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Cecile McLorin Salvant at Slee Hall

By Frank Housh
February 16, 2024
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Cecile McLorin Salvant
Slee Hall at University of Buffalo
Buffalo, NY
February 9, 2024

The word is "trobairitz;" it refers to female troubadours of the Middle Ages who performed some of Western music's first secular songs (and the first composed by women) in the area south of the Loire Valley, what we now call Provence.

As C��cile McLorin Salvant prowled the stage and charmed the crowd with stories of her childhood and songs of lost love, one could not help but think of her as a trobairitz reborn a millennium later. Indeed, she learned Occitan, the trobairitz's language, so she could translate "Dame Iseut" and put it to music.

McLorin's voice is soft and nimble, singing Occitan cadences around a bouncy polyrhythm.

On Friday February 9, 2024, she and her excellent trio,

Adam Birnbaum

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Adam Birnbaum (piano),

Paul Sikivie

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Sikivie (bass), and

Keita Ogawa

percussion

" data-original-title="" title="">Keita Ogawa (drums), performed a dozen songs from McLorin Salvant's seven recordings (the set list is at the end of this review) with several selections from her 2023 (French language) release M��lusine. McLorin's sophisticated voice was always the focal point as it pushed the boundaries of vocal range.

Birnbaum's piano acted as her musical foil, filling the space with octave runs and Keita Ogawa's soft touch felt right; Sikivie's thin, reedy tone and lyrical bass solos were a firm foundation. It was McLorin's voice, however, that brought the near-capacity (700) crowd to its feet.

Her impeccable, multi-lingual phrasing and sweet tone calls to mind

Stacey Kent

vocals
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Stacey Kent and the great

Blossom Dearie

piano and vocals
1926 - 2009

" data-original-title="" title="">Blossom Dearie, as described in this space. Listen as McLorin sings "Moon Song" in a previous performance. Her whispery voice rises and climbs, at once urgent and sad.

McLorin is not merely an accomplished musician and rescuer of songs in endangered languages, she is a tapestry artist, film director and the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She is a rare creature, a fearless artist following her muse wherever it leads.

Whatever her future holds, I can't wait to hear more.

Local artist Curtis Lovell opened the show.

Set List

Fog; Monday; Look at Me; Splendor; Moon Song; I Lost My Mind; Underling; Dame Iseut (Almucs de Castelnau (female troubadour, 12th century); Thundercloud; Obligation; Doudou. ENCORE: Ghost Song.

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Cecile McLorin Salvant Concerts

Sep 25 Thu

Cécile McLorin Salvant, New York Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic
New York, NY

Oct 25 Sat

Cécile McLorin Salvant, Glenn Zaleski, Yasushi...

Telus Centre For Performance And Learning
Toronto, Canada

Nov 2 Sun

Cécile Mclorin Salvant

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