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Hearing Gretchen Parlato’s spellbinding version of the Herbie Hancock song Butterfly was unforgettable when the eloquent LA-born singer’s star glimmered into view in the 2000s. The unique qualities she revealed soon brought her worldwide acclaim. Butterfly would open in an onstage silence only broken by Parlato’s soft handclap on a Brazilian groove, eventually turned into a wordless vocal hook, and then the awestruck natural-world homage of the lyrics written by Hancock’s sister Jean. She would time phrases between deliberately emphatic in-breaths like cymbal hits, and arrestingly morph words in and out of abstract sound.
The Wise Ones arrives as her third album since 2021, when she returned from six years of parenting. Here, she’s backed by longtime partners including guitarist Lionel Loueke, folk-rockish and jazz-influenced multi-instrumentalist Alan Hampton and Parlato’s percussionist husband Mark Guiliana, plus guests including Robert Glasper, Meshell Ndegeocello and Becca Stevens.
Parlato’s Never Come Down is a snappy groover for Giuliana’s hustling drums and Ndegeocello’s vocals and bass – full of fast, anthemic rephrasing of a catchy hook that wouldn’t be out of place on a dancefloor. The smooth-jazziness of Glasper’s soft-funky Rainbow is gently resisted by Parlato’s immaculate phrasing, canny timing and clever pacing of the backing vocals, while singer/producer Amber Navran guides her expressively close to neo-soul on the title track. Stevie Wonder’s If It’s Magic is a big highlight, as are Parlato’s languid account of Tears for Fears’ Mad World over a contrasting punchy vamp; her quietly intense chant of the typically pop-seductive Hampton ballad It’s You; and Glasper’s moving paean to creative receptivity Block the Sun. Perhaps aimed at a wider marketplace than its more improvisational and intimate predecessors Flor and Lean In, and not without a humdrum moment or two, The Wise Ones nonetheless confirms that Parlato’s inimitable character never lets her slip into the generic.
Also out this month
Peace and Justice (Flexatronic) is an enthralling session led by an overlooked multi-generic maestro, New York original and longtime Meredith Monk collaborator John Hollenbeck. A Ukraine-themed repertoire originally scheduled for a 2022 Kyiv premiere, it’s a gripping mix of Ukrainian traditional and resistance music, Christmas carols and Hollenbeck originals, played by Portugal’s superb Hot Club Jazz Orchestra and powered by the composer’s creative momentum at the drum kit. Young UK pianist Noah Stoneman continues to develop the spontaneous fluency and freedom from cliche that has already marked him out on Like Yours, a set of freewheeling post-bop variations on lyrical and quietly striking originals, featuring young Danish bass star Felix Moseholm and drummer Jacob Patrone. And Tomorrow’s Warriors-mentored saxophonist/composer Mali Sheard, with A-listers Huw Warren (piano) and Rob Luft (guitar) augmenting her empathic quintet, releases an atmospheric mix of rural tranquillity, urban-jazzy edginess and distinctively talkative alto and soprano sax phrasing on her sophisticated debut Hayfever (ECN Music).
