THIS IS THE FOURTH OF OUR BEST OF 23 REVIEW OF INTERVIEWS: If you’ve been following Cultural Attaché for even a small amount of time, you know how much I love singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. We’re happy to say we finally have an interview with this three-time Grammy Award winner (who also happens to have a nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her most recent release, Ghost Song)!

Those three Grammy Awards came for three albums in a row: For One to Love, Dreams and Daggers and The Window. Might it be four-in-a-row? The New York Times called it “her most revealing and rewarding album yet.” I love the album and had the privilege of seeing Salvant in back-to-back performances at the Blue Note in New York City in September. Salvant is truly a once-in-a-generation artist.

She is currently on tour across the United States. Her next show is at Royce Hall on Thursday, January 26th as part of CAP UCLA’s season. She’ll be at the Mondavi Center in Davis on January 27th; Bing Concert Hall at Stanford on January 28th; the Stewart Theatre in Raleigh, NC on February 2nd and Knight Concert Hall in Miami on February 3rd (where her special guest is the Christian Sands Trio).

For her full itinerary, please go here.

Here is my interview with Salvant which was conducted via e-mail.

During the pandemic you were reading Marcel Proust, particularly In Search of Lost Time. In the fifth volume he writes, “The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is..” Do you agree with him and how does that perspective align itself with how you choose, hear and perform music?

I love that quote!!!! Beautiful. I absolutely agree with this.

The pandemic negated the opportunity for LA audiences to see and hear Ogresse. What does the future hold for that work and will you record it or turn it into a fully produced musical/show?

We’re making it into an animated feature length film. It’s already recorded but we’re animating it now with a team in Europe. [Salvant will be performing Ogresse on February 24th and 25th at the Walker Art Center in Milwaukee.]  

Five years ago you gave an interview to ArtsDesk.com where you said, “Visual art is the most important thing to me.” At that time you weren’t sure if that passion for visual arts influenced your music adding, “probably, but not in a way that I can tell.” Has your perspective on that changed since 2018? Do works like Ogresse and/or the art that Nonesuch released with Ghost Song provide examples of some blending of your passions?

Yes! My perspective often changes though! Lately I’ve been trying to approach making music with the same playfulness I feel when I draw.

I first became aware of you when Bryan Ferry closed for you at the Hollywood Bowl in August of 2017. It’s a night I won’t ever forget. I’ve since seen you at much smaller venues. What role does a given venue play in the concerts you give?

My favorite venues to play are clubs! I like to be really close to a small packed audience. I want it to feel like I’m spilling secrets. But it’s always exhilarating and a little bit scary to be in front of a vast crowd like at the Hollywood Bowl!

Sometimes Aaron Diehl is your pianist and other times it is Sullivan Fortner. What does each pianist bring to you and your music? Are there tangible differences for you that influence the way you make music and present it live with each of them?

There are a few others I’ve been playing with over the years. Everyone adds different elements and colors to the music, they bring their tastes, their approaches even their feel to it. It’s the same with every instrument in the band. I often unknowingly pick my repertoire based on who’s playing.

In the concerts I’ve attended there seems to be a semblance of spontaneity in the set lists. What role does fluidity play in each performance? How much does an audience play a role in what you choose to sing at a given concert?

That’s another that changes based on the band. If I’m playing duo with Sullivan there’s often no setlist and it really depends on the moment. The audience plays a bit of a role if they choose to! Some audiences feel quiet, or more reserved. They play less of a role. When they participate a bit more, are reactive, they play a much bigger role to where the set will go.

Music from Broadway musicals used to top the record charts. It’s been a long time since that happened. Yet your passion for musicals is undeniable. The first song on your first album, Cécile, comes from an obscure 1930 musical, Lew Leslie’s International Revue (Exactly Like You). You seem almost childlike in your appreciation for these songs. How and when did that passion for get ignited in you and what role will that material play as you move forward throughout your career?

