Van Dyke Café Jazz Club Tuesday, December 22, 2009 Cecile McLorin-Salvant: Vocal, Mike Kaplan: Guitar, Troy Roberts: Sax Antulio Mora: Piano, Devin Hoffman: Bass, Jimmy Daniel: Drums

It is 8:30 PM. I am in a rush to Van Dyke café, located on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. For the first time I will have the opportunity to listen to the young Jazz vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant. Paris Hot Club magazine has called her in 2009 a “true and remarkable jazz singer…a young jazz prodigy”. Although I had a pretty good idea of her repertoire of standards, I couldn’t hide my excitement to go see her “live”. The combersome task of finding a parking spot around Van Dyke Café prevented me from being on time. Once there, the place was already packed and I had to wait more than 40 minutes to gain access as the 20 years old singer was about to start the second set.

What I witnessed was a night of wonderful music, an audience attentive to details and two-sets of mostly Jazz standards where the young diva gave a clear demonstration of her talent as a Jazz singer. Due to repeated rounds of applause between and during the execution of pieces such as “My Funny Valentine”, “You Go to My Head”, “Moody’s Mood for Love”, I can infer the audience shared the same feelings. Others pieces played were “Love for Sale”, “Sophisticated Lady”, “Anything Goes”, Exactly like you” to name a few.

Surrounded by five talented musicians, Cecile embarked in a two-hour journey revisiting with passion the great classics of Jazz. Her performance set the bar at a level she maintained all night long. Her beautiful sassy voice contains Lady Day’s voice inflection combined with Ella’s clarity and Sarah Vaughan’s poise. She delivers a very good performance. Her improvised band for the night carried a stunning show strewn with sparkling guitar solos, bluesy saxophone phrases and a cohesive, consistent team playing. These musicians were crucial to the success of this young lady gifted with a perfect, natural, inner sense of swing and blues nuances.

As a vibrant jazz vocalist with a good repertoire of standards, the young singer has a bag full or surprises; singing not only well but with her own originality and touch that target the best works done in the field. I was really amazed by the effortless aspect of her singing especially in “Moody’s Mood for Love”. Listening to Cecile singing reminds of myriad of sounds, tones, colors and words that jazz aficionados held in their sub conscious for years and yet, they appeared, that night, as it was the first time they were being played or said because of her inner skills of turning old words into new sounds. KariJazz is pleased with this culture of standards because we believe this practice will certainly lead to exceptional skills in singing (skills she already possesses). We can anticipate what maturity will later bring to her career as a French-Haitian American jazz singer, provided she is well aware of this three-dimensional aspect of her culture.

Cécile has performed as “a guest at the prestigious 2008 Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland and with her quartet at the legendary Parisian jazz club “Le Petit Journal Saint Michel” in April 2009. She lives in France, where she studies music (Conservatoire d’Aix-en-Provence) and law (Université Pierre Mendes France /Grenoble)” . She is already known and critics unanimously, in the Hexagon, agreed on her exceptional talent as a jazz prodigy. Hard work and perseverance will take her to the next level. It is just a matter of time...just a matter of time. Good Luck Cecile!

KariJazz visitors are encouraged to visit her site at http://www.cecilemclorinsalvant.com

For KariJazz,
Alphonse Piard, Jr.
January 01, 2010