it's always exciting to sing with him.”</p><p>It was the same with Lionel. For Lionel, Gretchen was also a great inspiration.</p><p><strong>Lionel:</strong> Gretchen and I were at Thelonious Monk Institute together. Playing with Gretchen taught me how my playing should respond to my voice. I think it's been developed and grown in every way. I was doing a duo with her at the time and her songs have no boundaries. It's a direct 'I want you to do this.' We can always explore each other and make music as if we were on an adventure in a way. And I learned a lot from her about her singing. The control of the voice and the combination of the voice and the playing. Her voice blends well with the guitar. And the pitch is terrifyingly accurate, and the rhythm is accurate and powerful. And I'm not afraid to take risks."<br>—From Jazz The New Chapter 4</p><p>Lionel's original and high-level combination of singing and guitar not only fascinated Herbie Hancock and became an indispensable presence in his music, but he has always been a key figure and singularity in the contemporary jazz guitar scene. stimulating.</p><p>The two have co-starred over and over again, and have continued to make guest appearances in each other's works. Lionel appeared on Gretchen's 2005 debut Gretchen Parlato and 2009 second album In A Dream, and Gretchen sang on Lionel's 2006 Virgin Forest and 2012 Heritage. there is The two of them recorded together for the first time in 11 years, and the first joint release was "Lean In".</p><p>By the way, these two are overwhelming all the time, but it is interesting to see how they have evolved by listening to their co-starring sound sources in chronological order. In 2005's "Gretchen Parlato" and 2006's "Virgin Forest", the characters of each other were strongly expressed, but they were fumbling around, but in 2009's "In A Dream" and 2012's "Heritage" The degree of perfection is increasing. From the early days of mere addition, the arrangements were refined and the art of creating harmonies clearly improved. In "Lean in", which was the first collaboration between the two in a long time, you can hear the leeway, and you can feel the depth of the bosom, reaching even higher heights. 'Lean In' is not only the culmination of a collaboration between two of the most important figures in contemporary jazz, but also a culmination of Gretchen and Lionel's great journey in the 2010s. I think it is too.</p><p><strong>Here we speak to Gretchen about Lean In. She talks about this wonderful album in her kind words.</strong></p><p> Gretchen Pallato & Lionel Loueke | Lean In<br> www.coreport.jp<br> Interview and editing: Mitsutaka Yanagira | Interpreter: Kazumi Someya<br> Cooperation: COREPORT | Photo: Lauren Desberg</p><p><strong>table of contents</strong></p><p>◎Long exchange between Gretchen and Lionel<br>◎ Concept of “Lean In”<br>◎ Composition and arrangement based on the existence of Lionel<br>◎ "Nonvignon" re-recorded for the first time in 17 years<br>◎ Participation in Becca Stevens' composition workshop<br>◎Klymaxx and Foo Fighters covers<br>◎Long exchange between Gretchen and Lionel</p><p> </p><p><strong>――You have had a close relationship with Lionel Lueke for a long time.</strong></p><p>I've known him for 20 years. We've known each other since we were students, and have been involved in each other's projects. Both of us have always wanted to do a duo one day, but it takes time and preparations to actually do it. Twenty years passed without it being realized. But now, I think the time has come to finally make it happen.</p><p><strong>――The two of you influenced each other, and I remember when I interviewed each of you, you both talked about Lionel and Gretchen, even though you didn't hear it from me. Do you remember the first time you heard Lionel's music?</strong></p><p>Yes, I remember it very well. It was during an audition for an ensemble that was being advertised at Thelonious Monk Institute. The two of us were the last two among a large number of applicants. I'm the last, and the one just before me was Lionel. I was listening to his performance leaking out. Before that, when I saw him for the first time, he was from Benin in West Africa. He was tall and had such beautiful looks that left an impression on me. His performance gave me the impression, "Wait, is this a guitar? No, he's playing a guitar, and maybe he's also playing percussion." I could also hear him singing. We all knew how good he was, and so did I, but the first time I heard him live was through the door that day. I thought it was really cool and special. Both of us were able to pass the test, and we started performing together in an ensemble.</p><p><strong>――Lionel said, "I learned how to control my voice from you. Gretchen's voice blends well with the guitar." Conversely, what have you learned from Lionel?</strong></p><p>His guitar sounds like percussion. His sense of rhythm and time is really deep, and his sense of groove is also very unique. Despite this, his music has a sense of stability. He plays in a way that invites the listener in, but also in a way that challenges and confuses the listener. His music includes performances that make you feel like you are negotiating. That's why, as an artist, I never get tired of listening to it over and over, and no matter how many times I listen to it, nothing is the same, and I always hear something new. For example, it's rhythm, phrasing, and textures from instruments. When it comes to textures, not only acoustic instruments, but also effects and pedals are used to create thick and rich textures. On top of that, he even sings his own songs, his voice is really beautiful, and his vocal range is very wide. Moreover, the song also has a percussive part. All those parts inspire me.</p><p>When I was a student, when I sang with Lionel in class, I felt that his songs were intertwined with the main melody I sang as an alternative melody. This brings out the percussive side of the music. His singing is instrumental in how he uses his voice. I was also very impressed by the richness of the fabric woven from his songs.</p><p><strong>――In 2005, 17 years ago, at the time of your debut work “Gretchen Parlato”, you two were working together. I thought that this debut album would be an album in which co-starring with Lionel occupies a considerable weight. What do you think?</strong></p><p>It's surprising that 17 years have passed since that debut work. I've known him since I was a student, and I moved to New York at the same time. So when I had a gig in New York, I would ask him because he was one of the few people I knew in New York. Sometimes we did it as a duo, sometimes with a band, but we often performed together. So Lionel was my earliest collaborator. I was really lucky to be able to speak to so many people without hesitation. In retrospect, being able to do that at the beginning of my career is something special. From the beginning, I always thought it was special to be able to make music with this person, and I still feel that way.</p><p> </p><p><strong>◎ Concept of “Lean In”</strong></p><p><strong>――It is impressive that you re-recorded the songs you did in your debut album on your new album “Lean In”. Please tell us about the concept of this album.</strong></p><p>First, we talked about collecting songs that should be the material for this project. The songs that inspired us, especially during the pandemic, were what we were thinking as artists, so we decided to collect songs that reflected those things. , rock, R&B, and traditional.</p><p>As for the lyrics, as symbolized by the title "Lean In", the theme was "Let's first look at ourselves (Let's focus)". Accept your own feelings, emotions, and the situation you are in, think for yourself so that you can cherish them, and try to understand them. It's not about ignoring things you don't like and pushing them away. I thought that it would lead to making myself a better person, and that it would also lead to reaching out to others. Through this album, I would be happy if I could give some kind of inspiration to those who listened to it and make them feel that their lives are important. Whether positive or negative, joy or pain, any kind of emotion is part of life, and I hope that you will feel that you are the one who is connected to all of them. That's why the songs recorded on this album are songs that have that kind of meaning for the two of them.</p><p><strong>――I feel that the story of facing yourself and taking care of yourself is connected to your previous work “Flor”.</strong></p><p>I think so. It's something I always want to remind myself, and something I always want to practice. In other words, looking back from the previous work, it may be that I haven't finished learning it yet. That is why this topic has not lost its importance.</p><p><strong>――I think your husband Mark Guiliana had a similar story in an interview for his album "the sound of listening". The same idea is shared in my family.</strong></p><p>I agree. I want my partner to have the same thoughts, the same beliefs, and the same values. In that sense, I think Mark and I can share similar thoughts and feelings. When something happens, the first thing I want to tell is my family who are nearby. After understanding each other, I think it would be great if we could reach out to the people beyond that, so family is also a starting point.</p><p> </p><p><strong>◎ Composition and arrangement based on the existence of Lionel</strong><br><strong>――The songs on the album have West African rhythms and are arranged to match Lionel. Could you tell us about this arrangement?</strong></p><p>As for my song, I wrote it assuming that Lionel would play it. At the stage of focusing on this project, we shared the material we had, I was in LA and Lionel was in Luxembourg. We didn't even use zoom, we only communicated via email. We both had a lot of materials, so we carved and shaped them. The one I sent was almost a demo, made with just my voice. As for the percussion and the rhythm, it was like presenting only the skeleton. And he overdubbed the guitar and sent it back, and it was perfect for me. So, with a few exceptions, the production process was mostly remote.</p><p><strong>――For example, I thought "If I Knew" was an unusual type of song for your originals. It's quite Lionel-like and has a lot of West African elements. How did you write this?</strong></p><p>In 2019, I received a fellowship-related commission from the Jazz Gallery and was asked to write an original song. So, even though this song was written long before this project, I actually envisioned that Lionel would join us in the first stage. When we actually did it at the Jazz Gallery, Lionel's participation didn't come true, so this time we were finally able to get him to join us, so you could say it's finally a completed song. There's a bell here, which Mark Guiliana has been playing since the first version. The bell he was ringing was playing all the time, and I was inspired by it, and finished it with verses, choruses, and rhythms. This time, it was completed with the addition of Lionel's genius skills such as guitar and harmony. On the recording, Mark Guiliana played drums, my friend Burniss Travis played bass, and my kid shouted "Yes!" in English and Lionel's kid in French. Because of this, the finished product allows you to feel the energy of the children.</p><p> </p><p><strong>◎ "Nonvignon" re-recorded for the first time in 17 years</strong><br><strong>――Next is “Nonvignon”. This song is a revival of Lionel's song, which is also included in Gretchen's debut work, for the first time in 17 years. It's one of his representative songs that Lionel has recorded many times.</strong></p><p>This is a very meaningful song for me. It was the first song he played me after I met Lionel. So my relationship with this song goes back 20 years. After graduating from Thelonious Monk Institute, I moved to New York, and when I was planning my next move, I had some free time, so I thought, "Well, let's record as a duo." I have done At that time, Lionel showed me, "I wrote this song, what do you think?" It's no exaggeration to say that our collaboration started with this song, so it's a very impressive song. Lionel has played this song so many times that he can play it without me. On the other hand, I have sung this song many times, but for me, whenever I sing this song, I am always with Lionel. So for me, it's a song to sing with him.</p><p>When we were discussing whether we should record "Nonvignon" again this time, we said, "Maybe the message of this song has a new meaning now." This song is a song that sings the beauty of people's connections, saying, "Let's work together as brothers and sisters." I wanted to re-deliver that message.</p><p>Some people might think that "Nonvignon" is simple at first glance. There are few chords, and it feels like everyone can sing together. But it's very difficult to sing while keeping that time. Even when I think I'm singing along with the rhythm, I find myself out of sync. It's a song that deceives you with its rhythm. So, I try to keep Lionel's rhythm, be careful not to be left behind, and at the same time allow Lionel to fly around freely while keeping my feet firmly on the ground. I have to be. Otherwise I can't sing this song. This song is a challenge for me.</p><p> </p><p><strong>◎ Participation in Becca Stevens' composition workshop</strong><br><strong>――How did the title song “Lean In” come about?</strong></p><p>My friend Becca Stevens was doing a workshop online during the pandemic. At that time, I was at a dead end and was thinking, "I want someone to push my back" and "I want some inspiration." So I thought it might be a good idea to take Becca's class, so I signed up for it. There were several songs that were born thanks to that, and one of the main ones was this song. I didn't get any specific guidelines, but I think it's a song that was born from sharing the process of "writing a song" with someone I trust. So, credits are included for that inspiration.<br>5-week songwriting course with Becca Stevens<br>www.beccastevens.com<br>By the way, this was also inspired by Mark Guiliana. I heard the percussion loop he was playing and I put the song on it. Starting with Mark's percussion, four sections unfolded, and Lionel put the harmony on there and it was completed. Sometimes I get inspiration from my friends, and sometimes my friends become my teachers. That's nice, isn't it? Because I think that a relationship where each other becomes a teacher or a student. It's a relationship that makes you feel humble.</p><p> </p><p><strong>◎Klymaxx and Foo Fighters covers</strong><br><strong>――Next is “I Miss You”. This is a cover of a hit song by a group called Climax, which was active in the 80's. You always pick geeky songs that other people don't cover. That's always the best.</strong></p><p>This song is from 84. I don't remember if it was on the radio or MTV at the time, but when this song played, it felt like time had stopped, and I was fascinated and shocked. I was only eight years old, but I remember it being a song I really wanted to sing. It's a really nice song. A lot of people think I'm a jazz singer, but I do a lot. So I think it's a good example to show that I have so many different songs in my bag. As for the songs that I have in my bag, I'm always looking for opportunities to do something at some point.</p><p>For the cover, I asked Lionel to listen to the original, and then arranged it. The original version is a ballad, so it's completely different from my version, but I didn't change the key. First, I wrote the bass line to show the groove, then put the a cappella on it and sent it to Lionel. On the other hand, Lionel put his performance on it and it was completed. What I aim for when doing covers is respect for the original. Because I want to convey that "there are such good songs". I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart how much I love this song, how I want to interpret it in my own way, and how the story turned out like this when I actually did it. It's possible because the original is so good.</p><p><strong>――When you interviewed Aubrey Johnson before, she said, ``When I heard Gretchen and Becca Stevens cover songs from the 80s and 90s, I thought I'd like to try songs from that era I've been digging." I think that the song selection and original arrangement of the cover you came up with has a considerable influence on the later scene.</strong></p><p>Wow! That's amazing... You never know what's going to happen... I'm going to repeat what I said about "Lean In" at the beginning, but first I do what I think is good, I always think that it would be nice if I could be an inspiration or help someone else. So the Aubrey thing is that it's actually happening, isn't it? What I did became an inspiration for someone, and it is connected to the point where that person's own expression was born. I'm so happy that it's actually happening.</p><p><strong>――Next, please tell us about the Foo Fighters cover “Walking After You”.</strong></p><p>This is one of my favorite songs in the 90's. I liked the Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl. Their songwriting is wonderful, so every time I listen to it, I think they're really well written. I especially loved this song, so I thought I'd like to try it someday.</p><p>I found a key that was easy for me to sing and sent the sound source to Lionel along with the original. Lionel heard it and came up with this arrangement. Furthermore, at the end of the song, we added an arrangement to have Mark Julianna enter, and that version was completed by having her son Marley sing the refrain. The original is a love song written by Dave, and it's a song written for his then-boyfriend, so maybe Dave himself doesn't want to sing it anymore or listen to it much. But I think that by singing it, I was able to share it with everyone again as a universal love song.</p><p><strong>――I thought the timing was also meaningful to mourn Taylor Hawkins, but what do you think?</strong></p><p>Actually, Taylor passed away just as the recording ended. This version wasn't made as a tribute to Taylor, but when I actually finished recording it, I was like, 'I wonder what Taylor would think if he heard this? I was able to make a cover with a groove that is pretty close to the original version, and the part where my son Marley sings 'I'm on Your Back', so the result is I think it was a real tribute. Certainly, some people may hear it as something intended as a tribute. I think it might be good to leave that to the listener.</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://note.com/elis_ragina/n/ncfb86456653a" data-link-type="url">» read original article in Japanese with audio tracks and videos</a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/72095972023-05-15T17:18:36-07:002023-05-18T09:54:27-07:00Mondays With Morgan: Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke<p>Morgan Enos, London Jazz News Feature Article, 15 May 2023</p><p><i><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/417453/d198fd5f2b4d0dd35cab3ad471eae60cd5220ea4/original/dsc-7135-final.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Mondays With Morgan is a column in LondonJazz News written by Morgan Enos, a music journalist based in Hackensack, New Jersey. Therein, he dives deep into the jazz that moves in — his main focus being the scene in nearby New York City.</i></p><p><i>This week, Enos spoke with celebrated LA vocalist Gretchen Parlato and potent Beninese vocalist-guitarist Lionel Loueke, who are out with their new co-billed album, </i>Lean In<i>(Edition)</i>. <i>They have North American dates on the books, and </i>Lean In <i>is up for pre-order — links are at the bottom of this article</i>.</p><p>Vocalist <strong>Gretchen Parlato</strong> may have clocked more than two decades in a creative partnership with guitarist <strong>Lionel Loueke</strong> — but she still feels the same chills from when they first linked up.