1. Worrisome Heart
2. All That I Need Is Love
3. Gone
4. Sweet Memory
5. Some Lessons
6. Quiet Fire
7. One Day
8. Love Me Like A River Does
9. Goodnite
10. Twilight
Melody Gardot - Vocals, guitar, piano
Ken Pendergast - Bass (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6,
8, 10)
Charlie Patierno - Drums (tracks 1, 2, 4-6,
8-10)
Dave Posmontier - Piano (tracks 1, 6)
Joel Bryant - Hammond B3 organ, Fender Rhodes,
Wurlitzer (tracks 1-3, 6)
Matt Cappy - Trumpet (tracks 1, 6, 8)
Ron Kerber - Tenor sax, clarinet (tracks 1,
2, 6)
Jef Lee Johnson - Guitar (tracks 2, 5, 10)
Diane Monroe - Violin (track 3)
Mike Brenner - Lap steel (tracks 3, 9)
David Mowry - Dobro (track 4)
Krista Nielsen - Cello (track 5)
Kurt Johnston - Dobro (track 5)
Stan Slotter - Trumpet (track 7)
Barney McKenna - Guitar (track 9)
Paul Klinefelter - Bass (track 9)
Patrick Hughes - Trumpet (track 9)
This
is one of those albums where the story behind
the making of the CD is more interesting than
the album itself. At the age of 19, Philadelphia-based
Melody Gardot had a serious accident which
left her with serious disabilities. Her doctor,
learning of her previous interest in music,
suggested that music might aid her recovery,
so she began singing and writing songs. She
made an EP of some songs but this is her first
full CD, although it only lasts for just over
33 minutes.
Interviewed
for the BBC's Jazz Line-Up programme,
Melody Gardot described herself as a singer-songwriter
and that's a fair description. She is not
a jazz vocalist, even though she does quite
a lot of scat singing. There are more hints
of folk and country music than jazz in her
performances. She has a pure, smooth voice,
and she accompanies herself on guitar and
piano, with help from a very varied group
of instrumentalists.
The
songs are insubstantial - you might say flimsy
- both melodically and lyrically. And their
predominant subject is the singer herself:
mostly how she wants to be loved, a theme
which crops up in several of the songs. The
sleeve-notes are also very self-involved.
Perhaps this solipsism is understandable in
someone who has apparently been through a
lot of suffering but it would have been better
if more of the songs had been outward-looking.
She is being hailed in some quarters as a
great new talent and being compared to Norah
Jones but, on the evidence of this CD, her
musical and emotional range is very limited.
Tony
Augarde
CD Reviews
Universal
1749640
