New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Cécile McLorin Salvant has released a live performance video of "Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying," the Grammy-nominated song from her Grammy-nominated Nonesuch debut,
Ghost Song. Recorded during her two-night engagement at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center this past spring, the video features Salvant along with pianist Sullivan Fortner, percussionist Keita Ogawa, guitarist Marvin Sewell, flutist Alexa Tarantino, and bassist Yasushi Nakamura, all of whom also are on the album. Salvant arranged the songs written by Harold Arlen/Herbert Stothart/Yip Harburg and Gregory Porter, respectively. The video may be seen below. Details of Salvant's next album, coming in spring 2023, will be announced soon.
Ghost Song, released earlier this year on Nonesuch Records, has received critical acclaim and has earned two Grammy nominations: Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals for the album track "Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying."
Ghost Song features a diverse mix of seven originals and five interpretations on the themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning. It has landed Number 1 spots on the New York Times' list of the Best Jazz Albums of 2022 and Jazzwise's list of the 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2022, where it was called "music of sensitivity and intelligence, which underlines Salvant's growth as an artist of stature who stylistic choices are as daring as they are mature." In the Wall Street Journal, Larry Blumenfeld says the album "is her boldest act yet. Here, Ms. Salvant displays yet more sonic range and nuance - soaring through intervals, moving nimbly through tricky rhythms, and reveling in pithy turns of phrase. Her voice is singularly arresting, yet it is never a single sound."
Cécile McLorin Salvant, a 2020 MacArthur Fellow and three-time Grammy Award winner, is a singer and composer bringing historical perspective, a renewed sense of drama, and an enlightened musical understanding to both jazz standards and her own original compositions. Classically trained, steeped in jazz, blues, and folk, and drawing from musical theater and vaudeville, Salvant embraces a wide-ranging repertoire that broadens the possibilities for live performance.
Salvant's performances range from spare duets for voice and piano to instrumental trios to orchestral ensembles. Her unreleased work Ogresse is an ambitious long-form song cycle based on oral fairy tales from the nineteenth century that explores the nature of freedom and desire in a radicalized, patriarchal world. Salvant studied at the Université
Pierre Mendès-France. She has performed at national and international venues and festivals such as the Newport Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Village Vanguard, and the Kennedy Center. Salvant is also a visual artist.
CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT ON TOUR:
Jan 13-20 Blue Note at Sea Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Jan 26 Royce Hall Los Angeles, CA
Jan 27 Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center Davis, CA
Jan 28 Bing Concert Hall Stanford, CA
Feb 2 Stewart Theatre Raleigh, NC
Feb 3 Knight Concert Hall, Arsht Center Miami, FL
Feb 7 Wisconsin Union Theater Madison, WI
Feb 9 Duncan-Williams Performance Hall Germantown, TN
Feb 10 Cullen Theater Houston, TX
Feb 11 Bass Concert Hall Austin, TX
Feb 24 & 25 McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, MN
Mar 30 Koerner Hall Toronto, ON
Apr 1 Big Ears Festival Knoxville, TN
Apr 8 Savannah
Music Festival Savannah, GA
Apr 12 Richardson Auditorium,
Alexander Hall Princeton, NJ
Apr 14 Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor, MI
Apr 29 Fife Theatre, Moss Arts Center Blacksburg, VA
May 5-7 Miner Auditorium, SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA
May 19 & 20 Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center New York, NY