</p><p>“I remember hearing him through the door of his audition,” Parlato tells <i>LondonJazz News </i>over Zoom from Los Angeles. (She’s referring to their 2001 meeting, when they were jointly vying to enter the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.) </p><p>“I had the same feeling that I did a month ago when I heard him play with Herbie Hancock, and start a song as a soloist,” Parlato continues. “He’s always been this way. Your jaw drops; you get goosebumps. He’s just somebody who is so unique, and so captivating. And astonishing, as far as what one human can create with his voice and his instrument.”</p><p>As far as Loueke’s concerned, the admiration goes both ways — and he even compares Parlato to one of the Mount Rushmore figures of this music. </p><p>“I think of Miles, in a way. If Miles was singing,” he tells <i>LondonJazz News </i>over Zoom from his home in Luxembourg. “That approach to the music is completely wide open. Nothing’s too much; nothing is a show-off. Whatever she’s singing — it doesn’t matter whatever style — you know it’s her.”</p><p>Parlato and Loueke’s first co-billed album, <i>Lean In </i>— out May 19 — is suffused with that mutual astonishment. But it also represents far more than that. Loueke hails from Benin, and his artistry is permeated with his heritage — as well as that West African country’s artistic and cultural <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-22547420"><span style="color:#0000e9;"><u>linkage</u></span></a> to Brazil. </p><p>And while Parlato might modestly characterize herself as a “little valley girl” who grew into a “valley woman,” that belies her profound respect for, and mastery of, Brazilian and West African musics. Without that, <i>Lean In </i>couldn’t hold together. “It’s an admiration and an adoration I’ve had for both those genres,” she says, “since I discovered them as a teenager.”</p><p><i>Lean In </i>has plenty more components that can provide endless entertainment and edification. The rhythm-section contributions from two celebrated cats — bassist Burniss Travis and drummer Mark Giuliana, who happens to be married to Parlato — for one. </p><p>To say nothing of the highly variable source material — from the ‘80s funk band Klymaxx (“I Miss You”) to early Foo Fighters (“Walking After You”) to originalslike “Lean In” and “Painful Joy.” Mid-album cut “Astronauta,” by composers Carlos Pingarilho and Marcos Vasconcellos,” amounts to the Brazilian heart of the matter. </p><p>And all of it’s held together by the enveloping, human-first production — Loueke’s guitar and vocal percussion being a massive part of that — as well as Parlato’s sumptuous voice and rhythmic and harmonic thinking.</p><p>In the following interview, Parlato and Loueke tease out these various components of their incredibly fruitful artistic chemistry — as well as the various streams that flow into the sea of <i>Lean In</i>.</p><p> </p><p><strong>LondonJazz News: </strong><i>How did your creative and professional partnership come to be?</i></p><p><strong>Gretchen Parlato: </strong>We met at our audition for what was then called the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Now, it’s the Herbie Hancock Institute. This was in 2001, or maybe even the audition was in 2000. So, it’s been over 20 years. We both auditioned and then joined the institute as an ensemble. We spent two years in an ensemble together, and realized that we wanted to try playing as a duo.</p><p>From there, we moved to New York City and just kept it going. It branched out to us being involved in each other’s projects, and different larger ensembles, but the duo was always something really special at the core. Now, all these years later, we finally were able to dedicate some time to a duo project.</p><p><strong>Lionel Loueke: </strong>It was clear for me, musically speaking, that Gretchen and I had something really unique — the way we played together. We did a lot of stuff in New York, and it confirmed we could keep growing our connection. I played on her [2005 self-titled] CD [as well as 2009’s <i>In a Dream</i>], and she played on mine [2006’s <i>Virgin Forest</i>].</p><p>We’ve been talking about this project for a while, and the timing was perfect. </p><p><strong>LJN: </strong><i>Tell me about the various cultural strains that commingle on </i>Lean In<i>, including those of Benin and Brazil</i>.</p><p><strong>LL: </strong>They’re part of who I am. I’m from Benin, West Africa, and Benin was an old French colony. But before the French arrived, it was Portuguese. So, you have a big connection, culturally speaking, with Brazil. As a matter of fact, my mother’s name is Monteiro. </p><p>I grew up eating <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/feijoada-brazilian-black-bean-stew/"><span style="color:#0000e9;"><u>feijoada</u></span></a>. It’s the most famous Brazilian food. I thought it was a food from Benin until I found out later, in Brazilian culture, that after slavery, some of the slaves <a class="no-pjax" href="https://lifeandthyme.com/food/what-feijoada-teaches-us-about-racial-inequity-in-brazil/"><span style="color:#0000e9;"><u>went back</u></span></a> to the coast of Africa bringing their culture.</p><p>I grew up in Africa, then I lived and studied in France for a while. And then, from Paris, [I studied at] Berklee College of Music [in Boston]. It’s that melting pot of culture that comes through in what I do.</p><p><strong>GP: </strong>[Lionel] has this rich culture and heritage that he brings to how he plays. I’m just a little valley girl <i>[laughs]</i>. Valley woman, I guess, now. But I’ve been a deep admirer of Brazilian music and West African music. We both studied jazz for decades, so there’s those strains in the music. </p><p>Also, I always love bringing soul, R&B, pop, rock — the different genres of American music — into the mix. Lionel writes his original music, too, so there’s a lot going on. Even though that’s the case, I think with Lionel, he can play anything. </p><p>To me, the goal is to always have it sound consistent and have continuity of the project — no matter the genre.</p><p><strong>LJN: </strong><i>Gretchen, what led you to possess the ability to operate within the musical spaces of Benin and Brazil in a thoughtful, personal and respectful manner?</i></p><p><strong>GP: </strong>I think, for me, it’s an admiration and an adoration I’ve had for both those genres since I discovered them as a teenager. To me, it was loving this music and being embraced pretty young by people from those cultures, and being really warmly welcomed in to participate in the music.</p><p>With Lionel, he can really master and play anything, and it’s just a thrill to collaborate with him. He welcomes me into the music and makes it feel like I can easily be part of it, and participate in it and create with him. He makes it feel easy, in that sense, yet what he does is beyond-words difficult and challenging.</p><p><strong>LL: </strong>She’s one of a kind for sure. If you just listen to her singing in Portuguese, you might think she’s from there — absolutely. She just nails it, all with a finesse. Her sense of rhythm — nothing’s too much. Everything’s floating naturally. She has big ears, a beautiful timbre — the list goes on.</p><p><strong>LJN: </strong><i>How would you characterize your creative arcs leading up to </i>Lean In<i>, both together and apart?</i></p><p><strong>LL:</strong> It’s a beautiful arc; it’s a beautiful journey.</p><p>I got the chance to play with so many different types of musicians. That also helped me to dig up that language. Many people think I’m Brazilian; I’m not. My rhythmic sense sometimes makes them think of Brazil. There’s a part of it from where I grew up, but the home base is Africa for sure.</p><p>Moving to the United States gave me the chance to work with so many different jazz musicians. Being here, living in Europe, I played with different musicians — working with Angélique Kidjo, my big sister from Benin. </p><p>I think all that shaped the way I approach music in general, but I don’t change my heart if I’m playing African music or jazz or Brazilian. It’s all the same — just a different approach to the music. No matter what style of music I’m playing, the most important thing is what I can bring to the music. That’s mostly my focus.</p><p><strong>GP: </strong>The creative outlet was always reflective of what was happening in my life. The point was to be an artist where the art reflects our life. I think everything that I’ve written creatively, you can tell what stage I was at, and you can tell what was going on. </p><p>Now that I’m in my late 40s and a mother — Lionel and I are both parents — there’s a more grounded and nurturing aspect to the music. One that’s about our families, but also about the community and our world as a whole. A sense of: What can we do to serve everyone, and to heal, and to transform everybody? We need that in our world right now.</p><p>It’s just being grateful. In a word, it’s just gratitude.</p><p><strong>LJN: </strong><i>Tell me more about the concept of family, and how that plays into</i><strong> </strong>Lean In.</p><p><strong>GP: </strong>We both have our children featured on the album a little bit. Lionel’s daughter is on a track; my son is on a couple of tracks.</p><p>I think because Lionel and I have known each other for over 20 years, and knew each other when we were in our 20s and, now, as parents, we know what that shift feels like. We can relate to each other in what that means as artists — to balance your creative life and your life as a parent.</p><p>Everything that we write is reflective of that, and both of us are big on family being a priority. Giving to the next generation of our kids, and thinking of how this music will impact and help them.</p><p><strong>LJN: </strong><i>Can you talk about what Burniss Travis and Mark Giuliana brought to the record, and what you both appreciate about those guys? Why they were perfect to bring home this particular assemblage of things and feelings?</i></p><p><strong>LL: </strong>I used to play a lot with Mark. We did a recording with Robert Glasper and Derrick Hodge [2012’s <i>Heritage</i>, which also features Parlato on two tracks, released on Blue Note Records]. We also did some touring in the States and Europe. </p><p>I always loved his playing. Of course, I knew that it would be magical. It didn’t take that long because we just got together — one-take kind of playing. We didn’t want to make anything super perfect. We just wanted to play naturally and see what we got.</p><p>I met Burniss through Glasper, actually. He’s a monster. Amazing sound and groove. I love the way he plays. It was just a perfect connection and combination of people at the right time. It happened that he was also in LA at that time — I think with Glasper — so we invited him in the studio to join us.</p><p>I love those two guys. No question about it.</p><p><strong>GP: </strong>Burniss is a real spiritual, beautiful soul of a person, and a musician. I love playing with him. I thought of him to add to a few tracks on the album and give us that bottom — the weight and grounding. </p><p>He’s a dad; I think that does add to the energy of the project, and it adds to his sense of being a nurturer and spiritual person. He’s really one of the most ridiculous bassists, so it was so cool that he was able to come. </p><p>He played on the track “If I Knew,” and also, the interludes on the album were taken from improvisations that he, Mark and Lionel did. We just hit “record,” they played for about half an hour, and then we found some minute-or-two-long snippets that we turned into interludes. I wrote melodies over those, Lionel wrote lyrics in his dialect, and those turned into the interludes that you hear.</p><p>And then, Mark — yes, he is my husband, but he’s also a drummer that I would have chosen to be a part of this project and sound. One of the greatest, most unique drummers that I know and love. To have him on the project obviously means a lot personally, but he and Lionel have a really great history — I think they have a really cool sync with each other.</p><p>And Burniss as well; Mark, Burniss and I played together on tour for many years. So, it was a great way to have everybody included. It is a duo project at the core, but to have these special guests brings everything to a bigger picture.</p><p><strong>LJN: </strong><i>I had no idea you and Mark are married! How has your creative partnership evolved in parallel to your personal one?</i></p><p><strong>GP: </strong>It started as bandmates — meeting him and being musicians on the scene. We met at Mercury Lounge in New York City many, many years ago. </p><p>He was recommended, actually, by Justin Brown — another great drummer who I’ve played with. He said, “You should call Mark! He’d be great in your band!” Of course, hearing him, I realized that Justin was absolutely right. It started out as just him playing on tours of mine and developing, at the core, a really great friendship and musical bond. And then realizing: <i>Oh! You’re the one!</i></p><p>Now, it’s something we can share, and share with our son. We also have a balance. Mark obviously does many different projects, and so do I, so we can balance our individuality as creative people. But when we come together, it’s something really special.</p><p><strong>LJN: </strong><i>I don’t typically think of Foo Fighters as they relate to the jazz idiom. Can you talk about the interpolation and incorporation of “Walking After You”?</i></p><p><strong>GP: </strong>It’s a track I heard in the ‘90s. I was intrigued; I loved it; I thought it was a really beautiful song. </p><p>When Lionel and I were figuring out the repertoire for the album, it was all done remotely, because he’s in Luxembourg and I’m in LA. We were emailing and sending each other song ideas and demos and things. I just had that on the list; I thought, <i>I’d love to do something with this song.</i></p><p>I gave him the key I would sing it in, and Lionel sent back the arrangement that you hear — the odd meter and the harmony. That’s totally Lionel’s creation. </p><p>Then, we developed in the studio, and I thought it would be really lovely to have Mark come in at the end and hint at the original drum part of the original track — and have [our son] Marley come in and sing the hook at the end. </p><p>It’s become really profound in a beautiful but, of course, heartbreaking way, because Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters’ drummer, passed away. When we recorded the song, he was still with us, and then he passed a few weeks after. </p><p>So, it really turned the song into something much deeper than we realized. Now, I can only think of him when I hear the song.</p><p><strong>LL: </strong>My goal, always, when it comes to arranging, is: we already know the original. So, we’re not trying to make it better. It’s just different. Our input is what we bring to the song that everybody knows. </p><p>It’s a challenge, because everybody knows it, and you know it. Where do you take it from there?</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://londonjazznews.com/2023/05/15/mondays-with-morgan-gretchen-parlato-and-lionel-loueke-new-album-lean-in-released-19-may/?amp=1"><strong><u>»» read article online</u></strong></a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/72072332023-05-11T16:41:02-07:002023-05-13T16:37:49-07:00Patiently Holding the Sound: Gretchen Parlato on motherhood as a musical inspiration<p><span class="text-small"><span>by Nate Chinen, WRTI Your Classical and Jazz Source, May 11, 2023</span></span><br><span class="text-small">Photo: Lauren Desberg</span></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/417453/3c65cfa5a33ca6223046963012bbce41130b8951/original/90.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p><p>Gretchen Parlato has a low-gloss but captivating flair as a singer-songwriter, and over the last two decades she’s helped redraw the map for jazz vocals. Her forthcoming album on Edition, Lean In, highlights her deep simpatico with a longtime musical partner, the West African guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke. “I'm so grateful for our friendship and our musical path, and specifically his beauty on this project,” Parlato tells WRTI. “He's such a special person to work with.”</p><p>Lean In also features contributions from Parlato’s life partner, drummer Mark Guiliana, and their 9-year-old son, Marley. And in a few spots on the album, Parlato explores how motherhood has presented challenges as well as opportunities, creatively. It’s the follow-up to Flor, a 2021 release that brought her back into active circulation after a quieter period. And it draws on Parlato’s multifaceted experience as a mother, as a musician, and as a member of a community.</p><p>Parlato and I connected this week to talk about the new album, her commitment to family, and the false dichotomies behind a notion of work-life balance. This is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.</p><p><strong>I wanted to begin with the title of your new album, Lean In, which for many people will call to mind Sheryl Sandberg and her book, which set off a sort of movement around women in the workplace. Was that part of your motivation with the title?</strong></p><p>Coming from the project before this one, Flor, that storyline had a lot to do with motherhood and the creative artist’s balance. Lean In branched off from that idea. It incorporates leaning into parenthood and family, but also to ourselves and to our creativity, to our passions, to our community and our world. So it was this really full, encompassing idea. We share this to help to try to help other people — whatever's happening in the world, in the spectrum of good and bad, this is the way through it. To lean in, not push it away. To embrace it, to cradle it; to say, “OK, what's happening here?” It's like meditating. You sit with it, and then you figure out ways to be with it, and move through it and live it.</p><p><strong>I like that you are connecting this with more of a community model than the form of individual corporate striving that the phrase initially took on.</strong></p><p>Exactly, right.</p><p><strong>You mentioned Flor. When it came out in 2021, I remember marveling that this was your first studio album in a decade. Could you speak to that idea of stepping back from the scene and making a return?</strong></p><p>I didn't know how I would really feel until I was in it, as a mother. Even being pregnant, and how that would shift my relationship with my creative passion and career. But as soon as I was in that world, it was very clear to me that I wanted to go all in — lean in, if you will, to that, and not miss anything. The most common parenting advice anybody will give is: “Enjoy it. It goes by so fast.” We hear that every day, and it becomes a cliché. But as it goes along, you realize that's what it's all about. This is such a transition and such a journey, and these little phases and moments are so fleeting. I didn't want to be away for any of that, and I'm glad that I wasn't. I knew music was always going to be there, and I knew that in those early years, it was important for me to be present as my son was growing and developing. Then I did some touring here and there, and he would come with me. So he was literally attached to me until I was on stage performing. And as soon as I was done, it was back to being mama, which was beautiful.</p><p><strong>Yeah.</strong></p><p>Now he's 9, and it was just like the snap of a finger. He's at the end of being little. I wouldn't say I want things to slow down; we obviously can't do that. But I'm just trying to be present, and live every day knowing that it's precious, and our lives are just unknown and fragile. You just have to focus on what matters.</p><p><strong>When my girls were small, one thing that more experienced parents would tell me was: “The days are long but the years are short.” I'm sure you heard that, too.