This isn’t a genre I’m naturally drawn so I was a bit surprised to have thoroughly enjoyed the album through the headphones. I’m looking forward to having a listen go through the speakers.
I am a big fan of a wide range of genres. But I have to admit there is nothing quite like the energy and excitement of a strong male singer in front of a swinging band in a hot arrangement that just gets my blood pumping.
Hi David, I listened to Crazy Love. I wasn’t as taken with it as Call Me Irresponsible, but it’s quite good. I actually really liked the more modern tunes - Buble’s own “Hold On” and Billy Vera’s “At This Moment”. The sound is quite good, you’re right, but also didn’t grab me as much as Irresponsible.
I forgot to mention this one: Sunset in the Blue by Melody Gardot. One of those rare albums that reminds me that the best listening often happens when you stop doing everything else and just let the music take over. Perfect evening listening—or, in my case, a retired guy’s Monday morning soundtrack.
I can see that. Call Me Irresponsible is a tough act to follow. I do agree about “Hold On” and “At This Moment”—both are excellent tracks. For me, Crazy Love is more about the overall atmosphere than individual songs. It’s one I seem to appreciate more each time I play it.
I love love love Melody Gardot. I connect with certain musicians in strange ways sometimes. The first time I saw her picture, when her most popular album - My One and Only Thrill - came out in 2009, I immediately knew she had some kind of eye condition - because I do, and it takes one to know one. Reading about her confirmed that - the result of a bad bicycle accident. There is something in the music of people who struggle with sight - there just is. From the first track - "Baby I’m a Fool - I was hooked. But it wasn’t that she’s a stereotypical jazz singer at all - she interprets - and her interpretations have a piece of many things. It feels very alternative rock to me in her approach, but bringing that attitude into jazz. But she makes it work. My favorite album of hers is Currency of Man, but Sunset in the Blue is not far behind. And they’re both incredible recordings. There is something wonderful about how the kick-drum is reproduced on that album.
I sure hope she comes out with something new soon.
As a (pre retirement) long time Philly area resident, I had the great luck to see Melody Gardot live three times, only by the last of which she had become nationally (and internationally) known. A wonderful songstress.
It did take me a bit of adjustment to her voice, though. She doesn’t use traditional vibrato as much as tremolo, a bit more like Billie Holiday. But her approach to phrasing, dynamics, and overall interpretation is stunning for me. And let’s not discount her use of the recording art. Someone, and probably her, are insisting on doing interesting things in the audio realm as part of the overall expression.
Beautifully said. Melody transcends genre for me as well—part jazz, part chanson, part something entirely her own. And yes, there’s an emotional depth and perspective in her music that feels uniquely personal. I’m hoping for a new album soon too.
Hi David, something I forgot to say: I don’t know about anyone else, but I have never been too much of a fan of music videos. It started years before MTV: when I was a teenager, I had some cousins who lived in Anaheim, CA. They took me to see a “laserium” show at the planetarium. They had several pieces of music - “Echoes” from Pink Floyd’s Meddle album, Joh. Strauss’ Blue Danube waltz, and others. I HATED it. I remember thinking to myself, “THAT’S not what I see when I hear those pieces, and I don’t want to be told.” Same with music videos. Every once in a while, one will come out that is abstract enough to feel it’s a part of the art - the one for Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” is one I liked. So after hearing Melody Gardot’s “Baby I’m a Fool,” I made the mistake of watching the video she did. I think I’ve finally unseen that, but it took work!
I understand what you mean. One of the things I enjoy most about music is that it lets each listener create their own images and stories. A video can sometimes get in the way of that by showing someone else’s vision.
On the other hand, I spent a good part of the MTV years working at SoundTrak in Tulsa selling hi-fi and video gear, so MTV was almost always playing somewhere in the background. Music videos became part of the experience for me. Some of them felt like a separate piece of art rather than an explanation of the song. Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” is one that comes to mind.
Still, with artists like Melody Gardot, I often prefer to just listen. Her music paints such a vivid picture on its own that I don’t really need a video. Sometimes I’d rather let the music create its own images.
I’m glad you took my “videos suck” opinion the way I intended. I have no problem with any art form, and I was actually involved in various areas of video production throughout my career - so I’m not some kind of “aural arts only” kind of guy. And I fully support anyone else’s love of music videos. I know that part of my problem is eyesight - I can see well enough to see screens, drive, etc., but it’s much more of a pain in the butt for me, so I default to not caring as much about visual stuff. Unless it’s a pretty girl - miraculously my vision improves at those times. But being more aurally-focused, I think my “visionator” might be even more important to me than others…?
While I’ve got you, based on your reminder, I listened to Melody Gardot’s Sunset in the Blue again last night. it is indeed a great example of her work. I had forgotten that it was the album with “From Paris with Love” where she actually paid out-of-work-because-of-COVID musicians to participate remotely in the recording. I hadn’t realized how varied her choice of material is for that album. I was listening for that kick-drum that was so perfect before, and I think it must have been another recording, but what really stood out to me on this was how well the strings were done. It was almost like someone said, “sorry you can’t be together because of COVID, but this is what it sounds like if you were surrounded by string players!” When I was a little kid, my favorite song was “Moon River,” and her version does not disappoint.
