by miguel bronfman
For the Herald
Jazz in town

If we say that vocal jazz is undergoing a deep and prolonged crisis, we are not saying anything new. We are not saying anything new, either, if we say that powerful and in some cases talented producers have been trying to find a new “jazz” singer to make and sell lots of albums – only that jazz never sold too much, so it is better if this singer sings a particular kind of jazz, light, smooth and suitable for big audiences that never knew Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald ever existed.
If this new jazz singer is white and beautiful, like the Canadian Diana Krall, well, much better. Indeed, Diana Krall has proved to be the perfect product: immensely successful and profitable, each new album she releases sells millions of copies. Following Krall’s success, and that of the nice, polite and correct Norah Jones, many “new” singers have been launched into the market with the word “jazz” stuck to their names, with varying degrees of success.
Madeleine Peyroux, who recently performed in BA, and her obvious and explicit resemblance to the great Billie Holiday, is a good example: with three albums under her name, she is doing quite well, though still far away from the unbeatable Krall. For many, though, they sound exactly the same: completely diluted singers with no soul; just a nice voice and an alleged sensual, provocative and fragile attitude... but nothing else.
Talking about recent visits, the local audience had the chance to see and listen to a real and true jazz singer, the one who probably is, along with Diane Reeves and Diane Schuur, the jazz singer of these times: Cassandra Wilson. Wilson is everything Krall, Peyroux, Jane Monheit, Jones and Melody Gardot, among so many others, will never, ever be: a soulful singer who sings straight from her heart, with a truly musical ear and resourceful vocal techniques, a wide vocal range, swing and rhythm, knowledge of the jazz and blues traditions and, most important of all, the ability to thrill with a song, no matter how simple its lyrics or its melody are.
Nothing could be further from the “new jazz singer” pack led by Krall, and a new CD is a painful reminder of the abyss between them. Universal records has just released Melody Gardot’s second album, My One and Only Thrill, which is even more boring than her first output, Worrisome Heart, released last year. Again, Gardot (presented as the “new sensation of jazz”) is backed in many numbers by a string section, and she has some important names around her, like percussionists Vinnie Colaiuta and Paulinho Da Cosa and Larry Goldings on Hammond organ – she even counts with orchestral arrangements by the renowned Vince Mendoza, and the album was produced by Larry Klein, one of the most prestigious producers in the scene. However, they couldn’t disguise Gardot’s irremediable lack of talent, and so the album, though perhaps suitable for a desolate, trendly decorated lounge, is just a collection of dull songs with no interest at all.
Gardot has written all the lyrics of the songs (except for a cover of Somewhere over the Rainbow), and just like in her previous effort, they are all superficial allegories of romantic love stories (some successful, others frustrated), full of common places and used and abused metaphors (“Deep within your heart you know it’s plain to see/Like Adam was to Eve you were made for me”; or “If the world was mine I tell you what I’ll do/ I’d wrap the world in ribbons and give it all to you/ I’d teach the birds such lovely words and make them sing for you/ I’d put those stars right in a jar and give them all to you”). Besides, Gardot sings all through the album in the same (restrained) middle register, with a low voice intended to sound “sweet and mellow,” but that in the end is just tedious and empty. Her melodies are all languid, soporific lines that slowly disintegrate in circular echoes, and not even the good string arrangements manage to save them.
As for producer Larry Klein... well, it’s difficult to understand. He has been Joni Mitchell’s producer for years (they were even married between 1982 to 1994); he is an interesting songwriter and also a consistent bassist; he has produced albums by the likes of Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Brazilian singer Luciana Souza (his current wife), as well as Herbie Hancock’s latest album, the beautiful River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to Mitchell’s songs, performed by different singers. Klein is also Madeleine Peyroux’s producer, so it’s obvious that, despite his achievements and his work (and relationship) with Mitchell, he has a penchant for this kind of singer.
Anyway, reasons for doing this kind of work he surely has, and it’s not our business to deal with his artistic conscience. What we can do is save our money or, if we want some true vocal jazz, get some records by Ella, Billie and Sarah, or contemporaries Cassandra Wilson and Diane Schurr or, if we are in the mood for someone whispering (but with swing, soul and grace!), the incomparable Shirley Horn.