</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>I heard it specifically from Rebecca Martin. She was such a mentor for me as a parent. But yes, that was such a perfect line, so true.</p><p><strong>As I’m sure many readers are aware, your husband is a notable artist, bandleader and composer, Mark Guiliana. So as the two of you began to negotiate parenthood almost a decade ago, was there any difficulty in trying to figure out how to strike a balance as partners?</strong></p><p>The career of being a touring musician — we need that, and that's an outlet for us. But Mark has an album titled Family First, and that's like his motto in life. I was literally breastfeeding, so I couldn't be away from Marley for that long. And Mark took that time to really soar: that was the David Bowie era of his career, which was a really magical, transformative time for him. So we talked about having a balance and taking turns, or if we could play together and be on the road together. And we have a unit; we've never had a babysitter or daycare. We have my mom, Mark's family, my family. We're really lucky to have that.</p><p><strong>That support system of family and friends is so crucial, and it reminds me of the musician community the two of you also have.</strong></p><p>That's so true. You're right — I'm thinking of many times on the road when Marley was young, and even up to now, where the musicians we play with have become extended family to him, and they’re kind of taking care of him. My manager, Karen Kennedy, has been very helpful too.</p><p><strong>There's a song on this new album called “Muse,” and it includes the line: “I'm patiently holding the sound,” which feels so poetic and so loaded with meaning.</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>Yeah.</p><p><strong>Then in the chorus, you sing: “Been here before / And once more, and ever returning again.” I read into that an idea of your return to a full commitment of touring and being on the scene. Is that an accurate reading?</strong></p><p>You've got it. Yeah. I mean, those lyrics absolutely relate to creative inspiration. And maybe in the first few years of motherhood, I really just didn't give myself time to be creative. I wasn't giving myself time, like, “I'm gonna sit down at the piano, and give myself these hours alone to try to write something.” I knew there were things that would come in time. That song was kind of reflecting on that. The inspiration is always out there. It's always inside of us, and it's whether we allow ourselves that time, in that space, to hear it.</p><p><strong>When you think about that period of time — especially earlier in your experience with motherhood, when it was really hands-on — do you think of it in terms of a sacrifice?</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>I don't know if I would use that word myself. You think of a sacrifice as giving something up, and I don't think parenthood should feel that way. When I get interested in something, I just go all in, and maybe that's just my way. I don't try to do too many things at once; I really just focus on one thing at a time and kind of lose myself in it. So that's what felt right. Let's say I did the opposite, and continued touring a lot, and put my son in daycare early — which is fine and beautiful, if that's what people choose to do. But if I did that, maybe I would have thought I was sacrificing motherhood for my art. There is definitely a feeling of guilt on either side: “I'm spending too much time on this end, and what about the other?” It's very emotional. But I think it's just priorities, and trying to be in the moment. And now, knowing all of that was worth it. I have been there this entire time, and now Marley can come with me. He's going to come with us on our tour with Lionel this summer, and he can see us falling into our passion and our art, and see us in it. The goal, of course, is for him to find what he loves to do, and if he can do that through seeing us do what we love, that's the whole point.</p><p><strong>In addition to the literal manifestation on a song like “Muse,” was there something for you that was revealed or clarified by the experience of motherhood — in terms of your perspective as an artist, as a singer?</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>Absolutely. In the back of my head I'm always seeing things through my son's eyes and ears, and heart and soul. You know, in everything that I create, I’m thinking: “How will this affect him?” If we think of the music that I've made since, which is Flor and now Lean In, there are definitely threads of things that are connecting its priorities, and its purpose. Maybe it's not just about heartbroken love songs anymore. You know, if that's what people are going through, you need to write about that and get that out. But now, it's writing about what's meaningful to my family, and how that represents this bigger community of people, and our interconnectedness. So yeah, it's more of a universal thing: just get to the heart of the matter.</p><p><strong>That's beautifully said, and it reminds me of another song, which concludes Lean In: “Walking After You,” which has some deeply emotional lyrics. It has so much to do with the give and take of a relationship.</strong></p><p>Yeah. That's a Dave Grohl composition, so I can't speak on what was going on with him when he wrote it — but as far as I know, it's a love song about a past relationship. I heard it years ago. It's a very ‘90s ballad, you know? I’m a fan of The Foo Fighters, and I just thought, “Wow, this is a really great song.” I always wanted to sing it. I brought it to Lionel, and he sent that arrangement. Then we kind of created our thing, and went to the studio.</p><p><strong>It's so personal, and so utterly transformed. And it brings the album home in a really surprising way.</strong></p><p>Oh, I love that. Lionel is so brilliant at that — just making something his own, but also honoring what's beautiful about the original. Then the timing is profound, because Taylor Hawkins passed away after we recorded it. So when we were recording, I wasn't necessarily thinking of him. But then after, when we were mixing it, he had passed already, and the song had a whole other story to tell. Now when I hear it, I think of him. It's about a person who isn't there. And having Marley come join in on that, to me, represents this next generation kind of honoring somebody who is no longer here, but who is a huge inspiration. It’s like: “We got you. We got this. We'll take over and continue your legacy.” It didn't mean that when we initially thought of it, but that's what it has become.</p><p><strong>Did you and Mark personally know Taylor?</strong></p><p>I just met him once, through Mark. But yeah, Mark had a nice drummer friendship with him.</p><p><strong>I could see the two of them being fast friends.</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>He was one of Mark's idols, and then when Mark got to meet him and talk to him, they exchanged a lot of great dialogue and inspiration — and a lot of stuff about parenthood, too. So that song is heavy, but there's also… I don't know if “joy” is the word, but there's a leaning in. We're facing what's happened, and we're trying to turn it into poetry. We're trying to turn it into something that moves it forward.</p><p><strong>Mark is on several tracks of this album, and you mentioned Marley making a cameo. There's also a song called “Me Wa Se,” where he’s credited as a guest. What does that mean to you?</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>Something that we've seen early with Marley, and probably with many kids: he's just singing constantly. He was singing before he was speaking, really. So he's always had that outlet, where he doesn't even realize it.</p><p><strong>I don't know where he would get that from…</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>Yeah, right. I know. “Oh, having a song in your head, nonstop? Yeah, I get it.” Mark actually pointed it out: he was like, “Do you guys know that I'll be talking to you, and you're singing out loud? I don't think you're hearing me.” But we're like. “No, we're right with you.” Marley can sing and be right there in the conversation. And it was kind of frustrating for Mark when he pointed it out. But I was like, “Actually I get it, and I kind of do that, to a fault. But we're there with you. We can kind of have a lot going on at the same time.” Anyway, Flor was the first time that Marley was a guest, and it was a really fun experience for him to be in the studio and try to get him to participate and sing. So I just knew on this album I would love to give him a little space. All these interludes came from improvisations between Lionel, Mark and Burniss Travis; they just kind of sat for a half-hour and jammed, and then we found little snippets, and I wrote melodies over those interludes. Then Lionel added lyrics in his dialect.</p><p><strong>Right.</strong></p><p>So once we had all that together, Lionel taught Marley the vocal part. You know, kids just pick it up. He got on the mic and sang his little heart out. So it's very sweet, because selfishly it's capturing these moments that change drastically. When he was on the Flor album he was four, and he had a lisp; he couldn't pronounce his Rs, and had this whole other way of speaking. That's totally gone, but I hear it, and it's like “Oh, my God! That little voice!” And it's him, but just like a different version. Now we have him documented at 7 or 8, and it will be amazing to hear that when he’s a teenager.</p><p><strong>Recording artists will often put their kid on an album, and it feels like an aside. Here it’s more like “We are giving you an opportunity to enmesh yourself in the fabric,” which is such a musical thing to do.</strong><span><strong> </strong></span></p><p>I'm glad that you appreciate that and see it. It's a pure joy. It's not like he's begging to do it. But I think as parents, when you see a spark, when you see this seed and this light, and your child is actually talented — you're gonna go, “I want you to be in a choir” or “Let's take piano lessons,” or “Let's have you take these classes.” There’s something that can be developed, in a really beautiful way.</p><p><strong>Lean In will be released on Edition Records on May 19; preorder here.</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.wrti.org/wrti-spotlight/2023-05-11/patiently-holding-the-sound-gretchen-parlato-on-motherhood-as-a-musical-inspiration" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><strong>» read full article @ WRTI</strong></a><br> </p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/72006902023-04-25T09:40:00-07:002023-05-11T16:42:45-07:00Remembering the Incomparable Barbara Morrison<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/417453/1b2a20ee7e55ec8a921cff794545dba3f5771c5b/original/600x337-dsc-8381-edit.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><p><span style="color:rgb(113,113,113);">“Barbara Morrison taught me to pay attention to the lyrics of the song, to pay attention to the story that was being told. She would have us write out what we felt the song was about,” said Parlato, who acknowledged that it was actually more difficult to follow this advice as a younger singer. “There’s a tendency to think about vocal phrasing and rhythms in an intellectual and technical sense. Barbara made us think about the emotional story in the song.” </span></p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/remembering-the-incomparable-barbara-morrison/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:rgb(113,113,113);">»» read article</span></a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/70837842022-10-18T10:56:15-07:002023-05-11T16:43:14-07:00Terri Lyne Carrington: New Standards Vol 1 <p>by Nigel Jarrett, Jazz Journal, Oct 07, 2022</p><p>When Gretchen Parlato penned the swirls of her chart Circling one wonders if she envisaged what drummer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington’s band and the planetary guests she assembled for this album would make of it. The band’s core quintet is infused with contributions from 15 musicians, including Dianne Reeves, Ravi Coltrane and Ambrose Akinmusire. The album forms part of Carrington’s long-term mission to bring jazz women and female jazz composition in from the margins. </p><p>Her project, with so much of the distaff side to reinstate from the perimeters to which male-orientated jazz history has consigned and confined it, might be expected to call forth a more strident voice. But the album, comprising 11 tracks by women composers, is the antithesis of (justifiably) angry protest: great tunes, instinctive arrangements and harmonic richness – all of it sequinned by stellar input, not least by Reeves on Eliane Elias’s Moments and Michael Mayo on the aforementioned Circling.</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2022/10/07/terri-lyne-carrington-new-standards-vol-1/" data-link-type="url" contents="»» more">»» more</a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/72174692022-07-22T13:55:00-07:002023-05-29T13:48:16-07:00Jazz Singer Gretchen Parlato Celebrates Sinatra and Peggy Lee<p><span class="text-small">by Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché, July 22, 2022</span></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/417453/18963ff16536e2790493720ac0fd72327eb959ae/original/dsc-8256-edit-editv2.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p><p>In the first postings about <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/events/performances/2009/2022-07-27/tribute-to-peggy-lee-and-frank-sinatra" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wednesday’s tribute</a> to Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra at the Hollywood Bowl there was a list of artists followed by “and more.” Singer Gretchen Parlato posted that image on her own social media with an arrow that said, “that’s me.” (Subsequent postings have included her name.)</p><p>Her sense of humor about it was something we discussed last week in a Zoom call. Parlato said, “If you see the list of the other artists I’m very certain that I am the most least-known artist of all of them. And I’m happy to be included. It’s just that feeling of being able to have that moment to honor this music and then be starstruck and to just look over. I don’t know how close you can get to the other artists.”</p><p>The other artists are Billie Eilish, Debbie Harry, <a class="no-pjax" href="https://culturalattache.co/2014/02/12/the-not-so-lush-life-of-bettye-lavette/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bettye LaVette</a>, Seth MacFarlane, <a class="no-pjax" href="https://culturalattache.co/2016/02/03/brian-stokes-mitchell-and-the-la-phil-take-you-on-a-sonic-ride-through-broadway-with-in-character/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Stokes Mitchell</a> and Dianne Reeves. They will all perform with The Count Basie Orchestra with musical director Christian McBride and pianist John Beasley.</p><p>Though Parlato is not a household name the way other artists on this program are, she should be. She’s a two-time Grammy Award nominee for her albums <i>Live in NYC</i> (2013) and last year’s <i>Flor</i>. She has an understated approach to singing that draws a listener in almost immediately. She can easily go from singing from the Great American Songbook to singing a song by David Bowie (<i>No Plan</i> which is on <i>Flor</i>).</p><p>Her grandmother was the person who most influenced Parlato.</p><p>“She played a big role in playing these amazing jazz vocalists for me. Before I even knew what jazz was. It was just this sound of Ella and and Nancy and Frank and Peggy Lee.”</p><p>When asked if she’s concerned that our present-day culture is entirely too focused on the present and not the past, particularly as it relates to recording artists, she finds a reason to believe.</p><p>“I agree with you that often it takes a little more effort to seek out the art of any genre that isn’t alive anymore,” she offers. “To show how important [Sinatra and Lee] were in the lineage, look at the singers that are chosen to be a part of this show. Billie Eilish is one of them. She has stated her adoration for Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. So that’s a perfect example of someone who’s very young who can pay tribute and admire singers that she grew up with that have helped inform what she does. But it’s unique.”</p><p>For this concert Parlato will be singing two songs from the Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim catalog. While she is definitely a fan of Sinatra’s, I believe she has a lot in common with Peggy Lee’s signing style. Lee said of her own vocal talents that what she did was “singing softly with feeling.” The comparison is not lost on Parlato.</p><p>“It’s interesting because I’ve heard different quotes from other artists. Not until you just mentioned the quote from her did I put it all together. That’s the way that I have been brought up being a vocalist. There’s something so powerful about this understatement and intimacy and kind of allowing people to feel all the different facets. It doesn’t have to be something obvious, it can be something that’s a little bit intriguing.”</p><p>It’s also the moments she chooses not to sing that are equally important to her.</p><p>“You’re totally right. That is equal, if not maybe more important; the space and the silence in-between the sound. I talk a lot about that when I teach. It’s like the yin and yang. It’s like these opposites that complement each other that make the other one even stronger. It’s an exciting place to be when you allow that space to sit and you get comfortable with it. And it’s a great metaphor for life to write, for meditating or just leaning in and accepting a situation and allowing it to be and feeling. Allowing whatever will come around to enhance that place that you’re in.”</p><p>Parlato has learned a lot from teachers like Ruth Price, <a class="no-pjax" href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/07/03/jazz-vocalist-tierney-suttons-devil-may-care-attitude/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tierney Sutton</a> and the late Barbara Morrison who called what Parlato does with her voice “an offering. It’s a gift, like, here you go.” As for the lessons learned from Sinatra and Lee, she is very quick to respond with one word.</p><p>“I think phrasing is everything. Singers like that really taught me to pay attention to not only the emotional story of the song, but what are we singing about. Barbara had us write out what are the lyrics about of the song that you’re singing. What’s a way that you can introduce this song and find your connection to it. That’s something that I can find much easier to do now in my forties than when I was a teenager. There was a disconnect, too. It was mostly about this more intellectual and technical sense of phrasing and rhythm. I think paying attention to the rhythm can be informed by the emotional story of the song. So what are you trying to say? How do we phrase based on the story?”</p><p>Last spring Parlato completed a recording with guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke. Their duo project will be released next year followed by a series of performances around the world. For now it’s the tribute to Sinatra and Lee followed by a tour in Europe in October and November.</p><p>But what if Sinatra was able to hear her sing? To hear her sing from some of the legend’s most celebrated albums? What would she like him to say?</p><p>“Oh, wow. That’s a cool question. I’m imagining him sitting in the box seat smoking at the show. I think if he said ‘Good job, kid’ I’d be good with that. If he said, ‘Let’s have a drink. Cheers!” that’d be good.