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On sale -10%A serpent woman haunts Cecile McLorin Salvant's dreams on her boldly realized seventh album, 2023's Mélusine. Inspired by the European folktale most famously detailed by 14th century French writer Jean d'Arras, Mélusine tells the tale of a shapeshifting maiden, half-serpent/half-woman, whose righteous anger takes on ever-more dualistic meanings under Salvant's dynamic musical sway. Having been lavished with accolades, including several Grammy Awards for her clarion, swinging jazz and French chanson-infused albums, Salvant has increasingly leaned into the more stylistically experimental and personal aspects of her artistry. It was an approach she took to new levels with 2022's Ghost Song, performing her poetic originals alongside unexpected covers of songs by Kate Bush and Sting. Centered on the title track, which she composed during the Ghost Song sessions, Mélusine is a gorgeously realized production. Although there are some English lyrics here, the album features the most French Salvant has sung on record. Thankfully, she offers translations of each song with a sentence that also highlights how each track illuminates the story.
The album also finds Salvant (who produced the album with Tom Korkidis) pulling together all of her disparate influences, from her moody cabaret jazz reading of Charles Trenet's "La Route Enchantee" to her playfully mischievous interpretation of the 14th century composition "Dites Moi Que Je Suis Belle," the latter of which is done in dancerly duet with djembe percussion master Weedie Braimah. Along with Braimah, she's joined throughout by several longtime associates including pianists Sullivan Fortner and Aaron Diehl, bassists Paul Sikivie and Luques Curtis, drummers Kyle Pool and Obed Calvaire, and saxophonist Godwin Louis. Shifting the line-up track to track, Salvant offers inspired forays into '70s sci-fi-inspired Canadian musical theater ("Petite Musique Terrienne" from Starmania), the dramatic French pop of Veronique Sanson ("Le Temps est Assassin"), and an Afro-Latin take on 12th century troubadour Almuc Castelnau's "Dame Iseut" that Salvant sings in both Occitan and Haitian Creole, languages that underline her own rich dual heritage. There's even a synthesizer-accented take on Michel Lambert's haunting 1660 air de coeur "D'un Feu Secret" that sounds like electronic composer Suzanne Ciani, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Modern Jazz Quartet giving a Baroque court performance. Her originals here are just as stylistically wide-ranging as she pulls together jazz and Haitian compas rhythms on "Doudou," accompanies herself on analog synth on "Wedo," and weaves a dreamy overlay of vocals and electric piano on "Aida." It almost goes without saying that Salvant's voice is utterly sublime on Mélusine, rich with an earthy jazz warmth on one song and shimmering with a brightly attenuated operatic resonance on another. There's also a feeling that for her, the story of a half-serpent half-woman is in keeping with her life as a Black woman raised in Miami by a Haitian father and French mother. Whether it's with the themes of romantic heartbreak and bodily autonomy, or the global boundary-pushing musicality at play on Mélusine, Salvant's work is transcendent.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
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Leo Ferre, Writer - John Davis, Mixer, Engineer - Louis Aragon, Writer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Aaron Diehl, Piano - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Kyle Poole, Drums - Paul Sikivie, Bass - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
Charles Trenet, Writer - John Davis, Mixer, Engineer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Aaron Diehl, Piano - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Kyle Poole, Drums - Paul Sikivie, Bass - Lawrence Leathers, Drums - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Andy Taub, Engineer - Obed Calvaire, Drums - Luques Curtis, Bass - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Pierre Chagnon, Writer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Sullivan Fortner, Piano - Weedie Braimah, Percussion - Godwin Louis, Arranger, Alto Saxophone, Whistle - Samuel Wahl, AssistantEngineer - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
Anonymous, Writer - John Davis, Mixer - Andy Taub, Engineer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Eustache Deschamps, Writer - Weedie Braimah, Djembe - Samuel Wahl, AssistantEngineer - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Andy Taub, Engineer - Obed Calvaire, Drums - Luques Curtis, Bass - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Sullivan Fortner, Piano - Weedie Braimah, Percussion - Godwin Louis, Arranger, Alto Saxophone - Samuel Wahl, AssistantEngineer - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
