Sunset in the Blue Melody Gardot Artist

With 2020's {|Sunset in the Blue|}, singer {|Melody Gardot|} sinks into a dusky and languorously produced album that builds upon her love of jazz standards, Brazilian music, and intimate balladry. The record finds {|Gardot|} surrounded by a productio... Read more

With 2020's {|Sunset in the Blue|}, singer {|Melody Gardot|} sinks into a dusky and languorously produced album that builds upon her love of jazz standards, Brazilian music, and intimate balladry. The record finds {|Gardot|} surrounded by a production dream team, including longtime associate {|Larry Klein|}, who helmed 2009's {|My One and Only Thrill|} and 2015's {|Currency of Man|}, as well as equally acclaimed studio pros, arranger {|Vince Mendoza|} and engineer {|Al Schmitt|}. Together, they have crafted a showcase for {|Gardot|}'s delicately nuanced vocal style. The album is an interesting dichotomy, at once intimate as if {|Gardot|} is singing to you in a small club, yet also widescreen, framing her hushed vocals in sweeping orchestrations that reinforce the romantic drama at play in the songs. The opening original If You Love Me Let Me Know sounds like something {|Dinah Washington|} or {|Abbey Lincoln|} might sing, but filtered through the half-lidded scrim of {|Gardot|}'s bedroom intimacy. Equally evocative moments follow, as on the yearning You Won't Forget Me, in which {|Gardot|} balances a wry cabaret theatricality a la {|Marlene Dietrich|} with a tangible sadness that never feels anything but real. Elsewhere, she gently wades into a handful of earthy bossa nova songs, including a gorgeously attenuated reading of the {|Ella Fitzgerald|} number C'est Magnifique featuring Brazilian singer {|Antonio Zambujo|} and an original titled Ninguem, Ninguem that she sings in Portuguese. We also get a movie theme-ready version of From Paris with Love, as well as memorable takes on classics like Moon River and I Fall in Love Too Easily. From beginning to end, {|Gardot|}'s {|Sunset in the Blue|} holds you in its deeply rapturous glow. ~ Matt Collar Less