</p><p>“In all seriousness, if he was able to find a glimpse, a sparkle that he had an influence and a connection to. I think that would be an enormous compliment. Somebody of that level just feeling that I am connected to the music. I would hope that he would appreciate artists finding their own voice, singing a song and telling their own story. So I would hope that he would hear me singing his exact arrangements and that he would hear that there’s a tradition there. But that there’s something fresh and a new story to tell. That I made it my own.”</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/07/25/jazz-singer-gretchen-parlato-celebrates-sinatra-and-peggy-lee/" data-link-type="url">» read article</a><br> </p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/69727362022-05-16T18:44:35-07:002023-05-11T16:43:59-07:00Jazz Vocalist Gretchen Parlato Is Ready to Blossom Again<p><span class="text-small"><strong>by Andrew Gilbert, KQED</strong></span></p><p><strong>In the decade following Gretchen Parlato’s triumph at the 2004 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition, she changed the texture of the New York scene.</strong> </p><p>Although she only recorded a precious handful of albums under her own name, Parlato seemed to be everywhere. Her unmistakably lithe, silvery voice became one of the era’s defining sonic elements—no other jazz singer foregrounds their breath in quite the same way. Contributing to more than five dozen albums by a glittering constellation of composers, she found a multiplicity of aural avenues into an ensemble’s blend. </p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/18963ff16536e2790493720ac0fd72327eb959ae/original/dsc-8256-edit-editv2.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><span class="text-small">In the 2000s, Gretchen Parlato changed the sound of jazz with her singular voice. After receding from the spotlight to focus on motherhood and teaching, she's back with a solo album and two Bay Area headlining shows. (Lauren Desberg) </span></p><p>You can hear her on the recordings that made Esperanza Spalding a star (including 2010’s Chamber Music Society and 2012’s Radio Music Society). Veteran masters created imaginative settings for her sound, often on Brazilian-inflected material. (She sings on Terence Blanchard’s 2005 album Flow, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s 2011 The Mosaic Project and pianist Kenny Barron’s 2008 The Traveler.) Younger colleagues looked to her for inspiration. (Parlato appears on pianist Gerald Clayton’s 2013 Life Forum, vocalist Becca Stevens’ 2011 Weightless and tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III’s 2006 Casually Introducing Walter Smith III.) </p><p>Simply put, everyone wanted some of Parlato’s mojo. </p><p>After the birth of her and drummer Mark Guiliana’s son Marley in 2014, Parlato took herself out of heavy circulation, teaching at Manhattan School of Music and gigging a whole lot less. </p><p>At the end of 2019 the family relocated to Los Angeles, where she grew up. And then, of course, every performing artist got an involuntary, unfunded sabbatical thanks to COVID-19. Once a regular presence in the Bay Area, Parlato was conspicuous by her absence. </p><p>And now Parlato is back: Her first album in almost a decade, the 2021 Grammy-nominated Flor, marked a glorious return. This week, she plays her first Bay Area headlining shows in more than five years with a concert at San Francisco’s Black Cat on Wednesday, May 18, and another at Santa Cruz’s Kuumbwa Jazz Center on Thursday, May 19. But she’s already reintroduced herself as an artist with a singular sound ready to tackle the most challenging settings. </p><p>Parlato stepped into the SFJAZZ Collective last fall under the direction of saxophonist Chris Potter, sharing vocal duties with charismatic San Francisco soul singer Martin Luther McCoy. (She was called in as a last-minute replacement for Lizz Wright in the newly configured nonet.) In March, the group released a politically engaged album of original arrangements and compositions, New Works Reflecting the Moment, that includes Parlato’s song “All There Inside.” The Collective finishes the season with a European tour this summer, and after that Parlato said her future with the group is uncertain. </p><p>“It was a great surprise to get that call a couple of weeks before they started,” says Parlato, 46. “The timing did make sense. It really helped push me back into working again, creating and playing. It was the first thing I had since COVID and it’s been a great few months.” </p><p>She was back at the SFJAZZ Center again in March as the vocalist in Chris Potter’s ambitious orchestral song cycle Sing to Me. At that concert, a 19-piece ensemble played his sumptuous settings for poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sapho, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and 15th century Indian mystic Kabir. He wrote the music with Parlato’s voice in mind, and she delivered the sinuous melodies amid the thick harmonies and densely lapidary brass and woodwinds. </p><p>“Chris is a genius and I loved my role,” she says. “I think he knew my voice could really shine. It was precise and contained in a way that other projects hadn’t touched.” </p><p>For her Black Cat and Kuumbwa gigs, Parlato is playing with a stellar band featuring rising Richmond-raised drummer Malachi Whitson, bassist/producer Ben Williams (a fellow Monk Competition winner who recorded a live album at Black Cat last month), and pianist/keyboardist Taylor Eigsti, who won a Grammy Award last month for his album Tree Falls (which features Parlato on two tracks). </p><p>Eigsti is an accompanist hailed by vocal legends such as mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and Lisa Fischer, and he's worked closely with Parlato for nearly two decades. Describing the experience as formative, the Menlo Park-raised pianist says, “Gretchen is one of the best bandleaders I’ve ever known, and the majority of anything I know about bandleading I learned from watching her. Musically, she has the best time of anybody I’ve ever played with, and a really unique way of phrasing.” </p><p>Parlato's latest album, Flor, is steeped in Brazilian influences. The project was built on a supple quartet led by São Paulo-born guitarist Marcel Camargo with Rio-reared percussionist/drummer Léo Costa. Rather than an anchoring bassist, the ensemble features Armenian cellist Artyom Manukyan as a textural and melodic foil for Parlato. (Mark Guiliana, Gerald Clayton and Brazilian percussion maestro Airto Moreira also make guest appearances.) </p><p>While motherhood is often cast as a barren expanse for women artists—a book review of Julie Phillips’ The Baby On The Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, And The Mind-Baby Problem in last week’s Atlantic makes for depressing reading—Parlato embraced pregnancy and parenthood as a creative endeavor, with little doubt that the experience would feed her music. </p><p>Her music has often flowed from the emotional passages of her life. “And Flor was a perfect platform to find music and write music and lyrics that reflected what it felt like to be a mom and a parent in general,” she says. “I’ve always found the easiest thing is find the honesty in my life and turn it into art and share it.” </p><p>Which isn’t to say that the songs suddenly materialized. The music on Flor gestated for years. What’s most impressive is the way her bossa-nova-and-beyond palette manifests on a disparate program, including the Anita Baker hit “Sweet Love,” Parlato’s original celebration of maternal insights, “Wonderful,” the lullaby “Magnus” and bassist Chris Morrissey’s incantatory “What Does a Lion Say.” Her garden flourishes, though the album closes with intimations of mortality on a stark, buzzy arrangement of David Bowie’s “No Plan,” the titular track from his posthumously released EP (that featured Mark Guiliana). </p><p>“Her music is so personal,” Eigsti says. “It’s not surprising that becoming a parent has influenced her so deeply.” </p><p>Driven by the internal impulse to create, Parlato lets the songs emerge when they were ready. “I hadn’t given myself any space, I was so focused on being a mother,” she says. “It took years to try to create again.” </p><p>She says she has no regret about the timing of things. “The whole theme of Flor is a garden that’s dormant, that looks like nothing going on, then these amazing flowers sprout and grow and blossom.”</p><p> </p><p>https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913376/jazz-vocalist-gretchen-parlato-is-ready-to-blossom-again</p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/68959832022-01-05T10:00:00-08:002022-08-30T06:22:45-07:00Grammy-nominated alumnus creates Brazilian-inspired album with focus on motherhood<p>By Arushi Avachat, Jan 5, 2022</p>
<p><strong>Gretchen Parlato’s “Flor” reflects on blooming into motherhood.</strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/011a57a5ec681115c56efd3f316c74df4b04f6bc/original/flor.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.png" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>Following the birth of her son, the alumnus and singer said she felt a desire to capture her emotions and experiences through music. The resulting Brazilian-inspired record, which features nine songs consisting of both covers and original music, received a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Parlato said she collaborated with artists she admires to synthesize American pop, Brazilian jazz and other cultural influences into one cohesive album. </p>
<p>“Doing a Brazilian-inspired project felt like a blossoming and a returning to a love that I’ve always had,” Parlato said. “(Bossa nova) is such an intimate style of music.” </p>
<p>As a musical child, Parlato said her interest in Brazilian jazz began at 13, when she discovered João Gilberto, a pioneer of bossa nova music. Parlato said she was mesmerized by Gilberto’s rich voice and artistry, crediting him for a lifelong admiration of the genre. Later, as an ethnomusicology student at UCLA, Parlato said she continued to specialize in jazz studies and nurture her passion for Brazilian music, gravitating toward jazz ensemble courses focused on diverse musical traditions. </p>
<p>[Related: SOUNDWALK: UCLA Campus is music to new, returning Bruins’ ears] </p>
<p>Following graduation, Parlato said she relocated to New York City to pursue opportunities in the jazz world. She said she furthered her career through both embarking on solo projects and appearing as a guest on more than 90 albums, all primarily in jazz vocals. When she took a break from music to focus on raising her son, Parlato said these professional experiences motivated her to create a collaborative album on motherhood. </p>
<p>“It was a good handful of years before I had any kind of thought or inspiration musically (and) artistically for myself. I was really just in the mothering world and wonderfully caught up in that,” Parlato said. “(‘Flor’ is) a way to express those years, … and (it has) a universal theme for when you’ve had a more intimate time in your life and then you’re opening up and returning back.” </p>
<p>This theme of family and motherhood is particularly central to the track “Wonderful,” Parlato said. In this song, children – including Parlato’s son – contribute background vocals and phrases, creating a sense of childhood joy and invincibility. The musician said she worked with fellow alumnus Marcel Camargo to develop “Wonderful” and other tracks by planning instrumentals and organizing arrangements. </p>
<p>Camargo said he met Parlato while at UCLA, and what began as a college friendship soon morphed into a long-standing professional relationship. From playing at parties to performing at Kerckhoff Coffee House, Camargo said he and Parlato continued their partnership after graduating through performing live together and working on one of Camargo’s records. Camargo said it felt natural to then collaborate with Parlato on “Flor” specifically, as he was raised in Brazil and grew up surrounded by Brazilian music. </p>
<p>“Brazilian music has always been there, so it’s part of what I know,” Camargo said. “This record is a lot about beauty and positivity and communication. … That’s a big part of (Parlato’s) statement.” </p>
<p>In addition to the album’s centering of Brazilian jazz, Parlato said she especially enjoyed creating covers of classic Western songs such as Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love” and David Bowie’s “No Plan.” Parlato said she was excited by the challenge of recording covers that preserved the integrity of the original songs while also employing an innovative new approach by experimenting with tempo and harmony. Ultimately, Parlato said she wanted both her covers and originals to fit seamlessly together in one record despite their varying musical features. </p>
<p>In particular, Parlato said her cover of “No Plan,” which features her husband and creative collaborator Mark Guiliana, was a project with deep significance. A jazz musician himself, Guiliana worked on Bowie’s original recording of “No Plan” in 2015. Guiliana said the opportunity to perform on Parlato’s version of the track was a meaningful homage to Bowie, as well as a personal joy given his relationship with Parlato. </p>
<p>“(The collaboration) was very natural,” Guiliana said. “There’s a lot of love in the record, … and the world always needs that but particularly now. I’m grateful (Parlato) put such a positive record out.” </p>
<p>[Related: Angel City Chorale to bring music, community to UCLA with holiday performances] </p>
<p>As Parlato looks forward to the Grammy Awards later in January, the artist said she is excited for future projects and appearances. Health guidelines permitting, Parlato said she is hopeful to resume touring and live performances soon. She said she credits “Flor” for reigniting her creative spirit following her hiatus from the industry and inspiring a domino effect of more music making. </p>
<p>As for the success of “Flor,” Parlato said she feels gratitude for the professors and community she found while at UCLA, which she continues to be shaped by. She said her rich curriculum and collaborative classmates helped cement her love for her craft. These early years were fundamental in building her musical career, she said. </p>
<p>“The (UCLA) ethnomusicology department was a huge part of opening my ears to different kinds of music and this thought of incorporating music from all over the world,” Parlato said.</p>
<p> </p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/68107342021-11-15T16:26:46-08:002021-11-16T15:04:53-08:00SFJAZZ Collective’s New Lineup, Paradigm<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/657cee8d3094d6c3b6e7aba8b7eec847d0a7c847/original/sfjazz.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Yoshi Kato, Downbeat Magazine, 11/09/2021</p>
<p>For the second time in three years, the all-star SFJAZZ Collective is shifting its paradigm. </p>
<p>Since its founding in 2004, the SFJAZZ Collective had the same instrumentation: trumpet, tenor and alto saxophone, trombone, vibraphone, piano, double bass and drums. And for most of its 17 years, SFJAZZ’s house band had a standard approach of honoring a composer or a songwriter, ranging from Ornette Coleman and Horace Silver to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Members of the octet would arrange a piece from the artist’s songbook and also write an original for the octet. </p>
<p>That approach shifted radically prior to the 2019–’20 season. Trombone and alto saxophone were replaced by vocals (courtesy of San Francisco native Martin Luther McCoy) and electric guitar. There were no originals written that year, and the band instead focused on two albums celebrating 50th anniversaries in 2019: In A Silent Way by Miles Davis (whose entire body of work was the subject of the collective’s 2016–’17 season) and Sly & The Family Stone’s Stand! </p>
<p>SFJAZZ had announced more changes to the group last year, and the new-look roster finally made its debut at the end of October. It was part of the non-profit performing organization’s 2021–’22 season at the SFJAZZ Center and a few other venues, which are being held with in-person audiences as well as 14 months of hosting its weekly streaming Fridays at Five series and other online events. </p>
<p>With the departure of guitarist Adam Rogers and drummer Obed Calvaire, the first-time nonet features new members Chris Potter (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, bass flute), Gretchen Parlato (vocals) and Kendrick Scott (drums) in addition to returning members McCoy, Etienne Charles (trumpet), David Sánchez (tenor saxophone), Warren Wolf (vibraphone), Edward Simon (piano) and Matt Brewer (bass). Instead of interpreting a songbook or an album, collective members have written originals inspired by, and in response to, the social and global issues we have faced over the last year. They performed those along with a handful of self-arranged covers of songs by the likes of Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye and Abbey Lincoln. </p>
<p>“We had to figure out how to best present this band that has had this incredible history,” said Randal Kline, SFJAZZ founder and executive artistic director, by phone from his SFJAZZ Center office in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. “Originally, it was going to be the music of Joni Mitchell. And then COVID hit and George Floyd and all of the other associated murders happened. It became clear that there was something different going on and that we ought to see how we could remark on this. </p>
<p>“Another change we have is that we have a music director, Chris Potter, for the first time since the beginning” when collective co-founder Joshua Redman served in that role, he continued. “What the music director does in a collective setting is help shape the music. But when it’s your tune, you’re the leader.” </p>
<p>“I think it’s actually proven to be useful so far, especially since we haven’t been able to be in the same place at the same time,” Potter said prior to the new collective’s first rehearsals in mid-October 2021. Reached by phone at home in Brooklyn, he added, “Since we’ve only met virtually so far, it’s been more me passing messages on to Randall and trying to coordinate everybody’s opinions.” </p>
<p>Twenty years ago, Parlato found herself in a similar situation to where she is now. The Los Angeles native was accepted into the Thelonious Monk (now Herbie Hancock) Institute and was the only dedicated vocalist among a group of instrumentalists. “Now here I am at 45, and I’m given this similar opportunity,” she said by phone from her home in Los Angeles. “So, I’m using the same tools that I did back then to find my way as part of an ensemble, in a traditional way as a vocalist with lyrics, or lines that I can sing in unison or harmony.” </p>
<p>Like a baseball team rostered with talented utility players, this version of the collective is already characterized by its creative flexibility. In addition to developing her distinct brand of wordless singing, Parlato also doubles on percussion — as does Charles and Sánchez. McCoy plays guitar, Simon and Wolf also play electronic keyboards, and Brewer doubles on contrabass and electric bass. “There’s so much that this band can do right now,” Parlato observed. </p>
<p>The collective made its debut over four consecutive nights in late October at the SFJAZZ Center. Its October concert will be available on-demand starting Nov. 10 for a fee of $5 for SFJAZZ members and $10 for non-members. </p>
<p>“It’s been quite a journey,” Potter concluded, with a chuckle. “I feel like we’ve really been on a roller coaster already without ever having been in the same room together.” DB</p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/69790302021-04-16T16:00:00-07:002022-05-24T16:47:25-07:00GRETCHEN PARLATO INTERVIEW: “IT'S A RETURN, IT'S AN OPENING, IT'S AN AWAKENING, A BLOSSOMING” <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/aeb03ae4110bb70cc0f5859f6ca9b439bbd3f151/original/jazzwise-cover.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>by Peter Quinn, April 16, 2021</p>