I’m not sure it’s a childlike quality, it’s more that I love theater and acting. I love operas too, which to me aren’t much different from musicals. I love songs that flow from a character dealing with a specific context.

Like pianist Brad Mehldau and others, you had a background in classical music but switched to jazz (though I heard you sing Baroque music at the Blue Note in NY in September). How does your classical background inform your approach to jazz?

This is a tough question to answer because I try to get away from genres. Genres like jazz and classical are too broad in my opinion. Jazz is extremely fragmented, it encompasses so much different music. Even baroque and early music have such fragmented, different styles within them. There were differences in the music based on cities! Even tuning was based on location.

I think everything I’ve studied informs what I do in some way. In conservatory, I got to learn the aria Medea sings when she goes back and forth between wanting to kill her children for vengeance and wanting to protect them. I think learning that and other songs, learning a bit about baroque dance, studying tap dance for a month in high school, learning the basics of reading figured bass on a harpsichord, all this informs my desire to find a way to approach music in a more open way, with less boundaries.

Your mother has described you as an intellectual (The New Yorker 2017). You’ve talked a lot about your instincts. How and where do your instincts meet up with your intellect and vice-versa?

I don’t identify as an intellectual! I can be a nerd for the things that I love. And I study and research and learn about the history of those things. But following my instincts is very important to me. Sometimes too much research can get in the way of that.

In an interview with Ethan Iverson you bring up a point, this was in relation to Bessie Smith, where you said, “at first I guess it sounds very the same when you don’t know how to listen.” What is the audience responsibility in listening? How much does technology and the need for videos and photos get in the way of your ability to communicate with an audience and their ability to listen? Is the fine art of listening a dying art?

It’s changing the way we communicate. We have more access than ever to all kinds of music and yet our attention span is very low. But I think people are feeling a bit over-saturated so there might be a countercurrent to that soon. I also really admire the way this younger generation coming up can find whatever they connect with, regardless of era or popularity, online. Listening will have to change whether we like it or not! But it’s always been changing. It changed already when the first compositions were notated on paper, when people began having access to records, when music videos started to gain popularity, and so on.

Nonesuch Records alluded in an email last week to a new album coming out this spring. What can you tell me about this new recording?

It will be all in French! About a half woman half snake.

If you could talk to the teenager who had a mohawk, was listening to Dave Matthews Band and Soundgarden before moving to France, what would you say to her about the artist you’ve become and the artist you want to be as you move forward in your career?

I probably wouldn’t say anything about that if I could talk to the teenager I was!!

I’d probably just stare. But I’ll say to you that I feel really lucky for everything that I’ve been able to do, and I’m very excited to keep making my arts and crafts, which is how I like to think of what I do (otherwise you get too precious about it all).

Main Photo: Cécile McLorin Salvant at the Blue Note in New York (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)

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As Stradford says in the introduction to his book, Davis was named to Esquire Magazine‘s 75 best-dressed men of all time. GQ called him the best-dressed musician ever.

Stradford combines his own presentation of key biographical elements with interviews with those who knew Davis: from ex-wives to musicians to stylists. Amongst those offering their perspectives on him in MilesStyle are Quincy Jones, Bryan Ferry, the late trumpeter Clark Terry, filmmaker Reggie Hudlin, his late ex-wife Frances Davis, bassist Ron Carter, Lenny Kravitz and more.

I recently spoke by phone with Stradford about his book, the conversations he had about Davis and I ask him the one question he asks every person in MilesStyle. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

Miles Davis said, “For me, music and life are all about style.” With so many other books on Davis, why do you think no one had examined his style before?

I think the strength and weight of his music was so prominent and there was so much to digest there. This was a guy who changed music several times. It’s only been in the last 10-15 years that men’s fashion has really gotten a serious look from the culture. When Miles was stylin’, people would always acknowledge it because it was unique and he was so consistent.

