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Gretchen Parlato at The Jazz Standard

By Nick Catalano

The New Year was dramatically ushered in at the Jazz Standard on January 2nd when Gretchen Parlato and her band wowed an SRO audience with some of the most prescient music of the season. No vocalist of recent vintage has garnered more acclaim than the brilliant chanteuse, transplanted from L.A. to Gotham awhile back. Grammy nominations, critical commendation from writers and musicians ("A singer with a deep, almost magical connection to the music." --Herbie Hancock, “There's no one out there ...

Art of Cool Jazz Festival: Gretchen Parlato and Alan Hampton

By K. Shackelford

Art of Cool Jazz Festival Gretchen Parlato and Alan Hampton PSI Theater Durham, NC April 25, 2015 It was a cool, whistful, and breezy Saturday evening. Sounds of improvisation and ingenuity seeped out of the edifices of multiple, cozy and packed venues---and into the air of the night. It was the final night of The Art of Cool Jazz Festival and one of several closing acts featured Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato and ...

Gretchen Parlato: Live in NYC

By Dr. Judith Schlesinger

In the ever-growing crowd of jazz vocalists, Gretchen Parlato increasingly stands out for her unique sound and musicality. She has been criticized by those who think she should sing “bigger," move around more, and open her eyes when she performs. But she has held to her own meditative style, which includes encouraging her bands to have spontaneous, passionate, and personally-expressive conversations, rather than being obedient supporters that she unilaterally “leads." This is all very evident on Live in NYC, which ...

Gretchen Parlato: Live in NYC

By C. Michael Bailey

Live in NYC is vocalist Gretchen Parlato's eagerly awaited live recording and follow-up to 2011's excellent The Lost And Found (Obliqsound). Gretchen Parlato (Obliqsound, 2006) and 2011's In A Dream (Obliqsound) round out her catalog as a leader. That said, Parlato has been much more busy than would be indicated by her four recordings in eight years. She has appeared on some 70-plus recordings from Kenny Barron's The Traveler (Emarcy, 2006) to Esperanza Spalding's Esperanza (Concord Music Group, 2008) to ...

Gretchen Parlato: The Lost and Found

By C. Michael Bailey

Gretchen Parlato is emerging as the most important jazz singer since Cassandra Wilson. Her vocal approach is so unique and her repertoire so eclectic that she stands to create a jazz vocal genre unto herself. After placing first in the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, Parlato released her eponymous debut, self-produced, in 2005. Warmly received, she followed her freshman effort up in 2009 with In a Dream (Obliqsound), her critical gravity growing. And those are ...

Gretchen Parlato: Quiet Revolutionary

By Ian Patterson

It's safe to say that singer Gretchen Parlato has her admirers. The Boston Globe praised her as “the most original jazz singer in a generation," and pianist Herbie Hancock has described her connection to music as “almost magical." Saxophonist Wayne Shorter has likened her art to that of Frank Sinatra. It's hard to remember the last time a jazz singer has created such a stir and excited such high praise. The growing chorus of admirers is not without good reason; ...

Gretchen Parlato: Norwich, UK, May 20, 2011

By Bruce Lindsay

Gretchen ParlatoThe PlayhouseNorwich, UKMay 20, 2011 Gretchen Parlato has achieved something that is increasingly difficult in contemporary jazz, where originality and innovation seem too often to be viewed as barriers to a vocalist's success, rather than qualities to be praised and nurtured. She has merged her distinctive vocal style with an intriguing selection of material to create a sound that is unique and utterly compelling. Parlato's first British appearance outside London, courtesy of the Norfolk ...

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 ...

Gretchen 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 ...

Gretchen 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. ...

Gretchen 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 ...

Gretchen 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 ...