<p>Gretchen Parlato’s brilliant new Brazilian-flavoured album on Edition is her best yet, says Peter Quinn. He spoke to the composer-vocalist to find out what’s behind this latest blossoming of a remarkable career </p>
<p>[photo: Lauren Desberg] </p>
<p>It starts indistinctly with glacial cello harmonics, softly strummed guitar and subliminal percussion creating the effect of gently flowing water. Guitar and percussion then lock together and establish the subtle, gossamer-like pulse. And then, 43 seconds in, you hear the voice: “Here, open eyes before the sun”. The soundworld is different, but that voice – one of the most dreamily mellifluous timbres in jazz – is instantly recognisable. Gretchen Parlato, the Grammy-nominated composer and vocalist, and one of the most imaginative and inspiring artists on the scene, is back. And oh, how we’ve missed her. </p>
<p>Released on Edition Records, the long-awaited, Brazilian-inspired new album – entitled Flor, Portuguese for ‘flower’ – presents Parlato’s LA-based quartet of the same name, featuring São Paulo-born guitarist and musical director Marcel Camargo, Rio de Janeiro drummer and percussionist Léo Costa, plus Armenian cellist Artyom Manukyan, who collectively support, envelop and weave in and out of Parlato’s infinitely flexible vocal lines. </p>
<p>“It's a return, it's an opening, it's an awakening, a blossoming,” Parlato says of the new album, via a Zoom call from Los Angeles – her hometown where she returned to live about a year and a half ago with her husband, drummer Mark Giuliana, and their son Marley, following an extended period in NYC. “When you think of the seasons of a flower being dormant, that represented my time away as a mother, away from the scene. And maybe people were thinking, oh no, what happened to her, she's not producing anything, nothing's happening – the way you would see a flower in the winter. And then as soon as spring comes and you see a little sprout, and then it blossoms and it's there again – everything was happening, you just didn't see it.” </p>
<p>[photo: Lauren Desberg] </p>
<p>Flor seems to contain all of the things that Parlato loves: Brazilian music, original music, judiciously reworked R&B – here it’s [Anita Baker’s] ‘Sweet Love’ recast in a grooving 5/4 – and that playfulness in terms of the way she bends genres entirely to her own will. I ask her if it feels like a kind of summation of her musical life so far. </p>
<p>“I like that word,” she replies. “I think another word could be a continuation. Each album I’ve put out has represented that place in time. But you're right – I'm kind of gathering everything from where I started to where I am now. And there is a sense of nostalgia in choosing Brazilian music as the theme because it's something that represents an early love as a teenager, something I've always loved but never really paid respect to in a full album.” </p>
<p>For fans of Parlato who have followed her music closely, her return with a full-blown love letter to Brazilian music seems the most apposite thing in the world. In terms of Parlato’s musical DNA, the influence of Brazil has been profound. And, recalling her first encounter with this music – and how it made her feel – her love for it is clearly deep-seated. </p>
<p>“I'd have to flashback to a memory of being maybe 13 or so,” she tells me, “and flipping through my mother's vinyl collection and finding Getz/Gilberto, the classic 1960s bossa nova album, and being really intrigued by the abstract artwork and bright colours on the cover. And then putting it on – and it was vinyl, so there's a real nostalgia for music lovers, to actually hold the album and put the needle on the record. Sitting on the floor, just listening, the feeling was – it's funny, the first word I can think of now is almost like acceptance, or a welcoming. It was really João Gilberto’s voice, hearing his intimacy, his delivery and his phrasing, and the sound of the whole ensemble. And the detail – it takes you high, it takes you low. Even as a 13-year-old, I could feel it validated that there was something really powerful about what seemed to be intimate and understated, yet didn't mean weak and fragile. It can be just as moving and just as deep.” </p>
<p>[photo: Lauren Desberg] </p>
<p>Released in March 1964 on Verve, and also featuring the talismanic presence of Antônio Carlos Jobim plus vocalist Astrud Gilberto in her first professional recording, the critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning Getz/Gilberto – one of the albums that put bossa nova on the world stage – is remarkable for its deep sense of melancholic longing and yearning, both in terms of the vocals and the music. </p>
<p>Was that melancholic quality, that almost untranslatable Portuguese term ‘saudade’, also something that attracted Parlato, even at that young age? </p>
<p>“I'm sure it did without me realising. At 13, I probably didn't even know what language it was, to be honest. But I think you're right, there's so much emotion and depth in the music that, to me, you don't have to know what’s being said, you can feel it through the music.” </p>
<p>Like the great Brazilian vocalists, Parlato’s rhythmic approach and phrasing of the melodic line somehow makes the bar line miraculously disappear. Asked if this was something she deliberately studied and worked on, or if it was something she almost assimilated by osmosis, she reaches back to an even earlier childhood memory. </p>
<p>“I think it's probably a combination. When I recorded ‘Butterfly’ with Lionel Loueke [on her 2009 album In A Dream], I used a recording of myself at two years old when I was singing in the bathtub and making beats on the water. I think it's nature and nurture. Music was played in the house, live and on recordings, so I was exposed to a lot when I was little. Rhythm was always intriguing – a deep listening study of João Gilberto and his phrasing single-handedly taught me so much, just listening and by ear. It wasn't that I transcribed and wrote anything out or took a course on the phrasing of João Gilberto,” she laughs. </p>
<p>Parlato also had the good fortune to study ethnomusicology at UCLA, where performing in a West African percussion ensemble helped her discover the interconnectedness of the different percussion parts, as well as having to sing and play at the same time. One of her stylistic fingerprints is the way in which she uses her voice just as a pure instrument, as another layer within the polyrhythmic musical fabric – listen, for example, to ‘I Can’t Help It’ or ‘Weak’ from In A Dream. Is this something that came from that study of West African percussion and hearing that interlinking of lines? </p>
<p>“I think so,” she notes, “and I can pinpoint even earlier hearing someone like Bobby McFerrin and his solo vocal albums in the early 1980s. I heard that as a young child – I think the first time hearing him was singing The Cosby Show theme song. I remember thinking, wow, I know that melody but that's all just voices. It was really amazing and enlightening to me, to think somebody can actually do that. And then you think, yeah, somebody can do it – only he can do that.” </p>
<p>Featured as a guest vocalist on over 85 albums, including Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music Society and Chamber Music Society; Lionel Loueke's Heritage and Virgin Forest; Kenny Barron's The Traveler; and Terri Lyne Carrington's The Mosaic Project, Parlato’s previous four albums as a leader began with her self-titled debut, released in 2005, recorded shortly after she won the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The panel of judges included Quincy Jones, Flora Purim, Al Jarreau, Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jimmy Scott – so no pressure. The follow-up, the aforementioned In A Dream, was described by Billboard as “the most alluring jazz vocal album of 2009”. One of the standout releases of 2011, The Lost and Found was garlanded with numerous awards including No.1 Vocal Album of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll as well as iTunes Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. For the brilliant Live in NYC (2013), Parlato received a much-deserved Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. </p>
<p>Listening back to all four albums, you’re reminded of what a fine composer Parlato is. A song such as ‘How We Love’ from The Lost and Found features that characteristic rhythmic displacement in the vocal line, with stresses on different beats of the bar making the music seem to float in mid-air. It doesn't appear to be tethered to the earth in any way. </p>
<p>“It's great you thought of that song,” Parlato tells me when I namecheck it, “because I remember the process, specifically, was that I wanted to give myself an exercise of writing more continued phrases. I felt like I was writing a lot of repeated phrases and repeated sections. And I thought, what if I give myself an exercise where I make up a phrase and the last note of that phrase has to be the starting note of the next phrase. So that's what I did. I remember I was living in New York City, in the Upper West Side, and I was doing dishes. I had a lot of inspiration around water, either taking a shower or doing the dishes and having water running, I don't know why. So, yeah, that melody [sings the verse of ‘How We Love’, phrase by phrase] – it was all connected, and that was my goal with the verse. The chorus was a separate idea that I put together as a puzzle piece, and then the words came after. It was kind of skeletal, very basic harmony, and then Kendrick Scott [drummer on The Lost and Found] heard it and said, wow, I'd love to arrange this for you. That really cool altered harmony and rhythmic stuff is all Kendrick’s arrangement. I love how that all came together. </p>
<p>“I’ve thought of melodies just riding the subway or taking a walk or laying down after a yoga class. I always have some kind of device with me so that I can capture the inspiration, because I don't know when it's gonna come. Now as a mom and having a six-year-old running around, I actually need to give myself very specific time that's isolated and quiet in some way.” </p>
<p>Flor also presents fascinating new facets of Parlato’s artistry, not least a mesmerising quartet arrangement of the minuet from JS Bach’s 'Suite No. 1 in G-major, BWV 1007'. </p>
<p>“Yeah, I've never sung anything in that style on a recording, yet that is also a little kind of throwback to singing really exquisite music in choirs in elementary and high school. So it was going back to that pure voice – definitely Bobby McFerrin influenced as well. </p>
<p>"I don't even think about the syllables, it was just what's the most effective way for this note to come out in a pure way? And I didn't want to change my voice, I didn't want my voice to sound in any way other than just me, and natural and genuine. </p>
<p>“I went to Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and the choir teacher, Mr Waddell, was so wonderful. One of the first pieces we sang was Carmina Burana – they combined the orchestra and the choir, and it was incredible. I was 15 years old, and it was the most thrilling feeling. He had us singing Brahms and Britten, very abstract music for teenagers to sing. I'm sure that had a big role in hearing intervals, and hearing the rub, and hearing the dissonance, and really loving it. When we can get back to being in person, I would love to join a choir and sing like that again, and especially have my son join a children's choir, because they don't have music classes as they did when I was young.” </p>
<p>A sublime, intensely personal synthesis of musical loves, which brings together both the familiar and the new, Parlato’s Flor also possesses a pleasingly cyclical quality. Just as the opener ‘É Preciso Perdoar’ begins “Here, open eyes before the sun”, the album’s final track, a stunning cover of David Bowie’s ‘No Plan’ from his posthumously released EP of the same name, similarly begins: "Here, there’s no music here / I’m lost in streams of sound.” The Bowie cover features Mark Guiliana, who played on both the EP and Bowie’s final album, Blackstar. </p>
<p>“It wasn't planned based on the lyric,” Parlato notes. “It was one of those magic moments when we realised – wow, look at that. When I thought of the pacing of the album and the sequence, it did feel like it came full circle to come from the lyrical place of waking up in the morning to this – the Bowie song can be interpreted in many ways, but to me it feels like it's kind of facing your death. </p>
<p>"It has this beautiful darkness to it. It was one of those moments that was not intentional, but when I placed the songs in that order, it made perfect sense to do so. Those English lyrics in the first song were my own, and that was another attempt at writing something that was very closely translated from the Portuguese. </p>
<p>“The Portuguese translation of that title is ‘One Must Forgive’. So I thought about, what is forgiveness? And what is letting go? And what is acceptance? Those ideas definitely became a theme for a lot of the songs – it's appreciation, and uplift, and joy, and happiness, but also accepting the sorrow, and accepting the transitions and the changes as well.”</p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/69790272021-03-15T00:00:00-07:002022-08-30T06:24:22-07:00Gretchen Parlato — Renaissance in Bloom<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/78ae44636be5104a1b08dfd890865d312b08bade/original/gp-downbeat-spread-cover2000.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />By Suzanne Lorge I Feb. 12, 2021 </p>
<p>In 2014, Gretchen Parlato’s album Live In NYC earned her a Grammy nomination—a crowning glory to a decade of career triumphs—and then the singer-songwriter nearly dropped out of sight. </p>
<p>Through the nine tracks on her new album, Flor (Edition), Parlato speaks to the personal transformation that inspired this career hiatus. </p>
<p>The origin of the Flor project dates back to 2014, when Parlato collaborated with guitarist Marcel Camargo—a friend since their days as ethnomusicology students at UCLA—on his fully orchestrated, self-produced EP Behind Jobim. Parlato was a natural choice as vocalist for the Brazilian jazz recording, not just for her rarefied vocal timbre, which lends itself so easily to the style, but for the specific bond the two musicians had forged over a shared love of Brazil’s sultry song forms and bewitching rhythmic patterns. </p>
<p>Parlato, who was raised in a family of professional musicians, brought a discerning ear to the project—she’d spent decades immersed in the works of Brazilian composers and often included them in her performances. And Camargo, who was born in São Paulo, lent a native son’s intuitive understanding of Brazilian idioms to the arrangements. Both agreed then that a project proceeding from this shared interest was in order. </p>
<p>But that session with Camargo would be Parlato’s last project before her son, Marley, was born—many months before the Grammy awards were handed out on Feb. 8, 2015. Live In NYC would be her last leader date until Flor, scheduled for a March 5 release. </p>
<p>“When I was pregnant with Marley—and definitely once he was born—a feeling came over me to settle and focus, to shift my mindset to providing as stable an environment as possible for our family,” Parlato explained in a Zoom call from the Los Angeles home she shares with her husband, drummer Mark Guiliana. </p>
<p>Stability on the home front meant that Parlato had to reprioritize the demands of her working life. So, she vetoed grueling weeks on the road in favor of short, occasional tours with Marley in tow and contributing to other musicians’ album projects while her own recording career remained on hold. </p>
<p>To understand the magnitude of this departure from the spotlight, consider Parlato’s career trajectory pre-motherhood: She performed with jazz greats Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard while still a student at UCLA. She won the 2004 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition and released her self-titled album the following year. Her subsequent albums—In A Dream (2009) and The Lost And Found (2011)—generated glowing reviews, and she topped the category Rising Star–Female Vocalist in the 2011 DownBeat Critics Poll. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, those early years of Marley’s life were something of “a blur,” Parlato recalled. But as the pressures of new parenthood eased over time, she began to muse about the interruption to her artistic life. These musings in turn prompted a wealth of new material that tapped into Parlato’s deep feelings about becoming a mother—melodies with lullaby strains, lyrics about change and acceptance, choruses ringing with joy at newfound wonders. </p>
<p>“Once Marley turned 3 or 4, I could finally pen the lyrics about this precious time,” Parlato explained. “I hadn’t given myself time to write about it, because it felt very private. Sometimes, it’s easier to write about heartbreak, though that’s private, too. But this was good and joyous, so I felt protective about it. It took some time for me to put it into words.” </p>
<p>While the compositions took shape, Parlato started to pull together that Brazilian-focused group with Camargo. Such an ensemble would afford a natural return both to performing and to the gently swaying songs that had proved foundational to her development as a vocalist. </p>
<p>For the resultant album, which also features drummer-percussionist Léo Costa and cellist Artyom Manukyan, Parlato chose the name Flor, the Portuguese word for “flower.” As both a descriptor for the group’s delicately crafted sound and a metaphor for Parlato’s artistic process, this name holds great meaning for the vocalist. </p>
<p>“The imagery of a flower is so profound to me,” Parlato said. “I was thinking of a plant that is dormant in the winter, where there’s nothing happening. It seems to be gone. That’s how it felt when I took time off for motherhood. I was thinking, ‘Where did she go? Where’s the creativity? The album? The touring?’ I knew it was still there, that it [would] come back again.” </p>
<p>Parlato’s artistic renaissance began with a few gigs to play the new material “here and there,” she said, in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and New York. To prepare for them, she turned to Camargo—who’d signed on as musical director—to arrange a mixed repertoire that ventured beyond fresh originals and treasured Brazilian standards into jazz settings of European classical music and surprising refurbishments of American pop songs. These tunes, personalized to Parlato’s minimalist aesthetic, would constitute the group’s program for both its tours and inaugural release. </p>
<p>“There’s always an essence in the original [tune] that should be protected. I try to find that first—it’s the thing that draws me to the material,” Parlato said about her approach to new repertoire. “But as much as I love the original piece, it wouldn’t make sense if I did an exact imitation. So, I use a method where I first deconstruct a song, then reconstruct it. </p>
<p>“The deconstruction comes with finding the purest melody and harmony and structure [of a piece]. I get to that bare-bones state, and then everything that I use in reconstructing it comes from my vision, my story. I try to find that beautiful balance between honoring what the song is and doing something different, so that people can hear it in a new way. ” </p>
<p>In listening to “É Preciso Perdoar,” Flor’s first track, one can hear the bits that constitute its essence—the lilting melody, the wistful lyrics, the mesmeric polyrhythm. As Parlato weaves her own English-language text in with the original Portuguese, she amplifies the melancholy threaded throughout the song made famous by João Gilberto in 1973. </p>
