It was a warm August night last year at the Hollywood Bowl. I had purchased tickets to see Bryan Ferry perform with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Having never seen Ferry, nor Roxy Music, I thought this would be a good chance to catch up on an artist I had admired for years. Opening the concert was a jazz singer with whom I wasn’t familiar: Cécile McLorin Salvant. I now refer to that concert as the night I discovered Salvant when Bryan Ferry closed for her.
Salvant is doing two shows next week at The Soraya (Valley Performing Arts Center) on April 18 and 19. Seating will be on the stage providing an intimate experience with this one-of-a-kind artist. For those of you who think going to Northridge isn’t worth the effort, let me assure you. It absolutely is to witness Salvant. (If you are in Orange County, she will be performing at the Barclay Center in Irvine on the 20th.)
Salvant clearly relishes legendary performers such as Dinah Washington, Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald and others. But what she possesses is the ability not just to sing a song, but to approach every lyric like the best possible storyteller. And she doesn’t have to do a thing to show what she’s doing. She completely embodies the concept of keeping it simple – as this video from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris shows. Imagine being in line waiting for a flight and hearing this:
I’m certainly not the only one who has noticed. She won a Grammy Award in 2016 for her album For One to Love. She was awarded a second Grammy earlier this year for her most recent release, Dreams and Daggers.
Last year Fred Kaplan in The New Yorker said of her performance at the Village Vanguard: “…it was clear right away that the hype was justified. She sang with perfect intonation, elastic rhythm, an operatic range from thick lows to silky highs. She had emotional range, too, inhabiting different personas in the course of a song, sometimes even a phrase—delivering the lyrics in a faithful spirit while also commenting on them, mining them for unexpected drama and wit.”
She also makes interesting choices in material. Though many singers have sung “People,” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl, there aren’t too many who have chosen to do “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty.”
If you attended Bill Charlap’s show at the Broad Stage in February, you got a chance to hear Salvant. But these two shows at The Soraya are all hers. And they should be all yours, too. Simply put, I’m mad about the girl. Thankfully Bryan Ferry was, too.
This young entertainer captured my attention while at home one night watching PBS. Her story was captivating and her voice mesmerizing! I immediately looked her up on YouTube and enjoyed my own personal concert by Diva Cécile Salvant! I had never heard of her. But if she performs anywhere near Dayton, Ohio I will surely be there God willing. What was the name of that song she sang in the Paris airport??
Hi Janet. The songs is called “Spring Can Really Hang You Up”