VINIL Universal Records Melody Gardot - Live In Europe ( limited edition )

[jazz times] : The cover shows a woman, center stage, spotlit, back to the camera, nude save a guitar. The inference is obvious: This, her first live album, is Gardot laid bare. But Gardot has ranked among the most nakedly honest and emotionally vulnerable of singers, ever since her stellar debut with Worrisome Heart in 2008. Live in Europe’s two discs—17 cuts culled from more than 300 concerts between 2012 and 2016—simply confirm that she exhibits the same breathtaking naturalism in front of thousands-strong audiences.

Rather than seek out the most perfect performances, Gardot assembled her choices based on the sage belief that “live there is only one element that counts: heart,” as she puts it in her liner notes. Several tracks focus on her deeply simpatico rapport with cellist Stephan Braun, including exquisite duets on “Deep Within the Corners of My Mind” and “Over the Rainbow,” as well as a “My One and Only Thrill” with Gardot at the piano and Chuck Staab on drums. There’s a rousing, crowd-thrilling “Lisboa” from, of course, Lisbon. “Baby I’m a Fool” is the only song presented twice, first from Vienna, mirroring the tremulous beauty of the original studio session, and second from London, intriguingly sprier and sunnier. But the standout tracks are an 11-minute “The Rain,” a resounding showcase for Gardot, Braun, Staab, bassist Aidan Carroll, and saxophonist Irwin Hall; and a colossal “March for Mingus” highlighting Hall and bassist Sam Minaie.

[discover music]: Melody Gardot’s hallmark is intimacy and storytelling. Stylistically, she fuses the naked, febrile emotion of Parisian chanteuse Edith Piaf with the cool coquettish artifice of Peggy Lee and comes up with a unique sound defined by a hushed, torch-song-like delivery complete with a tremulous vibrato. Her approach is often decidedly low key but it’s also high on emotion. Over the course of four studio albums for Decca Records – Worrisome Heart (2008), My One & Only Thrill (2009), The Absence (2012) and Currency Of Man (2015), where she explored jazz, blues, world music, soul and gospel – Melody Gardot has carved a unique niche for herself as a singer and performer. And she’s scored some hit singles along the way (‘Worrisome Heart’, ‘Who Will Comfort Me’, ‘Baby I’m A Fool’) and also accrued a big fanbase in Europe, where’s she’s racked up several gold and platinum albums.

It perhaps fitting, then, given the acclaim she’s enjoyed on the continent, Live In Europe, released on 9 February 2018, presented a clutch of songs recorded on tour there between the years 2012 to 2016, in locations that range from Barcelona and Lisbon to Paris, Utrecht, Amsterdam and London. This is not the first time that the Philadelphia-raised singer has released live recordings – as two EPs, Live In Soho (2009) and Live In Paris (2010) – both attest, but Live In Europe, a double-CD and triple-LP collection comprising 17 tracks, was her first full live album.