<p>This aesthetic choice brings to the fore a truth about Brazilian music: Much of its beauty derives from the implacable longing it conveys. But mothers’ laments—like Parlato’s here—are rarely, if ever, expressed in jazz, Brazilian or otherwise. </p>
<p>She continues to distinguish herself as a lyricist on “What Does A Lion Say,” a silvery waltz by bassist Chris Morrissey, offset with a dark ostinato, sweeping arco cello lines and acoustic hand percussion. On this gorgeous tune, Parlato ponders the ephemera of parenthood—this time in wonder at her child’s rapid metamorphosis. </p>
<p>“It hit me the other day, how the image of a flower is the perfect symbol for mindfulness, for being in the moment,” she said, discussing the album’s recurring theme. “You have to be appreciative of all the stages of its growth. When it finally blooms, it’s a perfect thing that only lasts for a short time, and then it goes into another form. If I try to hold on, I feel the suffering [that comes from] wanting things to stay the same.” </p>
<p>Parlato also contributed compositions to the project—two songs that exult with youthful elation, even as they impart sophisticated jazz concepts. She wrote the openhearted “Magnus,” with its tricky 13/8 bass line, from an impromptu lullaby sung by a friend’s preschooler to his soon-to-be-born brother. Parlato brought the real-life Magnus, now a teenager, and his younger siblings—Thaddeus and Ashley—into the studio to record the tune’s twining, layered chorus. </p>
<p>Parlato later explores the concept of a child’s inner world on her tune “Wonderful,” released as the album’s first single in late 2020. Clean and direct, the track’s repeated hook, backed by the crisp rhythm section, becomes a mantra of self-affirmation as it passes from Parlato to a children’s chorus. The children—all related to the band members in some way—feel no hesitation in asserting their inherent value through extemporaneous spoken word. (Guests on the track include Guiliana and pianist Gerald Clayton.) </p>
<p>“‘Wonderful’ is essentially about what [Marley] represents as a child. When we’re young, we feel invincible. We know how amazing we are and we say it all the time,” Parlato said. “But there’s something that happens as we age, where we stop saying it, and maybe stop feeling it. This song is a reminder for adults, too, to know your value and your worth.” </p>
<p>In contrast with the original compositions and their purposeful lyrics, two selections on the album show off Parlato’s virtuosity with wordless, straight-toned vocalizing: “Rosa,” by Brazilian choro composer Pixinguinha, and Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 1, BWV 1007: Minuet I/II.” Parlato’s voice lies at its most exposed on these tracks, as she doubles Manukyan’s pizzicato cello on the Pixinguinha tune and sings a cappella for almost two minutes on the Bach piece. These classical performances—voice intertwined with strings in shifting combinations—are exquisite in their simplicity. </p>
<p>Credit for these conceptual pieces goes to Camargo, who not only suggested them to Parlato, but also proposed using cello instead of bass throughout the album. </p>
<p>“Traditionally, there is no bass in Brazilian music. People play a seven-string guitar, which has one low string,” Camargo noted. “Many of the arrangements I was bringing [to the project] were guitar-[centered] ideas already, so there was no need for a bass, really. Instead, I thought we could use the chair for someone like Artyom, who can play the cello as a cello, but also the cello as a bass. </p>
<p>“This is nice with Gretchen’s singing, too, because her voice is delicate, intimate. Sometimes you add a bass, and the music becomes very big. This [instrumentation] helps her voice to shine.” </p>
<p>Parlato again sings without lyrics on “Roy Allan”—this time alongside legendary Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira, famous for his work with Chick Corea, Miles Davis and Antônio Carlos Jobim. The track—a tribute to trumpeter Roy Hargrove (1969–2018)—opens with Moreira alone, extemporizing with vocal percussion, shakers, whistles, bells and drums to establish a riveting samba for Parlato’s vocalese. Through overdubs, this jaunty melody expands into a full choral passage at the tune’s apogee, only to diminish gradually into Moreira’s striated improvisation. It’s a breathless ride. </p>
<p>Moreira, who lives in Brazil, has never met Parlato. He recorded his contribution to “Roy Allan” in his own studio and forwarded the track to fellow Brazilian Costa, with whom he has collaborated for many years. Even without meeting her, though, Moreira knows well who Parlato is. </p>
<p>“The first time I heard of Gretchen was through Flora,” Moreira wrote in an email, referring to his wife, Brazilian jazz singer Flora Purim. “She was on the jury [at the 2004 Monk competition] and couldn’t stop talking about this unpretentious young girl who was improvising without hesitation. Sitting next to Flora was Quincy Jones, and he commented how [Gretchen] just came out of nowhere. The rest is history. Gretchen is now one of the best jazz singers around.” </p>
<p>Though noted for her exceptional soloing skill, Parlato doesn’t use Flor as a vehicle for improvising. She stretches the bounds in other ways, though—through the odd meter on a version of Anita Baker’s 1986 r&b hit “Sweet Love,” for instance. Such innovation creates a slightly off-kilter feel that leaves the listener unsure of Parlato’s next step, the way an improvisation would; Clayton’s sleek comping on Fender Rhodes only adds to the tune’s spontaneous vibe. </p>
<p>“The bulk of the [‘Sweet Love’] arrangement came together when we were in Melbourne and at rehearsal,” Camargo said. “This is something interesting about Gretchen: Whenever she feels that things are starting to settle, maybe a little too much, she’ll throw in something to push us in a different direction. She pushed to take that tune somewhere else. I like that about her, because a lot of artists want to stick with what they know. But she wants to find something new.” </p>
<p>For the album’s closing tune, Parlato selected David Bowie’s “No Plan,” the title cut from the superstar’s posthumous 2017 EP. Guiliana—who contributed to the EP, as well as Bowie’s final album, Blackstar—sits in on the intense track, adding to its relentless momentum. Much of the thrill here comes from the effects added in post-production—the echoes, oscillations and ethereal extrapolations that pay homage to Bowie’s singular eccentricity. </p>
<p>On this tune, Bowie’s lyrics about living with an uncertain future seem to resonate with Parlato; of all the tracks on the album, she sounds the most vulnerable on this one. It’s easy to imagine, in listening to the lyrics, that where Bowie was contemplating death, Parlato was contemplating birth. Or rebirth. Or simply change, in its many guises. </p>
<p>Parlato and her band recorded the album in Brooklyn in early 2019, two days after a gig at the now-defunct Jazz Standard. That summer, Parlato and her family moved from New York, where she had spent much of her career, to Los Angeles, where she had grown up. Her plan was to continue enhancing the album in post-production, and when it was complete, to schedule a tour around its release. The pandemic changed all of that, of course. </p>
<p>Fortuitously, independent jazz label Edition Records—home for recording artists Kurt Elling, Chris Potter and Lionel Loueke—was interested in the album, pandemic or no. Parlato liked the deal on offer, which included her first vinyl release, and signed on. </p>
<p>“It’s clear that Edition is the kind of label that supports its artists completely,” she said. “It’s a saving grace to be on board.” </p>
<p>These days, however, Parlato is content to stay home, sharing parental duties with Guiliana, working on her music and teaching remotely. She explained that she wonders whether it would be possible just to make music at home and stop performing onstage altogether. But then she remembers the connection with the audience, how live music feels. So, she remains open to an uncertain future and waits for coming possibilities to unfold. Like a flower. DB</p>
<p> </p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/64992452020-12-14T12:33:57-08:002022-08-30T06:24:22-07:00Gretchen Parlato ‘Flor’ —March 2021<p>by Nicky Schrire, LondonJazz</p>
<p>"I met Parlato in 2007—she lugged her amp up stairs, through awkwardly shaped turnstiles, and performed to a near-empty venue...her friend, Espe, sat in on a couple of duo tunes. Esperanza Spalding, to be clear."</p>
<p><strong>A major new album– after eight long years – from the much admired and hugely influential vocalist GRETCHEN PARLATO is something to look forward to in 2021. She and fellow singer Nicky Schrire met – remotely, across continents – and talked…</strong> </p>
<p>The prospect of interviewing vocalist Gretchen Parlato for LondonJazz News prompted flashbacks to fancy Vanity Fair and New Yorker profiles. We’d meet at a wood-clad coffee joint and she’d ask for almond milk and honey in her tea. In reality, it’s 2020 and the pandemic that has shaken the world asunder means we are “meeting” over Zoom. Parlato is in Los Angeles and I’m ten hours ahead of her in Cape Town. However, all is not lost. We both cradle mugs of tea, which we sip throughout our hour and a half virtual chat. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/b81d59daf03a29a82671b7e4a49f6ac3c4835d2a/original/dsc-8311-edit-edit.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" />When Flor, Parlato’s latest album, is released in March 2021, it will have been eight years since her last record (2013’s Grammy-nominated Live in NYC). She references the fact that people expressed concern at her apparent “disappearance” from the jazz world roughly six years ago when she and her husband, Mark Guiliana, became parents to their son, Marley. </p>
<p>“Parenthood in jazz doesn’t get talked about much,” she muses. “It is a choice that transforms you, your lifestyle and your priorities, especially as an artist. Finding this balance can take time, and there are many paths to take.” For Parlato, it was a deliberate decision to take time to honour motherhood and make the most of precious firsts with her child. </p>
<p>Parlato’s steady trajectory reads, to me, as a reflex-angled graph marked with careful decisions that yielded great results. Others see her rise as meteoric and the stuff of movies. The fact is, when I met Parlato in 2007 for a private voice lesson during a brief visit to New York, I found myself sitting in her bedroom while she fashioned a piano stool out of the edge of her bed and plugged in her electric keyboard, careful to lower the volume so as not to disturb her flatmate. After the lesson, she had a gig at the Bar Next Door in the West Village to which she lugged her amp up stairs, through awkwardly shaped turnstiles, and performed to a near-empty venue. In the second set, her friend, Espe, sat in on a couple of duo tunes. That’s Esperanza Spalding, to be clear. </p>
<p>It was a lesson in more ways than one. Three years after her prestigious win at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, Parlato was still hustling, alternating between bucket list concerts in Paris with Wayne Shorter and tip-jar gigs in New York’s brutal but brilliant jazz playground. This was both the cliché and the reality. She reminds me of this memory, saying “It was such a New York thing, and a certain time of my life”. We laugh at the absurdity of her previous teaching set-up. “Teaching today, I would never have students come into my bedroom! Those are cherished memories at this point.” </p>
<p>While the general atmosphere of Flor builds on Parlato’s established style and favoured brand of rhythmic collaboration, it will surprise people to learn that the seeds for this album were sewn long before her previous four recordings. Parlato and Brazilian guitarist, Marcel Camargo, met while both students at The University of California, Los Angeles over 20 years ago. “Marcel has always been an important part of my exposure to and performance of Brazilian music,” Parlato says. Her affinity for Brazilian music has been evident throughout her recording career with notable renditions of Djavan’s Flor de Lis and Da Viola’s Alô Alô appearing on previous albums. In fact, it was Brazilian artists like Joao Gilberto who likely had the biggest influence on Parlato’s singing style. </p>
<p>Critics of Parlato’s vocal approach often fail to appreciate that although her influence on an entire generation of jazz vocalists looms large, she too has clearly been influenced by jazz giants who’ve come before. Her ethereal, consonant-light approach to scatting, and dynamically controlled sound have been shaped by singers ranging from Gilberto to Blossom Dearie. I ask her whether she feels her musical choices have been misconstrued. “Being misunderstood, as an artist, is par for the course and criticism certainly gets easier to process as you get older. But I’ve learnt that it’s more important for me to tread this path (that has already been tread by other artists I love!) because that’s what’s honest and genuine to me.” Parlato can only be praised for her consistency. She has been a “less is more” singer since the beginning of her journey and authenticity, a word she uses frequently, is a cornerstone of her ethos. </p>
<p>Parlato’s introverted, considered musical approach led Camargo to invite her to sing with his project The Brazil You Never Heard. The experience shed new light on her connection to the genre and repertoire. “Playing with Marcel’s large ensemble felt so good and I was reminded that this was music I’ve always loved that I never devoted my time to fully.” Up until that point, she had also been focusing on motherhood and needed a really worthwhile spark to restart her creative focus once again. She “extracted” two members from Camargo’s ensemble, cellist Artyom Manukyan and percussionist/drummer Léo Costa, and asked Camargo to be the musical director of the project. Flor was born. </p>
<p>I listened to an advance copy of Flor in one sitting an hour before we were due to chat, so I arrived at the interview newly awash in the dreamlike, spongy patina of the album. It was as if I’d gone on a summer jaunt to Los Angeles, studded with its palm trees and laid-back boardwalk skaters to the soundtrack of The Beach Boys. Bassist Chris Morrissey’s What Does A Lion Say? is akin to a Jon Brion ditty, with a playfulness and a nostalgic element to its waltz metre and fabulous interval jumps in the melody. Brion also happens to be based in LA which only supports the theory that a place can have such an audible presence in a recording. </p>
<p>I tell Parlato this album sounds undeniably and wonderfully “LA” to me. Parlato responds, laughing. “Ah, well we are all Cali people, so we have that laid back vibe for sure!” I ponder out loud as to what the difference is between the atmosphere of this album compared to her recordings with New York-based musicians. “Maybe it’s a post-production sensibility more than my past NYC-based albums?” she suggests. “There’s not as much improvisation on this record so any stretching out is in the layering of sounds and textures.” She credits the co-production work of Camargo and Costa to the record having such a strong sense of precision, care and thought in every layered element. While such parameters could put the kibosh on a jazz musician’s ability to express themselves, I’d argue Parlato thrives in such conditions. Her voice has never sounded more at home and ethereal yet strong as it does on Flor. </p>
<p>The inclusion of wordless works, Bach’s Cello Suite No.1 [V. Menuett] and Pixinguinha’s Rosa, is a delight. Two gems gently moulded to fit Parlato’s style like a glove. They also showcase Manukyan’s sensitive and delicate cello playing. Parlato is not trying to mimic an instrument on these tunes. If anything, she is striving to sound like herself, a vocalist. “This way of using my voice really goes back to the root of how I l started singing – in a choir using a straight tone – learnt by imitating Julie Andrews or Bobby McFerrin. When I hear these tracks, that voice and approach sounds most like me.” </p>
<p>Denigrators might write that Parlato has a “breathy tone”. I have always maintained Parlato uses breath as an added colour while the essence of her sound is actually quite substantial and her vocal cords always make contact. The acapella beginning of the Menuett is a perfect example of hearing exactly how much breathiness Parlato is employing. She ebbs and flows between some breathiness, for that signature soft edge, and none at all, allowing her straight tone to sparkle with airless precision. </p>
<p>Parlato is no stranger to eschewing lyrics in favour of mellow syllables as a way of improvising or navigating an introduction. Her oft-covered version of Herbie Hancock’s Butterfly springs to mind. This song and the sheer number of times it’s covered (including Parlato’s exact arrangement, the hand percussion, and vocal approach) by other singers is but one example of the vast influence she has had on the contemporary jazz vocal genre. Though mimicry is an integral part of how jazz artists develop their sound, how does Parlato feel when she hears aspiring jazz vocalists clearly imitating her signature style? Ever generous, she replies, “I’m flattered, of course, but aside from the first few moments of identifying the influence, it’s not really about me. I relate to those singers, as artists, because I did the same thing! You can hear me early on sounding a lot like Tierney Sutton.” </p>
<p>Parlato studied with Sutton when she was a high school student and I’d accredit Parlato’s superb pitch and ability to sing a tone with a bell-like clarity to Sutton’s early tutelage. Parlato goes on to iterate that if a singer chooses to mimic her in their quest to figure out their own sound, they are also discovering that they can be more understated as performers while still having a presence and connection to the music. She delivers an alternative model to the brassier example Betty Carter provides. What Gilberto provided for Parlato, she is offering to younger generations. </p>
<p>Parlato has an impressive ability to be both a bandleader and a fully integrated ensemble member. The result is a tightly knit “family” of musicians and a heady brew of highly textured arrangements of repertoire spanning Brazilian tunes, R&B hits and original material. The song choices may be varied but the cohesiveness across track lists, and her discography in general, is superb. </p>
<p>Parlato’s personality seeps into all creative and business decisions to the point that she is unwittingly consistent and, to sound perfectly calculative, well-branded. When I point out, excitedly, that the seeds of this project were actually sewn eons before all of her other recordings, she expands on the decision to name the album Flor(Portuguese for “flower”). “I just love the metaphor and imagery of a flower – of returning and blossoming. It’s nostalgic to consider discovering and appreciating something that has been there all along, but has taken its season to reappear. This realisation that it was never really gone, just in another form but always still in process. Flowers allow us to truly be in the moment, as their time in that perfect state is short-lived. They represent both our joy and sorrow, our acceptance and forgiveness. These themes are embedded in the album as well.” </p>
<p>Some critics told Parlato that the longer she stayed away from performing and recording in order to savour those early days of new motherhood, the harder it would be for her to return to the stage. “I took that to heart, but was content with my decision to focus on quality time and providing a settled home for my baby,” she says. “I was teaching at Manhattan School of Music and still toured a bit, and would bring my son with me. I cherished that time when the days felt slow yet time moved so quickly.” </p>
