Send "Melody Gardot " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Boston |
 JazzMelody Gardot My One and Only Thril VERVE ESSENTIAL "My One and Only Thrill" Melody Gardot's 2008 debut was swell: an understated collection of savvy jazz-pop packed with Norah Jones-caliber crossover appeal. But the follow-up is a stunner, the work of an artist who over the course of a couple of years has made great leaps as a composer and a lyricist. Gardot is a singer-songwriter who works in the jazz idiom, but where "Worrisome Heart" was an alluring fusion of folk, blues, pop, and jazz, the new album falls firmly into the latter camp. Part of the credit for Gardot's creative ascent goes to producer Larry Klein (studio guru to talented women from Joni Mitchell to Madeleine Peyroux), whose deft touch is marred here only by his overuse of strings. They nearly derail the lead track and first single, "Baby, I'm a Fool." Otherwise, "My One and Only Thrill" is as elegant and sophisticated a collection of songs as you're likely to hear. A model of crisp economy (Gardot name-checks Hemingway, legitimately) and deep craft (half of these tracks already sound like classics), Gardot's singular vision spans bossa nova ("Les Etoile"), blues ("Who Will Comfort Me"), noir ("Your Heart Is as Black as Night"), art song ("The Rain"), and a fistful of romantic ballads that are at once timeless and thrillingly original. A delicate, yet intense, vocalist, Gardot possesses an enigmatic style that seems connected to the severe injuries she sustained and chronic pain she endures after being hit by a car five years ago. Even the breath between Gardot's notes is delivered with precision and panache. (Out tomorrow)...full text |
| Nytimes |
| The cover photograph, by Bruce Davidson, on Bob Dylan’s new album — a young couple kissing desperately in the back seat of a car, a much-reproduced image familiar to anyone who owns a paperback of Larry Brown’s short-story collection “Big Bad Love” — doesn’t quite communicate what the record’s about. The picture of the kiss makes you feel that these people might have been invested in a few romantic myths. Not so with the persona behind this record. The songs on “Together Through Life” are about love, but not its redemptive qualities. They suggest that love is sweet and quaint and exciting and even necessary, but not good for you. When they’re lusty, they’re wizened. When they’re plaintive, they’re self-defensive. It’s a realistic disposition, let’s say....full text |
| Musicomh |
| My One And Only Thrill is Melody Gardot's aptly named second album, a follow up to 2008's warmly received jazz opus A Worrisome Heart. That bastion of dinner party jazz fluff Norah Jones is often cited as the closest pigeon hole, but Gardot writes her own songs and infuses them with an emotional musicality that Jones does not compete with. A swirl of classic strings opens Baby I'm A Fool, trickling into lush acoustic guitar. Jazzy brush drum strokes punctuate a smooth, timeless, lilting rhythm. Gardot indulges in a little scat singing; a stream bubbling over pebbles. If The Stars Were Mine is a '50s lounge number, perfectly showcasing that silken voice. A little like Sinatra if Sinatra had drank less, listened more and lived in Philadelphia, not Vegas....full text |
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