Melody Gardot – Music as Medicine

Injuries from a hit and run jeep driver left 18 year old Melody Gardot with ultra sensitivity to light, severe tinnitus and dependence on a walking stick. Six years later she is a rising star in the Jazz world. Keen to see the face behind her angels voice I caught the train to her recent show in Cologne.

Unfortunately there are no photos to this review. Not through lack of effort on my part I should add. I’d very much wanted to photograph Melody Gardot, I sensed a character that would be wonderful to capture but got nowhere with my applications. I even contacted Melody herself via Twitter who could only suggest I bring my camera and see what happens. In fact what happened was that both camera and coat had to be left at the wardrobe (2 euros an item!) As it turned out it was so dark onstage I would have needed a tripod anyway…

The stage in Gurzenich was sparsely lit and when Melody Gardot stepped onto it only a weak spotlight followed her rather frail looking figure across to her piano, the brightest spot glinting from her silver topped walking stick (Harvey Wallbanger as she calls it, due to it’s habit of falling over when unattended).

We had, with varying levels of patience, sat patiently sat through a half hour of quiet jazz on the tannoy which led to some slow handclapping – but now it made sense. As the first sad notes to ‘The Rain’ echoed out it was clear that the earlier music had been a deliberate. A way of calming us in advance of the sensitive 90+ minutes that followed.

For much of the show Charles Staab sounded more like a road sweeper than a drummer His soft rustling runs echoing a broom clearing the Autumn leavessuited the mood perfectly. Ken Pendergrast was maybe a little too understated on stand-up bass (or was maybe a victim of the otherwise perfect sound mix). Irwin Hall, a very recent addition, was undoubted star of the band though with evocative sax and flute solos, not to mention playing two saxes at once – the jazz equivalent of Townsend’s windmill guitar or Jimmy Page’s violin bow solos it might be but even jazz needs it’s visual tricks and Hall’s emotion-riven soloing was more than just eye candy.

These guys could obviously improvise all night. Such jazz not being my thing I’m glad Melody’s songs are there to give them boundaries. For a moment I’m thinking that I could just as easily (and more cheaply) be listening to the CD’s with their lush orchestration and perfect sound balance. Then Melody begins with foot stomps and finger clicks as with ‘Sweet memory’. It’s bluesy in it’s simplicity and suddenly I’m glad she’s here live onstage. The same is true when she takes her guitar and has the audience singing along – a welcome relief from the melancholy ballads.

Anyone who’s looked at Gardot’s blogs on MySpace will also know she is an intelligent and articulate writer so it’s no surprise she also communicates easily between songs: turning technical problems into witty comments as when her mike kept changing volume and storytelling as with her preamble before a haunting rendition to close the show of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ – “The only video my Grandmother ever owned. I had to watch it every day”. It wasn’t in vain though. Like Dorothy’s friends, Melody Gardot has learned through adversity to be thankful for the gifts she has – and I’m thankful that she shares them with us every time she sings.

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