[Essay] Cécile McLorin Salvant: Bringing A Concert Experience to White Plains

In the world of Jazz today, there are few artists who can wield the lore of its bygone eras yet still create their own identifiable sound. Cécile McLorin Salvant effortlessly commands this rare ability, transporting her audiences across time with each spellbinding note. Attending a Cécile McLorin Salvant concert promises a journey into the heart and mind of a brilliant artist full of intrigue and heartfelt connection. Salvant will bring this connection to her JazzFest White Plains performance on September 9.

In speaking with Salvant, I wanted to reach into her musical upbringing, of which she said: “I was really lucky to be able to hear music from all over the world: classical and folk music, music from just everywhere – South American music, African music…there was French music and Portuguese music, and just a lot of different stuff. I think what I do now doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of how eclectic and how all-encompassing the music was that I listened to growing up.”

Salvant’s voice is a treasure trove of versatility and emotional depth. With each song, she displays a profound understanding of the nuances within each lyric and melody, making every song an adventure waiting to unfold. Her repertoire speaks to her expansive ability to weave a captivating narrative, inviting her listeners into a world of raw emotions and vivid imagery that extends beyond storytelling.

Her frequent accomplice in song is pianist Sullivan Fortner, who will be joining her for this duo performance on September 9.

Of Fortner, Salvant says: “He is extremely flexible, and his knowledge of songs is completely exhaustive and expansive. And he knows every single song that there was. Even the songs he doesn’t know, he can play. He’s a genius. The amount of beauty that he gives us is extremely generous. And particularly because maybe 90% of it goes over most of our heads…The notes on the piano and the way that they move together, it feels like it’s a beautiful choir, and there’s a lot going on harmonically…He’s moved me to tears before on a gig where I’m singing. That’s very rare… He can amp it up or he can bring it down. He’s so flexible, so versatile, and he sounds like himself in any context. There’s this kind of casual brilliance. It’s very intimate and very casual and very conversational, but it’s brilliant. And so, it’s just such a joy. I could go on and on.”

With excitement, I enquired about what she might be performing during her JazzFest White Plains show. I was delighted to hear that, in true jazz form, the curation would be improvised and this show will be unlike any she’s performed before or will likely perform after.

“It’s totally undecided. I love it. That morning we’re going to play at the U.S. Open. And I think what we’re going to do is just a mix of everything, like we always do when we play duo – some stuff from [my album] The Window, some never before recorded stuff, sometimes we add a song that we both are just learning.”

Salvant has expertly curated her concert presentations and recordings since the inception of her career. On what inspires her song selections, she explains: “It’s very lyric-based and it’s very much about getting surprised by something in the song, like a left turn. Somewhere in the narrative is always what I am drawn to. I want to be surprised. I don’t want to know where the song is going and then reach that destination. I want to think, ‘I know where the song is going,’ and then have something drastically take us in another direction and we end up somewhere else.”

She also reflected on the agency she has that wasn’t previously afforded to singers in the past: “For most of the history of recorded music, people have told singers, ‘Go sing this.’ A lot of singers had to deal with that and they made the best of it…But I think there’s this thing of having the agency to curate – to really curate what you present. It’s a privilege and it’s fun for me. Almost more fun than singing is picking the song.”

While deeply rooted in many a plethora of musical traditions, Cécile McLorin Salvant isn’t confined by them. Her fusion of styles makes her concerts a delightful experience for both seasoned jazz aficionados and those new to the genre. Promising a night of musical exploration that transcends boundaries, lucky concertgoers are set to be captivated, moved, and astonished by the inimitable artistry of Cécile McLorin Salvant.