Style expert Lloyd Boston told you he compared Davis to Cab Calloway, Grace Jones and Lady Gaga as a fellow “rainmaker.” Do you see the same through line he does with Davis?

I can see it in that everyone was a trailblazer and marched to their own beat. Cab stayed the same musically, but the others you mentioned, Gaga, Grace Jones, you could put David Bowie in there, they were all chameleons, but they all had a distinct and unique presence. I think Miles easily falls within that lineage.

Something else Boston said intrigued me, “Knowing when to stop makes it elegant and understated.” That seems, at least up to Bitches Brew, to describe his music. How much do you think his music influenced his style and vice-versa?

I think Miles saw everything creatively. So I think his music influenced his style. His cooking influenced his style. The cars he drove – the Maserati, the Jag, the Ferrari – influenced his style. The last 8-9 years of his life he went into this avant-garde look that was contrary to what he’d done before. I never got a handle on what it was about the avant-garde Japanese designers and the big floral Versace clothes that got into his design.

For someone for whom music was everything, why did he put so much emphasis on how he appeared?

I think part of it had to do with respect. He wanted to be taken seriously and I think he thought you can’t be taken seriously if you aren’t taken seriously for what you wear. Dexter Gordon sent him to a tailor and that was the first time he had clothes made and he understood the impact of how he presented himself.

Did Miles Davis in any way influence your own perspective on clothes and how to present yourself?

He made me think about it seriously because he always looked impeccable. I appreciated that. I thought it was too much work for me personally, but I liked the idea that visually when I went out I looked presentable – whether a casual gathering or an after-five outing.

I always enjoyed his mid-50s to mid-60s look when he was wearing Italian-cut suits. I think that’s his most timeless look. He was particular about the quality of the fabric, how it was cut, how it lined up against another fabric. Some of it works on me and some of it doesn’t. I found that educational and have tried to apply that over time.

I’m intrigued by Quincy Jones and his concern about today’s musicians not knowing music history. Why should younger generations care about Miles Davis, both as a musician and a fashion icon?

For an artist trying to build a career, Miles’ path can be an inspiring one because of the way he started and the hurdles he faced – including his own demons. His fearlessness in changing bands and direction when nobody supported it. Miles Davis plays out a life and career path that is worth investigating. All roads are bumpy, it’s how you navigate them that counts.

As far as clothes, it speaks to a uniqueness of him as a person and his personal vision. If someone has the music and they watch the look to match, it’s trial and error and you find the right thing that works for you. Miles is a great example of that.

If you could go back in time and spend a year with Miles Davis, what period would you want that to be and why?

It would probably be the mid-to-late 50s because that was his real coming out. That was when he conquered his heroin addiction and came back to New York renewed with a sense of clarity of the kind of artist he wanted to be. That leads to Kind of Blue which is the best-selling jazz album of all time. It would be interesting to be with him to watch that progress and see what influences him and what he’s responding to and what he’s not.

Throughout the book you ask everyone you interviewed to describe Miles Davis in one word. How would you answer that question?

Ha ha! That’s a good one. To me it all comes back to cool. To me he is the epitome of cool or at least he project the idea of cool. I like the idea of grace under pressure which I think cool is and he exhibited that often. Just an ability to be comfortable in his own skin to the extent he didn’t care what anyone else thought. That to me is cool. That would be my word.

Michael Stradford’s MilesStyle is available now.

On Monday, August 31st, Stradford will be hosting a conversation about The Enduring Cultural Legacy of Miles Davis on MOBE Symposium at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT. Joining him for that conversation will be Vince Wilburn, Jr and Erin Davis from Miles Davis Properties, LLC; Nicole London and Stanley Nelson, the producer and director of Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool; John Jackson from Legacy Recordings and musician/composer Marcus Miller. The event is free, but you do need to register to join.

Photo of Miles Davis courtesy of MilesDavis.com

Photo of MilesStyle and Michael Stradford courtesy of the author

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