<p>The irony is that Parlato will “rejoin” the jazz community in the company of musicians, the world over. 2021 will hopefully bring a return to touring, recording and performing with the retreat of the pandemic that brought a halt to the music industry for almost an entire year. “We’re all in the same boat now,” Parlato says with a smile. I’d argue that Parlato is in a boat, and a league, of her own. </p>
<p>Flor is released on Edition Records on 5 March 2021. It features Marcel Camargo on guitar, Artyom Manukyan on cello, and Léo Costa on percussion and drums, with special guests Gerald Clayton, Mark Guiliana, and Airto Moreira.</p>
<p> </p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/69978362020-05-28T12:00:00-07:002022-06-20T12:11:56-07:00Virtual jazz festival hits a more simple note<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">It's how music began: a voice and percussion. Basic, intimate, powerful.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/241ba9d26b2a3128bba7edb1e8e47263b8af7aa4/original/gretchenparlato.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>
<p>The coronavirus lockdown laid waste to the plans of jazz vocal star, Grammy nominee Gretchen Parlato. But in isolation at home in Los Angeles, with partner Mark Guiliana on drums, she's finding joy in simplicity. </p>
<p>And on Saturday, she's sharing that joy with Australia, in an exclusive streamed performance for a virtual jazz festival called These Digital Times, organised by the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (which was to have kicked off this week). </p>
<p>Plus, you can check out their LA home, decipher the book titles (is that a Miles Davis biography?), admire the nicknacks on the shelves, note the inspirational little framed posters declaring "let go" and "love is every step". </p>
<p>"It kind of makes you think of what's really necessary [to create music]," Parlato says, over the phone from LA, of the request from the festival to deliver a set from their living room. </p>
<p>"I like the idea of stripping something down, finding a way to execute a song and deliver it so that people hear it in a way they haven't before. </p>
<p>"Even when there are songs people might know with more harmony... maybe now they pay more attention to the melody, or the lyric, or the groove. It's like a 'first music' idea. We had a good time putting the whole set idea together and executing it." </p>
<p>Guiliana had a professional set-up to ensure the video and sound were high quality. But still, says Parlato, "it feels just cosy, and more intimate to be actually, visibly in our living room. It felt like we were playing for ourselves."</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/cfc780ec9237a44c3e3e99f833eefd9c20d53559/original/markguiliana.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>It was also a first for the couple. </p>
<p>Parlato has won national and international awards, been nominated for the Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy, performed at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, London Jazz Festival, with jazz greats such as guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Herbie Hancock. Guiliana is a sought-after drummer and composer who appeared on David Bowie's final album, Blackstar. </p>
<p>But they'd never performed together alone. </p>
<p>"We were asked to create a duo performance and we realised that we could," laughs Parlato. "It's funny, one of those things, when something's right in front of you sometimes you don't take advantage of it." </p>
<p>The set has original music written by Parlato, some from past albums and repertoire, plus new material chosen for this event. </p>
<p>Guiliana says he misses the surge of creativity that comes from playing with the wider musical community — the "ultimate reward". But he's come to realise that when lockdown ends "we will miss this time". </p>
<p>"So I'm trying to make the most of it, and work on music... maybe now is a good time to stockpile some ideas." </p>
<p>Parlato says they've found a balance in lockdown as a family, with her mother in a flat across the backyard and their six-year-old son learning at home. </p>
<p>"I feel I'm really able to enjoy this, to be honest," she says. "There's something about being a creative mother - when you have no choice but to stay home it forces you to figure out how to be creative at home and make that work.</p>
<p>"I enjoy the solitude and being cosy together. And for the performing part, it just feels like you're in a studio. As performers there's a lot we get from a live show, but equally we can thrive off really hunkering down and creating." </p>
<p>At the same time, though, "I'm glad that we can be part of [These Digital Times]. Even just for a set, an hour, some time to be taken to another place is very necessary right now."</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/932119c9cdeccf14802520b5aee6d8ca08830c52/original/gpmghome.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>From this week the Melbourne International Jazz Festival was due to present its 23rd festival with more than 500 artists. Instead they've curated the free online event, including entertainment for kids, a career development panel for artists, performances from emerging artists and big names such as Italian violinist Luca Ciarla and Kate Ceberano. </p>
<p>It streams to YouTube from midday to 10.30pm Saturday - find it via melbournejazz.com</p>
<p>By Nick Miller</p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/65601642019-09-13T17:00:00-07:002021-03-07T12:55:55-08:00INTERVIEW: Grammy-Nominated Jazz Vocalist Gretchen Parlato <p><span class="font_small">NPR/KFYI, SEP 13, 2019 </span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/2f34857a8b88b2a3f10302278f648c77cddd0ee1/original/gretchenparlato3.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" />The Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato is no stranger to NPR audiences, she clenched best album in the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll with her 2011 release "The Lost and Found." </p>
<p>Parlato has shared the stage with jazz royalty including Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock — and Parlato will bring her quartet to Indy Jazz Fest on Saturday, Sept. 14 at The Cabaret. Cultural Manifesto host Kyle Long caught up with Parlato in advance of the date. </p>
<p>Kyle Long: You come from a fascinating musical tree. Your grandfather played with easy listening icon Lawrence Welk, and your father played with psychedelic rock legend Frank Zappa. How did those influences shape your work? </p>
<p>Gretchen Parlato: It's a huge influence to have that kind of artistry in my blood. It was normal for me growing up to know that art should exist in our lives everyday. </p>
<p>Long: Brazilian bossa nova has a huge presence in your music. Tell me about the role of Brazilian music in your work. </p>
<p>Parlato: Luckily, when I attended UCLA there were a couple classes that specialized in Brazilian music. So I had an opportunity to get into it there. But it started a bit earlier in middle school when I heard João Gilberto as a teenager. I was flipping through my mom's record collection and the cover of Stan Getz and João Gilberto’s 1963 "Getz/Gilbero" album struck me. The cover had an image of an abstract painting. I took out the album and put it on and I heard João Gilberto's voice, and the texture and simplicity of the music struck me — even at 13 years old. That was definitely a turning point. Gilberto's voice made me realize I could sing in a more intimate way and it could still be powerful. </p>
<p>Long: You have an impressive discography of music. Though you’ve released only four solo LPs, you’ve appeared on over 80 albums as a vocalist. You’ve made significant contributions to important albums from artists including Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard, Joel Ross, Terri Lyne Carrington, and so many others. How has that experience performing as a guest vocalist shaped your solo work? </p>
<p>Parlato: That number always takes me aback. I'm 43-years old now, so for 20-plus years I've been asked to be a guest on other people's projects. It's been awesome for me because it's challenged me to use my voice in a way that I might not have known I could. I learned to blend my voice into the fabric of a composition — not just be the vocalist that sings the melody and then steps aside. I've learned to sing in all kinds of genres, with all kinds of instrumentation around me. </p>
<p>Hopefully you could always tell it was me, because I don't feel like I had to change what I do. It's been eye-opening for me as a musician to know that I can always be myself and sing in a really distinct way, but be placed in different settings that stretch me in different ways. </p>
<p>Long: One of your signature songs is a unique interpretation of SWV’s 1992 R&B hit “Weak.” You recorded “Weak” on both your "In A Dream" album, and also "Live in NYC." That song doesn’t immediately strike me as ripe for a jazz interpretation. How did “Weak” enter your repertoire? </p>
<p>Parlato: That song is a classic. It was out when I was in 10th grade. The music you heard when you were in high school is always going to be nostalgic, and a big deal — but I think it's a really great song in itself. </p>
<p>Back in the day when I was in New York one of the first people I met was Robert Glasper. We would get together and listen to music and collaborate on stuff. That was one of the pieces I told Robert I wanted to do. He kind of laughed, like, "Really? You want to do that song?" He came up with an arrangement, so it kind of grew from there. Now it’s taken on a life of its own.</p>
<p>by Kyle Long</p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/65674602019-03-05T13:00:00-08:002021-03-07T12:54:58-08:00gretchen parlato: finding the essence<p><span class="font_small">JAZZ HISTORY ONLINE</span></p>
<p>“I like to pare a song down to get to its essence”, Parlato told me while preparing for a creativity workshop at the Wichita Jazz Festival. “The best kind of compliment is when people tell me they had never really paid attention to the lyrics of Simply Red’s “Holding Back The Years” or Mary J. Blige’s “All That I Can Say” until they heard me sing them” (Both songs are on the new CD). For Parlato, paring the song down is more than vocal emphasis on the words—it involves a unique approach by her entire band.</p>
<p><a contents="»read article" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://jazzhistoryonline.com/gretchen-parlato/">»read article</a></p>
<p><span class="font_small">by Thomas Cunniffe</span></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/61064692018-09-20T11:30:00-07:002020-01-19T12:26:39-08:00Interview with Gretchen Parlato <p>US Embassy in<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/313bf07668f555075b2dc234767595938eb471b9/original/souel-interview.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" /> Seoul, So Korea</p>
<p>Watch video: <a contents="» Facebook" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/usembassyseoul/videos/10155681900623723/?v=10155681900623723" style="" target="_blank">» Facebook</a> <a contents="» Twitter" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/USEmbassySeoul/status/1003859834557456385" target="_blank">» Twitter</a> <a contents="» YouTube" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Ujn4weoJE&t=54s" target="_blank">» YouTube</a> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="f9Ujn4weoJE" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/f9Ujn4weoJE/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f9Ujn4weoJE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/65674192018-06-02T11:00:00-07:002021-03-07T11:19:48-08:00Close Encounter: Gretchen Parlato Vocal Workshop - Melbourne Int Jazz Fest<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/cc89a0f4ee90b149e055c55a956582e2f7fccfe1/original/screen-shot-2021-03-07-at-11-12-51-am.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.png" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>Gretchen Parlato treated audiences of this Close Encounter to an intimate workshop and discussion surrounding her practice as a vocalist and performer. </p>
<p>Hailed as the most important jazz singer since Cassandra Wilson, Gretchen Parlato is the kind of artist that comes along once in a generation. </p>
<p>Her 20-year career has seen her work with powerhouses of the contemporary jazz world, including Wayne Shorter, Kenny Barron, Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard and living jazz treasure Herbie Hancock. </p>
<p>Renowned for her subtle, yet masterful command over her vocal instrument, sultry, sensual vocals dominate her performance. With delicate phrasing and a unique ability to transform jazz standards with her inventive and playful interpretations, she fuses jazz with undertones of African and Brazilian beats to create a distinct and intoxicating contemporary jazz aesthetic. </p>
<p>In Parlato’s words “my voice is my instrument” and she aims to perform “in an emotional way that speaks to every listener”.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="vimeo" data-video-id="294734190" data-video-thumb-url="https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/731727860_640.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/294734190" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320"></iframe></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/61068652018-04-13T11:50:00-07:002020-01-19T12:26:07-08:00Gretchen Parlato and the Possibilities of Jazz<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/16bf98dc3efbda63b36ecc72950b4386adef0f96/original/a05d8861231523604606.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" />Elda Garcia<br>It could well fit in a New York jazz club of the 40s, but you can also imagine it in the moonlight while watching the sea of Rio de Janeiro. Such are the possibilities and nuances of Gretchen Parlato's voice. </p>
<p>Parlato will perform for the first time in Mexico this Monday of the National Auditorium, with Flor, a concert where each petal will be impregnated with elegance, sweetness and strength. </p>
<p>The talent comes from inheritance, because she is the daughter of bassist David Parlato, who in the 70s collaborated with artists as opposed and bright as Frank Zappa, Barbra Streisand, Al Jarreau and Henry Mancini and visual artist Judy Frisk.</p>
<p>"I was born in an artistic family, so they were my first teachers, exposing me to all kinds of art and teaching me that this is a necessary and vital aspect of our lives. Fortunately I could learn from them that being an artist is a valid profession that brings much happiness and success, "he acknowledges. </p>
<p>But her happiness and success also come from her own merit; In 2001 she graduated in ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles and after a series of arduous examinations, she became the first singer to be admitted to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz. </p>
<p>The jury that defined his admission are heavyweight names in the jazz world: Herbie Hancock, the institute's artistic director, trumpeter Terence Blanchard and Wayne Shorter, a 'living legend' according to his words. "I am very grateful to have studied with him, to have acted with him and even to have sung with him!", confesses Gretchen. </p>
<p>While there is room for jazz standards in her repertoire, Gretchen prefers to be original and reinterprets other people's works with slow and deep combustion and thus reveals her true art. </p>
<p>"My goal," she says, "is to be honest, genuine and pure in my art, allowing my true nature to be reflected, and I hope it reflects who and where I am in my life." </p>
<p>Although the standards have a place in her repertoire, her voice can also be modulated and become whispering but also passionate, and thus give new life to compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim. </p>
<p>That leads her to ask about the possibilities of jazz, how she has merged with other genres, such as rock, Celtic rhythms or Bossa Nova and create that hybrid called world music. </p>
<p>"If you mean the music that I believe, I come from a jazz story as well as my studies; I also love Brazilian music, Bossa Nova specifically, and I incorporate other genres such as pop, soul, R&B in what I do; you can also listen African influences in my work. " </p>
<p>When asked if the jazz scene has been segmented in recent years, she points out that it is alive, with more possibilities than ever and in which there is room for everyone. "Whether in traditional jazz or in a more innovative and disruptive one that breaks the boundaries, there is an audience for everything."</p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/61067342018-04-09T11:45:00-07:002021-02-26T21:18:49-08:00Gretchen Parlato, take jazz as a "native language" <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/4cf0b14c5bfe92585c5b730dca2532897c31e892/original/gretchenparlato2.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" />by Camila Sánchez Bolaño, Newsweek, April 9, 2018 <br>(google translation) </p>
<p>Parlato returns to the stage after four years of absence with a new album: Flor, which she says is a very personal connection to music. In her voice, Gretchen Parlato expresses what she feels. And she doesn't do it only with the songs she writes or the jazz classics she decides to perform, but with the subtlety of that voice that sometimes sounds like a cello. Being the daughter of jazz bassist David Parlato, who collaborated with Frank Zappa, and visual artist Judy Frisk, Gretchen began to understand music from an early age, one could even say that jazz is her native language. </p>
<p>It has been seven years since this beautiful woman visited Mexico, and now she returns with a new project: Flor, an album with which she returns to the stages that have missed her for more than four years. Thanks to Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Parlato was the first vocalist admitted to the Thelenious Monk Institute of Jazz, from which she graduated with honors. Now it has four albums and more than 80 collaborations with artists such as Esperanza Spalding and Terence Blanchard.</p>
<p>"This last project, Flor, what is it about?"</p>
<p>—It is a new beginning, a return to music, because I took time to raise my son. He is now four years old and it is already easier for me to find a balance. Flor is my very personal connection with music and, now at the Lunario, it will be the first time we play this together, so for the band on stage it will also be something very new.</p>
<p>"What do you value most about your instrument?"</p>
<p>"The honesty in my voice." It always reflects what I feel, it may be that I am happy with my voice and connected, but it may also reflect that I feel sad or sick. That honesty that my voice reflects is something invaluable. I can not hide behind her and it is a gift to share it. I find it beautiful to have my instrument with me and it is something I can always offer.</p>
<p>—When was the last time you composed a song?</p>
<p>-I have just done it. I guess in this last month I have been working on new material. Composing is something I enjoy so much, it's fun. We already have many songs to present at the Lunario, new songs.</p>
<p>—What is your ideal mood to compose?</p>
<p>"I've realized that the easiest way I compose is when I'm sad." Now, for Flor, it was very difficult for me to write a song about my son, about my marriage, about this happy life that I have now. Instead, when I was single and my heart was breaking, I wrote a lot and with more ease and ease. I think when you're sad you're very open and that makes you more creative. Actually, I always give that advice when someone is going through a bad time: to touch their creative side. Usually amazing things come out.</p>