Your comment about your vision improving around pretty girls made me laugh. I think that’s a condition a lot of us share, especially as we enter our senior years.
I get exactly what you’re saying about videos. I enjoy a good music video now and then, but if I’m really listening to the music, the visual part usually fades into the background. Sometimes it just gets in the way.
I listened to Sunset in the Blue again after your note, and you’re right about the strings. They really do create that feeling of being surrounded by the musicians. Considering how the album was put together during COVID, it’s pretty amazing how natural and cohesive it sounds.
And yes, her version of “Moon River” is beautiful. That’s one of those songs that’s easy to overdo, but she handles it with a lot of taste and restraint.
As for that kick drum, I don’t think Sunset in the Blue is the album I associate with that kind of standout drum sound either. My guess is it might have been something from My One and Only Thrill or maybe Currency of Man. If you figure it out, let me know—now you’ve got me curious too.
This is a link to an ‘interesting’ video made years ago by Bjork: Björk : All is full of love [the only official Full HD from Glassworks]
First Michael Bublè and now Melody Gardot. Very different but y’all are batting 1000. Thank you. Last night was “Currency of Man”. Tonight will be “Sunset in the Blue”.
Your alt rock approach comment got my attention. I can’t claim to know jazz or even be a fan but she has - at least in the one album I listened to - an appealing kind of fusion thing going on.
Wow, I think that might be the first time anyone has ever said I was batting 1000 on suggestions! But I’m glad I could get you into something you enjoy. Now trying to parse out this “stereotypical” jazz singer vs. alternative might be an interesting challenge. First, let’s look at Michael Buble: his approach is very much along the lines of other singers generally filed in the Jazz section, but it’s really more of what might better be called American Popular Song. From before the early days of recording, there was a strong tradition of singers who would go on stage and perform great songs - usually taken from opera or operetta, musicals, eventually movies, and sometimes “art songs” that are written just because. During the early years of recording, there was financial incentive to write “hits”, so the genre grew. But not all of these were jazz per se. A lot of it had jazz or blues influence, or backed by jazz groups, but the tradition occupied by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet, picked up by Michael Buble, Seth MacFarlane, Harry Connick Jr. is not as much jazz as it is great lyrics, melody, harmony, phrasing. If you want more true jazz singing, listen to some things by Billie Holiday or Louis Armstrong or anything called scat.
So that tradition of singing focuses on vocal purity, phrasing, interaction with accompanying players in a more polished straightforward approach. It sets a cultural standard that most singers strive for. Melody Gardot certainly works in these musical elements - she’s good at phrasing, sings the “right notes,” etc., but her approach is more flexible, personal to her own art, not so much trying to forward a polished tradition, if that makes sense.
Maybe this comparison might help. In the early 2000s, Rod Stewart took a stab at recording some songs from this tradition, a series he called The Great American Songbook. Rod Stewart just doesn’t have the kind of voice that works well in that genre, so my impression is that he just “got the songs over with” rather than being able to pull off what someone like Buble could do. Melody Gardot also doesn’t really have “the chops” of someone like Sarah Vaughan or Ella Fitzgerald, or many of the younger singers like Holly Cole or Diana Krall or Jane Monheit, but she doesn’t try to emulate them - she puts her own stamp on it. Some purists might see that as sacrilegious, but those of us who really care about the song itself and look for other means of expression can like it.
What’s fun is to listen to her sing something like “Moon River” that has been done by many other “standard” singers to compare her approach. Here are a few comparisons you might consider:
“Over the Rainbow” from her album My One and Only Thrill. It’s an obscure song that has been done by only a few people… OK, a bit of a lie. In fact, I think Time Magazine awarded it the best song of the 20th Century. Of course there’s Judy Garland’s quintessential version from Oz, but some more recent interpretations in the “standard” realm would be Jane Monheit’s version and Christy Barron’s version (both audiophile quality. Another fun unique version is the one by the late Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.
“I Fall in Love Too Easily” from Sunset in the Blue. Also done by many. I like the version by Shirley Horn from the album I Remember Miles. For a really traditional version, Anita O’Day’s recording is wonderful.
Even though “Moon River” was my favorite song as a kid, I never really had a favorite recording, Diana Panton, also of audiophile interest, did a traditional version for her album If the Moon Turns Green that has been remastered by 2xHD, available on HD Tracks. And if you really want to hear where the song can go, check out Jacob Collier’s arrangement on his album Jesse Vol. 2. It won a Grammy in 2020 for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella.
OK, very creative, but there’s certainly plenty of technological stuff scaring me already. And I just retired from the machine automation group of Siemens. This is more my speed when it comes to robotics.
Hey, I wanted to thank you for the recommendation of Sotho Blue. In my early years of jazz listening, I was introduced to Dollar Brand (who now goes by Abdullah Ibrahim), and really loved the textures of his ensembles, I certainly enjoyed the music, but WOW, what a recording. I believe that is the best most realistic piano sound I’ve ever heard. And how it fits into the rest of the soundstage where each instrument is so wonderfully rendered. I will return to this again soon.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I find it hard to describe music with words as some of you do so eloquently. Best alternative is to share what I enjoy!