TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Our jazz critic Martin Johnson says all 20th-century jazz greats have cast long shadows that their 21st-century proteges must escape, but few musicians have a harder task than vocalists. Evading the extraordinary ground set by first-name legends like Ella, Billie and Sarah and establishing a distinctive style of her own is a daunting task, yet, he says, Cecile McLorin Salvant has accomplished just that. Amid a remarkable series of recordings and live shows, she's created a unique vocal style and curatorial skills that make each new recording an event. Her latest recording, "With Every Breath I Take," is her most daring yet - a traditional recording with an orchestra and a program of ballads, yet Martin says that although rooted in the classics, Salvant always sounds in the moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOPHISTICATED LADY")
CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT: (Singing) They say into your early life romance came and in this heart of yours burned a flame, a flame that flickered one day and died away.
MARTIN JOHNSON, BYLINE: Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" has been a classic for so long that it's often referred to as a warhorse. Yet when Cecile McLorin Salvant sings it, she imbues it with curiosity. She's convinced that there are new aspects in the song to redeem and highlight. Her singing is a quest to find and celebrate them.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOPHISTICATED LADY")
MCLORIN SALVANT: (Singing) Smoking, drinking, never thinking of tomorrow. Nonchalant, diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant. Is that all you really want? No.
JOHNSON: That spirit of inquiry is what makes McLorin Salvant special and without peer, even in an era of great, young jazz vocalists like Samara Joy, Veronica Swift and Somi. Cecile - yes, she's on a first-name basis with the jazz community - has amazing range and astonishing technique, but she employs them purely in the investigation of a song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEND IN THE CLOWNS")
MCLORIN SALVANT: (Singing) Isn't it rich? Are we a pair? Me here at last on the ground. You in mid-air.
JOHNSON: "Send In The Clowns" is already a slow number, but Cecile decelerates it to communicate all of the longing, hope and dismay in the lyrics. The emotions of a song are Cecile's focus. On previous recordings, she's made songs by Stevie Wonder and Kate Bush her own with this style. But on her new recording, she tackles 10 great American songbook standards with similar aplomb. Here's her take on the Buddy Johnson classic "Ever Since The One I Love's Been Gone."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVER SINCE THE ONE I LOVE'S BEEN GONE")
MCLORIN SALVANT: (Singing) Answered the phone, but the phone didn't ring. I'm all confused about every little thing.
JOHNSON: Cecile records with the Dutch Metropole Orkest under the direction of Jules Buckley. The arrangements are by Canadian big band leader Darcy James Argue, with whom she created an oratorio called "Ogresse" that is being made into a film. One of the most remarkable aspects of the recording demonstrated there on "Ever Since The One I Love's Been Gone" is how Cecile, who often records in just duo or even solo settings, makes an orchestral recording sound intimate, as if more than a dozen musicians comfortably squeezed into your living room.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LUSH LIFE")
MCLORIN SALVANT: (Singing) I used to visit all the very gay places, those come-what-may places, where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life, to get the feel of life from jazz and cocktails.
JOHNSON: Cecile's spirit of inquiry and formidable technique make her music contemporary, and her talent as a storyteller makes it affecting. Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" has been in the canon of American songs for many decades. Yet McLorin Salvant's take feels new and fresh and makes the wistful reflections of the song much more potent. It's music with an extraordinary past and an amazing present.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LUSH LIFE")
MCLORIN SALVANT: (Singing) Life is lonely again. And only last year everything seemed so sure. Now life is awful again, a troughful of hearts could only be a bore.
GROSS: Martin Johnson writes for The Wall Street Journal and DownBeat. He reviewed "With Every Breath I Take" by Cecile McLorin Salvant.
Tomorrow on FRESH AIR we'll feature Tonya's interview with Riz Ahmed. He's nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the Prime Video series "Bait." He plays a British Pakistani actor auditioning to be the next James Bond. Ahmed is also a writer and creator of the series. He starred in a film adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," and he'll explain why he believes the most famous speech in the English language has been misunderstood for centuries. I hope you'll join us.
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FRESH AIR's executive producer is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer today is Adam Staniszewski. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Our cohost is Tonya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY ROLLINS' "HERE YOU COME AGAIN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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