flor - reviews

release date March 5, 2021

DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE - march 2021
Gretchen Parlato - Renaissance in Bloom

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. Through the nine tracks on her new album Flor  (Edition),  Parlato speaks to the personal transformation that inspired this career hiatus. » READ ARTICLE

JAZZWISE MAGAZINE - april 2021
  "It's an awakening, a blossoming..." 
Gretchen Parlato
—Back in Full Bloom 

...you hear the voice.
But that voice —
one of the most dreamily
mellifluous timbres in jazz — 

is instantly recognizable.  

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.  

...her brilliant new Brazilian-flavoured album on Edition is her best yet.  

—Peter Quinn, Jazzwise Magazine

Vocal Album of the Year International — Gretchen Parlato FLOR

10 Best Jazz Albums of 2021 — Global Circulate

#5 Gretchen Parlato – Flor 

Her singing can be as quiet as a sigh or as buoyantly melodious as calls by the hippest of birds. New Yorker Gretchen Parlato is a vocal adventurer, but also a delicately ingenious exponent of…

Read more

Albums of the Year 2021 — the Arts Desk

"Highlights in jazz include a welcome return as leader by Gretchen Parlato, whose Flor presented a sublime synthesis of Brazilian music, originals, judiciously reworked R&B and more, with the casting of Roy Hargrove’s “Roy Allan” as a mesmerising samba a…

Read more

Jazz music that got us through another year of the pandemic

Gretchen Parlato: “Flor” — Rosa

This is vocalist and composer Gretchen Parlato’s first release since 2013, and the wait was absolutely worth it as this record is nothing short of stunning. 

"Rosa'' is my personal favorite track. The counterpoint between…

Read more

The 10 best jazz albums of 2021 —  The Guardian

#5 Gretchen Parlato – Flor 

Her singing can be as quiet as a sigh or as buoyantly melodious as calls by the hippest of birds. New Yorker Gretchen Parlato is a vocal adventurer, but also a delicately ingenious exponent of…

Read more

Year in review: 25 of the best jazz albums of 2021 — Jazzwise

Gretchen Parlato – Flor 

Gretchen Parlato is back and she came to play. Her latest album Flor — which means “flower” in Portuguese — honours the Brazilian music that she loves. The album is an exploration of the many ways…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato: ‘Flor’ —Jazziz Magazine

Flor has been touted as vocalist Gretchen Parlato’s Brazilian-inspired project, and that’s true enough. But don’t expect a series of breezy bossa novas. The 45-year singer/composer has routinely strived for next-level creativity, and Flor (“flower” in Portuguese) is no exception…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — Fono Forum Magazine, DE

5 STARS — by Berthold Klostermann

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — Stereo Magazine, DE

Album of the Month
"There it is again, this enchanting voice between breaths and whispers,
with an amenable range,
but enchanting naturalness...

She enjoys phrasing just under the beat, using her breath rhythmically and creating tension for her musicians, who…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — Walker's Magazine, Japan

"The one and only voice
and nine brilliant songs."

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — Hokkaido Newspaper, Japan

"This album is multi-layered
Brazilian, Classical, Jazz and Pop 
like a delicate flower."

Gretchen Parlato: Flor — JazzTimes Magazine

"Parlato offers a more introspective approach. Her singing delves into a song’s rhythms and harmonies as well as its lyrics, rearranging each pillar into her own vision"

Back in the late ’00s, vocalist and composer Gretchen Parlato seemed poised to…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — China Moses Jazz FM UK Radio

Featured China Moses'
Late Night Track of the Week:
Gretchen Parlato - Roy Allen

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — Jazzwise Magazine

**** EDITOR'S CHOICE

“one of the greatest feats
of musical alchemy
you'll hear this year”

—Peter Quinn

»READ IT @JAZZWISE.COM

Understated: Jazz singer Gretchen Parlato blends styles on 'Flor'

Parlato’s minimalist approach
and lyrical focus on love
— both lost and found —
gain traction from her sharp musical mind.

—Mike Hobart, Financial Times

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — Croc Radio 89.5FM Jazz Chorus, France

"Gretchen has this level of delicacy, touched with sensitive themes but also — and what makes all the difference — is her knowledge of music and contribution to jazz today..."

"Gretchen a ce niveau de délicatesse, de sensibilité avec des…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato Flor — All About Jazz

5 STARS *****
"One of the best vocal jazz albums of recent years — Gretchen Parlato returns with a masterful album in which she expresses the balance between refinement, lyricism and intact drive...”

»»read article in italian
After an…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato Flor — All Music

Flor is a masterpiece... a welcome and profound return. Parlato and her collaborators dig under and through stylistic and genre conventions, then emerge with a jazz language of their own that embraces the world's sounds and emotions, and translates them…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato Masterful Return — JAZZ-NEWS REVUE ECLECTIQUE

5 STARS *****
The birds are singing, the outside world is a jungle, but we have the best news of 2021: Gretchen Parlato is back.
» read article (french)

The birds are singing, it's seven in the morning, Los Angeles…

Read more

iTunes Jazz Featured Tracks 

No Plan #4!
Sweet Love #5!

 

Gretchen Parlato's 'Flor' - Jazz FM's Album of the Week

Gretchen Parlato has returned, not only to the recording industry but to herself, with her new Brazilian-inspired project, Flor. Portuguese for “flower”, Flor is the artistic embodiment of the GRAMMY-nominated singer’s deep dive into motherhood over the last six years…

Read more

FLOR #1 iTunes Jazz Top Albums Chart!

10 Albums You Need to Know

JAZZIZ MAGAZINE, by Matt Micucci

Gretchen Parlato, Flor (Edition)  
Release date: March 5

Gretchen Parlato returns after a six-year hiatus with a new Brazilian-inspired project, Flor, with musical direction by Marcel Camargo and featuring guests Mark Guiliana, Gerald Clayton and…

Read more

Gretchen Parlato FLOR — Music Magazine, Japan

"The previous album was filled
with a sense of NYC.

In Flor— the universal sounds
that are superior to regionality
dwell in this beautiful album.”