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Gretchen Parlato: The Lost And Found
by Wilbert Sostre
Despite being completely different singers, there's a lot to connect Gretchen Parlato with the legendary Billie Holiday. Holiday was a singer with a phrasing deeply rooted in the blues, while Parlato is a jazz singer with the modern influences of R&B and pop music, but what draws them together is the uniqueness of their respective styles. Neither has the greatest vocal range, but the originality and pure feeling of their voices is what has set them apart from any other ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato: The Lost and Found
by A. Lienhard
Gretchen Parlato's much anticipated third release, The Lost and Found, secures her position as the leading vocalist in New York's under-40 jazz scene. On this 15-track program, Parlato and producer Robert Glasper blend musical styles like so many cocktails. They purposefully demonstrate that hip-hop has a quiet side, that you needn't be from Brazil to play its music, and that a mere whisper can incite goose bumps. The album opens with an update of the Simply Red ...
Continue ReadingSuresh Singaratnam / Gretchen Parlato / Jamie Reynolds: That Is You
by Mark F. Turner
The art of the ballad seems almost forgotten in today's environment of programmed beats, Auto-Tune and sampled music. But in the hands of three gifted young artists--trumpeter Suresh Singaratnam, singer Gretchen Parlato, and pianist Jamie Reynolds--the magic of intimate songwriting and beautiful music can still capture the heart as heard in the lovely “That Is You." Its warm ambiance is perfected: first by the trumpet's glowing introduction; then by Parlato's supple and poignant voice, softly pouring out heartfelt lyrics of ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato: In A Dream
by C. Michael Bailey
Vocalist Gretchen Parlato is part Bobby McFerrin, part Theo Bleckmann, and David Binney. All men, yes. Parlato's voice is light as an apparition, ethereal and implied. She is fond of vocal gymnastics as is McFerrin. She shares a sense of humor in art with Bleckmann and a musical adventurousness with Binney. In A Dream is the recording Chet Baker would have made, had he been a woman. Both vocalists share an opaqueness in an otherwise transparent instrument. ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato: In a Dream
by Ken Dryden
Gretchen Parlato grew up in a musical household, the daughter of bassist/guitarist Dave Parlato (who worked with Don Ellis, Warne Marsh, Gil Melle and Frank Zappa, among others). She won the 2004 Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition and released her debut CD on her own label the following year; In a Dream is her long awaited follow-up and it does not disappoint. Like many jazz musicians of her generation, Parlato casts a wide net in choosing her repertoire, drawing from ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato: Gretchen Parlato
by AAJ Italy Staff
Nel music business si parla troppo e si canta poco. E spesso le voci migliori tacciono. Prendete Gretchen Parlato, ad esempio. Sangue statunitense - è di Los Angeles - ma cuore portoghese, la cantante ha approfondito i suoi studi di jazz vocale con Kenny Burrell, Gerald Wilson e Tierney Sutton. Accettata al Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, ha affascinato gente del calibro di Wayne Shorter e Terence Blanchard, giudici della selezione di nuovi talenti. Herbie Hancock, altro membro della ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato, David Devoe, Julie Hardy: New Singers Showcase at the 55 Bar
by Michael P. Gladstone
On November 20, a three hour evening of New Singers was held at the 55 Bar in Greenwich Village, NYC, to showcase the talents of Gretchen Parlato, David Devoe and Julie Hardy.
The principal attraction of the event was the opportunity to see Parlato, the winner of this year's prestigious Thelonious Monk Award given earlier in Washington D.C. The 28 year old earned a degree from UCLA in 1998 for Jazz Studies from the Ethnomusicology Department. Her love of ...
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