Michel Berger, Writer - John Davis, Mixer, Engineer - Luc Plamondon, Writer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Sullivan Fortner, Piano, Synthesizer - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Engineer, Vocals, Writer, Synthesizer, Programming, MainArtist - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Todd Whitelock, Engineer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Daniel Swenberg, Nylon Strung Guitar - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Engineer, Vocals, Writer, Synthesizer, Programming, MainArtist - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer, Engineer - Michel Lambert, Writer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Sullivan Fortner, Synthesizer - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer, Engineer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Sullivan Fortner, Piano - Alex Deturk, Masterer - Veroniques Sanson, Writer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Andy Taub, Engineer - Obed Calvaire, Drums - Luques Curtis, Bass - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Sullivan Fortner, Piano, Vocals, Kalimba Percussion - Weedie Braimah, Percussion - Godwin Louis, Arranger, Vocals - Samuel Wahl, AssistantEngineer - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Engineer, Vocals, Synthesizer, Programming, MainArtist - Iseut de Capio, Writer - Alex Deturk, Masterer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
John Davis, Mixer - Andy Taub, Engineer - Luques Curtis, Bass - Tom Korkidis, Co- Producer - Cécile McLorin Salvant, Producer, Vocals, MainArtist - Sullivan Fortner, Celeste Piano - Weedie Braimah, Percussion - Samuel Wahl, AssistantEngineer - Alex Deturk, Masterer - Almucs de Castelneau, Writer
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
Album review
A serpent woman haunts Cecile McLorin Salvant's dreams on her boldly realized seventh album, 2023's Mélusine. Inspired by the European folktale most famously detailed by 14th century French writer Jean d'Arras, Mélusine tells the tale of a shapeshifting maiden, half-serpent/half-woman, whose righteous anger takes on ever-more dualistic meanings under Salvant's dynamic musical sway. Having been lavished with accolades, including several Grammy Awards for her clarion, swinging jazz and French chanson-infused albums, Salvant has increasingly leaned into the more stylistically experimental and personal aspects of her artistry. It was an approach she took to new levels with 2022's Ghost Song, performing her poetic originals alongside unexpected covers of songs by Kate Bush and Sting. Centered on the title track, which she composed during the Ghost Song sessions, Mélusine is a gorgeously realized production. Although there are some English lyrics here, the album features the most French Salvant has sung on record. Thankfully, she offers translations of each song with a sentence that also highlights how each track illuminates the story.
The album also finds Salvant (who produced the album with Tom Korkidis) pulling together all of her disparate influences, from her moody cabaret jazz reading of Charles Trenet's "La Route Enchantee" to her playfully mischievous interpretation of the 14th century composition "Dites Moi Que Je Suis Belle," the latter of which is done in dancerly duet with djembe percussion master Weedie Braimah. Along with Braimah, she's joined throughout by several longtime associates including pianists Sullivan Fortner and Aaron Diehl, bassists Paul Sikivie and Luques Curtis, drummers Kyle Pool and Obed Calvaire, and saxophonist Godwin Louis. Shifting the line-up track to track, Salvant offers inspired forays into '70s sci-fi-inspired Canadian musical theater ("Petite Musique Terrienne" from Starmania), the dramatic French pop of Veronique Sanson ("Le Temps est Assassin"), and an Afro-Latin take on 12th century troubadour Almuc Castelnau's "Dame Iseut" that Salvant sings in both Occitan and Haitian Creole, languages that underline her own rich dual heritage. There's even a synthesizer-accented take on Michel Lambert's haunting 1660 air de coeur "D'un Feu Secret" that sounds like electronic composer Suzanne Ciani, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Modern Jazz Quartet giving a Baroque court performance. Her originals here are just as stylistically wide-ranging as she pulls together jazz and Haitian compas rhythms on "Doudou," accompanies herself on analog synth on "Wedo," and weaves a dreamy overlay of vocals and electric piano on "Aida." It almost goes without saying that Salvant's voice is utterly sublime on Mélusine, rich with an earthy jazz warmth on one song and shimmering with a brightly attenuated operatic resonance on another. There's also a feeling that for her, the story of a half-serpent half-woman is in keeping with her life as a Black woman raised in Miami by a Haitian father and French mother. Whether it's with the themes of romantic heartbreak and bodily autonomy, or the global boundary-pushing musicality at play on Mélusine, Salvant's work is transcendent.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 14 track(s)
- Total length: 00:45:07
- Main artists: Cécile McLorin Salvant
- Label: Nonesuch
- Genre: Jazz Vocal Jazz
© 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc. ℗ 2023 Nonesuch Records Inc.
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