<p>—The last time you were in Mexico was seven years ago…</p>
<p>"It's been too long." We are very happy to return to Mexico and we hope that the people who will see us are ready to listen to new music, we are really very excited. Gretchen Parlato will perform at the Lunario of the National Auditorium on April 16. She will be accompanied by Brazilian guitarist Marcel Camargo, drummer Leonardo Costa and Armenian cellist Manukyan Artyom. </p>
<p> </p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/65674182018-04-08T11:00:00-07:002021-03-07T12:52:17-08:00Five questions for Gretchen Parlato<p><strong>US jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato will bring her tribute to Brazilian influences "flor" to the capital for one show at the Opera House during the Wellington Jazz Festival in June.</strong></p>
<p><a contents="»read interview" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.festival.nz/article/five-questions-gretchen-parlato/">»read interview</a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/65601502017-08-18T16:00:00-07:002021-02-26T21:17:49-08:00The New Cool: Modern Voice of Gretchen Parlato<p><span class="font_small">by Abe Beeson, KNKX • Aug 18, 2017</span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/3d4111b4db8e6a4d9f863d1f8cac7bb7c929eec9/original/gretchen-grass.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thin" alt="" /><strong>Gretchen Parlato will knock you off your feet.</strong> </p>
<p>After more than a dozen years in the heart of the jazz world in New York City, Gretchen Parlato has become one of the most mesmerizing voices in modern jazz. And in a time when modern jazz singers seem to have at least one foot in soul and r&b, Parlato is blazing her own trail. </p>
<p>Growing up the daughter of bassist Dave Parlato, who played with Frank Zappa as well as jazz greats Al Jarreau, Buddy Rich and Gabor Szabo to name a few, Gretchen Parlato was raised on cutting edge improvisation and developed her fluency in the language of jazz at a young age. In 2001, after earning a bachelor's in Ethnomusicology from UCLA, she was the first vocalist accepted into the Thelonious Monk Institute by a panel of judges including Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. She would go on to win the Monk Institute competition for jazz vocals three years later. </p>
<p>WGBO's Josh Jackson, host of NPR's Live at the Village Vanguard, <a contents="singled her out in 2009" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2009/10/19/113931867/the-years-best-new-jazz">singled her out in 2009</a> as one of the most important names in modern jazz. Early albums showed off Parlato's impeccable sense of time and phrasing, and a fearlessness to stretch her voice to the limit. She often uses her voice as an instrumentalist might, sometimes wordlessly conversing with longtime musical collaborators like pianist Taylor Eigsti and guitarist Lionel Loueke. </p>
<p>Her live performances have been her vehicle to acclaim. Those moments of musical conversation without a net prove her improvisational skills with each performance. Her Live in NYCalbum brought Parlato her first Grammy nomination in 2015. Reflecting on the experience, she says, "I´ve always wanted to capture and share the magical energy, connection, and interaction of a live performance. Singing with these musicians has uplifted and inspired me, each of them supporting and challenging me as a singer." </p>
<p>More a teammate than a spotlight seeker, she's appeared as a guest vocalist on nearly 100 recordings as well as working in an ensemble with the vocal trio project Tillery, including likeminded singers Becca Stevens and Rebecca Martin. </p>
<p>On this week's episode of The New Cool, we'll hear Gretchen's latest recording, working with young drummer <a contents='Nate Smith on "Pages"' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.npr.org/2017/03/06/518834878/nate-smiths-kinfolk-a-study-in-nomadic-jazz">Nate Smith on "Pages"</a> from his 2017 release Kinfolk: Postcards from Everywhere. Her light, summery delivery floats beside beautiful acoustic piano and saxophone, buoyed by Smith's insistent rhythm. Smith worried that the song may be "too pretty, not cerebral enough", but Parlato shows with each performance that the two are not mutually exclusive. </p>
<p>Pretty and smart, with courage and a smile, that sums up Gretchen Parlato's jazz style pretty well.</p>
<p><span class="font_small">PHOTO by JEANEEN LUND, USED WITH PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST. </span></p>
<p><a contents="» read article" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.knkx.org/post/new-cool-modern-voice-gretchen-parlato">» read article</a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/61076792015-12-30T12:15:00-08:002020-01-19T12:24:48-08:00JAZZIZ FEATURE INTERVIEW: A Voice All Her Own<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/827889e71e731c8be12eeaa2ee8bb7c6638e995c/original/gretchen-3-750x530.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" />Singer Gretchen Parlato sweeps aside her fears on The Lost and Found</strong><br>Interview with Kara Manning, Jazziz Magazine </p>
<p>"The theme just kept unraveling of the lost and found... light and dark, good and bad. It's always a cycle. Just when you think you've figured it all out, something happens that knocks us off balance." <br>In depth interview includes the process of working with Robert Glasper, the Monk Institute, also interviews with Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, Tierney Sutton.</p>
<p><a contents="» read article (PDF)" data-link-label="jazzizfeature.pdf" data-link-type="file" href="/files/675652/jazzizfeature.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>» read article (PDF)</strong></a></p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/61074992015-11-01T12:05:00-08:002020-01-19T12:23:42-08:00Nine Women In The Room: A Jazz Musicians’ Roundtable<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/13f60f3f704cef36f7dc531a15eef375defcc843/original/mosaic-wide-e3453865d07b68a79cce247ba8e510e0b14e8fda-s1600-c85.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" /><span class="font_small">The roundtable participants are, from left to right: (top row) Geri Allen, Ingrid Jensen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding, Tineke Postma and Helen Sung; (bottom row) Nona Hendryx and Gretchen Parlato.</span></p>
<p>Over the summer, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington brought together some pretty high-profile musicians from all over the world to record The Mosaic Project: pianists Geri Allen, Helen Sung, and Patrice Rushen; bassists Esperanza Spalding and Mimi Jones; percussionist Sheila E.; woodwind players Anat Cohen and Tineke Postma; trumpeter Ingrid Jensen; violinist Chia-Yin Carol Ma; flutist Hailey Niswanger; and vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Carmen Lundy, Nona Hendryx, Patricia Romania, and Gretchen Parlato. Activist and author Angela Davis even contributes spoken word to one track. </p>
<p>You may have noticed they're all women. That was both the point of the session -- and not the point. </p>
<p>After a full day of recording, eight of the musicians sat down with Lara Pellegrinelli for a conversation on the topic of women in jazz. They shared some of their own experiences and discussed the media, the music business, audience, mentors, and role models. But Carrington eventually broke in with a request: could they stop talking about gender issues and talk about the music? </p>
<p>The conversation illustrates some of the tensions in being a woman in jazz. At the same time that these players seem ready to celebrate the obstacles they've overcome, they say that the music itself comes first -- it doesn't care if you're black or white, young or old, male or female. Could it be that this conviction, central to jazz, has made it difficult for women to speak up about the prejudice they've faced, as much as it has given them the faith that they will be heard? </p>
<p>You can read an edited transcription of the full conversation here, or download a PDF by right-clicking this link and selecting 'save link as'. </p>
<p>Terri Lyne Carrington: Forever -- since I was 10 years old -- people have tried to put me in all-female situations. I've always shied away from all-female situations because I felt that the pool wasn't large enough to choose from, and that I wasn't going to do it 'just because.' Now the pool is larger and there are so many women I really enjoy playing with. It doesn't matter that they're women and I thought, now's the time to do what people have been asking for. </p>
<p>Esperanza Spalding: Today, it's not an oddity to see women doing almost anything. So all I would offer in terms of the question ... 'What can the media do?', is maybe be more inclusive and accept the real landscape that's here. It's not like, 'Wow, it's so special that you play that. What's that like?' [If you said,] 'Wow, you're a woman and you play classical music. What's that like?', people would go, 'Huh?' Who cares about that angle anymore. And maybe we'll automatically need to go to a deeper level in terms of investigating this person's art. </p>
<p>Gretchen Parlato: As a singer, my experience is very different than instrumentalists. Because for singers, we've had female role models forever. So, I don't have the same experiences. For me, it's more the singer's role. What can you do outside of that box? But no one ever asks me about the fact that I'm a woman. </p>
<p>Helen Sung: People like to work with people they know and feel comfortable around. Chances are that a guy is going to feel more comfortable with his buddy. Somebody said to me once, 'Helen, if you want that chair, you're going to have to be twice as good as your male counterpoint.' </p>
<p>Geri Allen: I remember when I was in high school in Detroit -- I went to Cass Tech -- and at the time [pianist] Terry Pollard was playing with [vibraphonist] Terry Gibbs and I got to see her at the Masonic Temple. That was a breakthrough moment for me because certainly I was playing jazz and had been embraced by the musicians on the scene -- [trumpeter] Marcus Belgrave and musicians like that. But then seeing her and how fierce she was. She commanded the bandstand in a way that I will never forget. </p>
<p>Nona Hendryx: At the time that I was a part of the group The Blue Bells and then Labelle, there were women who were writing songs: Carole King and a lot of women from the Brill Building. But as a girl group, you wore nice outfits and nice wigs and you sang. We were lucky in that we made the transition with the British Invasion with artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones who wrote their own music. We were managed by [Vicki Wickham], who thought that women should have that as well. And that's how it happened. She said, "Can anybody in this group write a song?" And I said, "Well, I can write words." And we were encouraged. We were treated like a band -- not like a girl group -- and took off our gowns; took off our wigs; grew afros; put on our tie-dyed jeans and jumped up on stage instead of waving around going, 'Oooh-Ahhh.' And it was another woman influencing and supporting and mentoring women. </p>
<p>Tineke Postma: I am from the Netherlands and I studied here in 2002 at the Manhattan School of Music. I was so inspired by the scene here in New York because there were many more female players here than in Europe. I think it's still very hard to find great female musicians in Europe. You have a couple of them. But here in New York, it's much further developed. So New York can be a very good example for how it should be because in Europe, we're still not there yet. </p>
<p>Ingrid Jensen: I think the men are evolving, too, and that makes it easier. I see a younger generation of men who don't see white, black, purple, green, girl, boy. They just say, 'Man, I love your lines. Can you play on my record?' And I'm like, 'Ah, finally!' That took awhile, but it's really happening. It gives the art a chance now just to be what it is, rather than a girl's club, boy's club, or any of those silly things.</p>gretchen parlato tag:gretchenparlato.com,2005:Post/61078102015-09-23T12:25:00-07:002020-01-19T12:24:21-08:00"It's More Than a Whisper": A Conversation With Gretchen Parlato <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/417453/a7d15c62de179b73fa07b5c8be676ae37e819095/original/gp-stage250.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" />Michael J. West </p>
<p>Los Angeles native Gretchen Parlato is among an elite group of musicians who made their breakthrough in Washington, D.C.: She was the winner of the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition for Vocals. Seven years and three albums later, Parlato is one of the most acclaimed and closely watched singers in jazz, and her star is still rising. Ahead of her two-night stand at Bohemian Caverns this weekend, Parlato talked to Washington City Paper about songwriting, playing with Terence Blanchard alums, and developing her unique sound. </p>
<p>Washington City Paper: On your new album, The Lost and Found, it seems you’ve branched out quite a bit in terms of composing your own material. </p>
<p>Gretchen Parlato: Yeah. That might be what allows this album to stand apart from the others. It just felt really good to release that. </p>
<p>WCP: Is it all new? Or something you’ve been working on for several years? </p>
<p>GP: A little bit of both. There are some songs that were composed specifically for this album, but there’s other songs and ideas that I’ve had for years that I just finished. I got in my own way for a long time in terms of finishing them—or in thinking that I could write at all. </p>
<p>WCP: Does that apply as well to the standards and other prewritten tunes that you’ve added lyrics to? </p>
<p>GP: Well, [Wayne Shorter’s] “Juju,” for example, those lyrics were the first attempt at writing that I ever tried. That was back in the Thelonious Monk Institute, so around 2001; the assignment from Terence Blanchard was specifically to write lyrics to “Juju.” And it was an assignment, so you kinda pretend you can do it even if you don’t know how. [Laughs] I said, “Okay, sure,” but I was terrified. And that’s what came out. So that was 10 years ago that I wrote that. </p>
<p>WCP: Is that an avenue you intend to pursue more fully? </p>
<p>GP: Yeah! There’s a handful of songs that have been composed by my friends and musical peers that are exquisite pieces of instrumental music that I hear words to—certain ones. It’d be a wonderful thing to collaborate with these other musicians. </p>
<p>WCP: Speaking of collaborations—and it’s interesting that you mention studying with Terence Blanchard—you seem to have a certain affinity for members and former members of Terence’s ensembles [pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Kendrick Scott and—-most frequently—-guitarist Lionel Loueke]. Is that a coincidence? </p>
<p>GP: Well, it’s definitely true. I met Aaron through Terence, and Derrick, too; I met Kendrick before Terence, but right around the same time that he started playing with Terence. I think it’s just kind of how life is; just before I moved to New York I was in the Monk Institute, connected with Terence Blanchard since he was the Artistic Director, and was in touch with all these musicians because we had heard his band often. I think of it more as meant-to-be—that things just sort of happen, and you live your life in a certain pattern and you look back on it and think, “Oh, of course! This is why things are the way that they are.” </p>
<p>WCP: Did you meet Lionel through Terence? </p>
<p>GP: No, I met Lionel at the audition for the Monk Institute. Terence was there as a judge, so I guess there was a connection there, but he wasn’t a part of Terence’s band yet. We were students together. </p>
<p>WCP: It was a surprise to find that Lionel wasn’t on the new record. You and he are such a sympathetic musical partnership. </p>
<p>GP: We definitely are! But, well, as life would have it, he’s so busy I can’t even keep track of his schedule. He’s playing with everybody, mostly Herbie Hancock. So it was harder for us to find the time to connect, but in a good way, that makes it even more special when we’re allowed to play together. It’s also good in that it got me to connect with Taylor Eigsti and form a quartet that was piano-based. </p>
<p>WCP: So that quartet, is that going to be your touring band in D.C.? </p>
<p>GP: Yes, through next fall I’m with Taylor on piano and keyboards; Alan Hampton on bass, and he’ll also sing and play guitar so we can perform “Still,” the tune we wrote; and Kendrick Scott on drums—though specifically in D.C., the drummer is Mark Giuliana, who’s just awesome, and anyone who doesn’t know how awesome he is there’s lots of videos with live performances. </p>
<p>WCP: Alan and Taylor both have compositions on The Lost and Found, don’t they? </p>
<p>GP: Yeah. Taylor wrote a song, the last track, called “Without a Sound.” Well, it actually didn’t have a title. He wrote it for me, to write words to, for the album. I titled it after the lyrics were written. Alan’s piece “Still,” that again was just instrumental and written for me to sing. </p>
<p>WCP: You sound so different from just about anyone else in jazz. How did you develop that style? </p>
<p>GP: My father is a jazz bass player, so I grew up hearing him practice and going to his gigs, and his father’s a trumpet player and a singer. And my grandmother on my mother’s side, she always played records by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and Frank Sinatra. So I grew up hearing jazz without knowing what it was. </p>
<p>But I think specifically that style you’re talking about, that’s understated and subtle, I think that just came out of hearing other singers do that. Like Bobby McFerrin. Like Joao Gilberto and bossa nova, and hearing that when I was really young and being completely moved and touched by the ability of these artists to draw you in, but without throwing the music at you. They have their palms up as an offering, and if you want to come into that world you’re welcome to, but it’s not forced upon you. It’s just the beauty of subtlety, of understatement, of something that is a quiet power, an intensity. </p>
<p>It’s also something that was just in my nature. I always say that if I had a voice that was a big belter, and I could sing like Aretha and do amazing ornaments and runs, I would. If that was my makeup I would do that. But it was a matter of learning what is the natural makeup of my instrument and my body, just accepting the voice that I have and learning what I could do with it. So there’s your very long answer! [laughs] </p>
<p>WCP: Were you aware going in that you had something original? </p>
<p>GP: No, I don’t think I ever thought of it that way. I grew up singing in choirs just like everybody else, and growing up with musical theater and imitation. I grew up on The Sound of Music and I wanted to be Julie Andrews when I was little. Or anything—it was the '80s, and I would sing along with Madonna and Whitney Houston. And before I found jazz I was singing in musicals, which is a kind of a belting tradition, and while I did do that to me it was like, “That’s a character when I do that. That’s not me singing, as an extension of how I speak.” I think that’s really the key. Singing shouldn’t sound like you’re trying to be anyone else. </p>
<p>I also like to challenge myself. I know that people often describe my singing as “whispering” and “hushed,” and I like that. I think there’s definitely an air surrounding my voice, but I believe it’s more than a whisper. In a whisper there’s no sound, no tone, and I try to reach the full capacity that I can. So I’m learning, let’s steer away from this breathy whisper, because if that’s all that people are hearing then they’re missing something.</p>gretchen parlato