On her first album for
Nonesuch Records, vocalist
Cecile McLorin Salvant continues to push her sound beyond the straight-ahead jazz that has earned her accolades. Though known for her
Ella Fitzgerald-esque skill at interpreting songbook standards and French chanson,
Salvant has proven herself a literate and nuanced songwriter in her own right. She brings all of these aspects together yet again on
Ghost Song, this time adding in more contemporary cover tunes and other folk traditions she hadn't yet explored. As with some of her past work, there is also a deeply personal feeling to the album, as it arrives in the wake of the death of both her grandmother and longtime drummer
Lawrence Leathers, the latter of whom was tragically killed during a 2019 domestic dispute. A sense of loss permeates
Ghost Song, even as
Salvant finds more unexpected and transcendent avenues to express her feelings. Bookending the album are two songs sung in the Irish unaccompanied vocal style sean-nos, the first of which leads into a sublime interpretation of
Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights." It's a bold choice, evoking the iconic genre-crossing work of
Joni Mitchell while remaining purely
Salvant. From there, she leaps into a wildly effusive take on the Wizard of Oz song "Optimistic Voices," contrasting a swinging banjo groove with an impressionistic flute and piano accents â?? ultimately transmogrifying the song into a dreamy, slow-jam version of
Gregory Porter's "No Love Dying." Equally potent covers follow, including a deeply romantic take on
Sting's "Until" replete with a vibrant Brazilian-influenced instrumental section featuring a flowing solo's from flutist
Alexa Tarantino and pianist
Sullivan Fortner. There's also an ambitious arrangement of
Kurt Weill and
Bertolt Brecht's ThreePenny Opera song "The World Is Mean" that showcases
Salvant's Olympian knack for singing with a hushed intimacy one second and widescreen theatricality the next. As impressive as
Salvant's finely curated cover songs are, perhaps more remarkable are her original compositions, which move from the rootsy, sun-dappled folk of "Thunderclouds" to the poetic ballad "Moon Song," the latter of which evokes the dusky warmth of
Sarah Vaughan's classic work. Yet more archly experimental is "I Lost My Mind," which starts as a piano duo before
Salvant and
Sullivan leap into a circular
Steve Reich-ian pipe organ soundscape. That
Salvant (who also paints) transforms a deeply yearning letter from photographer
Alfred Stieglitz to his then paramour and muse, painter
Georgia O'Keeffe, into the poignant "Dead Poplar" speaks to the broad scope of her influences. ~ Matt Collar
