GRETCHEN PARLATO — In a Dream (2009) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Gretchen Parlato is a rising star in vocal jazz circles of the 2000s who everyone should pay attention to and enjoy. Her singing is pure sterling silver, accented with just a hint of ethnic shadings and a big helping of modern style that goes well beyond standard fare. As alluring, distinct, and mature as her youthful instrument is, she deserves extra credit for choosing some of the most interesting young players who also are ascending to major-league status. Guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke, keyboardist Aaron Parks, bassist Derrick Hodge, and drummer Kendrick Scott are all leaders in their own right, but add bright and inventive accompaniment that perfectly matches the pristinely hopeful sounds Parlato expresses. The music taps from many sources, including a cute vocal variation of Herbie Hancock's funky "Butterfly," Wayne Shorter's "E.S.P." with rain forest imagery, scat, and quirky 6/8 beats, or Duke Ellington's "Azure" in adapted 5/4 time with Loueke's guitar and Hodge in late. Stevie Wonder's "I Can't Help It" is a pining, crossover, Latin-tinged love song as Parlato sings and Loueke scats and add mouth pops, while Dori Caymmi's skittering "Doralice" is easily representative of expanded tropicalia sensuality. Parks, much like his peer Robert Glasper, has the modern spirit song, loose-repeat-phrased-and-deep-harmonic piano style down pat. As you listen to the Glasper/Parlato joint composition "In a Dream," or the 7/8 meter of "Turning into Blue," you are enveloped in this thin veneer of cloudy, dream sequence sound that identifies the heart and soul of these unique musicians. "Weak" turns this concept into a rock/funk beat emphasized by Fender Rhodes electric piano juxtaposing choppy rhythms versus Parlato's sweet voice, whereas "On the Other Side" flips the script in a shuffle with percussion in shades of renewal and retrial. A muffled, taped recording of Parlato singing at age two is tacked on two tracks, emphasizing the growth curve she has experienced, but more so how she appreciates the child-like wonder that her music clearly retains. Gretchen Parlato is going to be a major player on the contemporary vocal music scene, jazz or not. In a Dream already shows vast potential realized, and is easily recommended to those who appreciate vocal music with an instrumentalist's concept. Michael G. Nastos
Tracklist & Credits :
1    I Can't Help It    4:49
 Susaye Greene / Stevie Wonder
2    Within Me    5:34
 Francis Jacob
3    Butterfly    5:02
 Herbie Hancock / Jean Hancock / Bennie Maupin
4    In A Dream    5:30
 Robert Glasper / Gretchen Parlato
5    Doralice    3:22
 Antonio Almeida / Dorival Caymmi
6    Turning Into Blue    5:13
 Alan Hampton / Gretchen Parlato
7    E.S.P.    4:05
 Wayne Shorter
8    Azure    4:17
 Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
9    On The Other Side    3:58
 Francis Jacob
10    Weak    5:10
 Brian Alexander Morgan / Roger / Larry Troutman
Credits :
Acoustic Bass – Derrick Hodge (tracks: 2, 4, 6, 8)
Arranged By – Alan Hampton (tracks: 6), Gretchen Parlato (tracks: 1, 3 to 8, 10), Lionel Loueke (tracks: 8), Robert Glasper (tracks: 4, 10)
Drums – Kendrick Scott (tracks: 2, 4, 6, 9, 10)
Electric Bass – Derrick Hodge (tracks: 3, 7, 9, 10)
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Aaron Parks (tracks: 4, 7, 9, 10)
Glockenspiel – Aaron Parks (tracks: 6)
Guitar – Lionel Loueke (tracks: 1 to 5, 7 to 9)
Organ – Aaron Parks (tracks: 4, 6)
Percussion – Gretchen Parlato (tracks: 7, 9), Kendrick Scott (tracks: 2)
Piano – Aaron Parks (tracks: 2, 6, 8)
Synthesizer – Aaron Parks (tracks: 10)
Vocals – Gretchen Parlato, Lionel Loueke (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 8, 9)

GRETCHEN PARLATO – Flor (2021) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Flor marks vocalist and songwriter Gretchen Parlato's first recording in eight years. After 2013's Live in NYC, she and husband/drummer Mark Giuliana became parents to a son, Marley. Immersed in motherhood, she integrated her life and musical experiences, all the while contemplating her next creative step. Flor is it: a compelling synthesis of originals, pop covers, Brazilian standards, and classical music performed by a new international quartet. It includes Brazilian guitarist and musical director Marcel Camargo, Brazilian drummer Leo Costa, and Armenian cellist/bassist Artyom Manukyan. Parlato produced the nine-song set.

She references the past immediately on opener "É Preciso Perdoar." A hit for João Gilberto in 1973, Parlato's world changed when she first him singing at age 13. She fell in love with his simple, intimate, yet intricately detailed delivery and laid-back style. She presents the song with North African harmonic and rhythmic overtones from open-tuned guitars and droning cello atop a spectral percussion line. Her delivery adds drama, sensuality, and pathos to its lyric of unrequited love. Parlato offers a thoroughly updated read of Anita Baker's "Sweet Love" with Gerald Clayton guesting on Rhodes piano. She stretches the soul tune to the margins of poppy funk using the lyric's promise of abundance and fulfillment to guide her vocal. Parlato wrote "Magnus," for her best friend's son (he and his siblings all sing on it). Her 13/8 bass line and hooky melody reflect South African township jazz and the melodic and rhythmic ideas of Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, who worked with her for a decade. That track and "What Does a Lion Say?," composed by bassist Chris Morrissey, represent the lyric heart of Parlato's maternal vocation. Both are vulnerable, emotionally resonant, and intimate lullabies with glorious instrumental interplay between guitar and cello; Costa's beats underscore their melodies with rhythmic inflection points. Roy Hargrove's "Roy Allan" is offered as a samba tribute to the late trumpeter. Parlato's layered and stacked vocal choruses are transcendent, accented and expanded by fleet acoustic guitars, crystalline bass, and a whirlwind of organic percussion provided by guest Airto Moreira. Single "Wonderful" is a jaunty pop song that features Clayton and Giuliana. Its Afro-Brazilian rhythms bubble and groove under a sparkling, highlife-esque pop melody elucidated by an infectious hook. Parlato closes the set with an arresting version of David Bowie's "No Plan" from his posthumous EP of the same name. Her vocal drips with longing and desire as the protagonist resolves to experience the bardo, the place between as an eternal present, a "no place," of her own. Her want, confusion, and determination inhabit every syllable as electronics and Giuliana's drum kit frame her singing while Manukyan's manipulated cello accents it. In sum, Flor is 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 flawlessly with warmth, intimacy, poetry, and humor. Flor is a masterpiece. Thom Jurek   Tracklist + Credits :