The great American jazz artist Melody Gardot was simply amazing on Tuesday night at the Grand Théâtre de Québec.
The singer with the smoking goggles had a full house for her performance at the Quebec Jazz Festival in June. Ms. Gardot and her orchestra of five musicians gave a sober but sublime performance to the 1,885 spectators in the Louis Fréchette room.
The artist, who sings in French, English and Portuguese, achieved commercial success in 2008 with his debut album Worrisome Heart. Since then, she has launched a dozen projects that have sold more than 1.4 million copies worldwide.
It was above all the members of the orchestra who excelled. The mixture of South American percussion and bérimbau, a Brazilian stringed instrument, set the stage for the headliner.
The slick piano chords that followed were quickly drowned out by the crowd’s applause as Melody Gardot took the stage. She stormed off with the song “Love Song,” softly, one hand on the piano by her side.
Before continuing with her track “C’est magnifique,” the 2010 Grammy winner addressed the audience in French.
“Thank you for being here, there were many other things you could have done, but you are here, thank you,” she blurted out softly to the onlookers.
The spectators were happy about this attention.
The perfect complement
The New Jersey native praised her pianist Philippe Powell, with whom she released her latest work in 2022. The French-Brazilian singer complemented Melody Gardot beautifully throughout the evening, providing her with a cozy backdrop that harmonized surprisingly well with the Latin American percussions.
“When someone drives better than you, you give them the keys,” she thought, explaining why she gave Powell her place behind the piano, even though it’s one of his favorite instruments.
With a combination of charisma, grace and humor, the 38-year-old jazz musician interacted with the audience as if she had known them forever. She returned the favor with a standing ovation after singing “The Stars”, the first French track of her career.
The evening ended on a high with a ten minute encore where the musicians let their madman run wild in front of a room that wouldn’t empty.
Melody Gardot will perform at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 2nd before flying to Europe.