CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT (USA/Japan)
Cécile McLorin Salvant – vocal
Sullivan Fortner - piano
Yasushi Nakamura –double bass
Kyle Poole – drums
Cécile McLorin Salvant (Miami, 1989) is today's most outstanding jazz singer. Raised in a mixed marriage (Haitian father, French mother) on North American soil, she was influenced by diverse influences during childhood, which strongly impacted her repertoire and expression. She studied piano from age five and classically studied voice at the University of Miami. She obtained her BA in law in Grenoble, while studying baroque music and jazz at the Darius Milhaud Music Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France.
In 2010, she made her recording debut with Professor Jean- François Bonnel's quintet. She won the Thelonius Monk vocal competition, allowing her to record for the Mack Avenue label. Her first album, WomanChild (2013), was already the record of the year according to DownBeat magazine critics and was nominated for a Grammy. Three consecutive Grammys for the best vocal jazz album followed - for For One To Love (2015), Dreams and Daggers (2017) and The Window (2018) - and two nominations - for the albums Ghost Song (2022) and Mélusine ( 2023). Cecile received a "Grant for Geniuses" from the MacArthur Foundation (2020). She is also a multiple winner of the Jazz Journalists Association's Female Vocalist of the Year award and the best in DownBeat magazine's critics' choice, repeating both this year. Her band's pianist Sullivan Fortner was ranked second in DownBeat, behind veteran Kenny Barron.
McLorin Salvant seamlessly combines vaudeville, blues, theater, jazz, baroque, pop-rock and folklore. She is a relentless explorer of American and European musical treasures, discovering pearls among forgotten songs, but she is also an inventive writer of original, sometimes very eclectic music. She developed a passion for storytelling, readily showering each verse with the deepest emotions. She loves songs with strong narratives, power dynamics and unexpected twists filled with humor.
