Melody Gardot

“In my eyes, there’s two kinds of music,” says Gardot.  “There’s the kind that rushes out at you, and the kind that settles in and lets you come to it.  I prefer the latter of the two.  I like the idea of hearing music in the distance; you’re drawn to it and you want to know what it is.  To me, that’s beautiful, that’s the essence of listening to music: discovering it. exploring it and finding those little spaces.  To have it thrown out at you almost cheapens it.” –Melody Gardot            

International sultry jazz sensation Melody Gardot, 26, a Grammy-nominated singer, writer and musician was born on February 2, 1985 in Pennsylvania, USA. Oftentimes compared with the music of Nina Simone and inspired by the blues and jazz music of Judy Garland, Janey Joplin, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Stan Getz and George Gershwin as well as latin artists such as Caetano Veloso, Melody has established herself as one of contemporary jazz’s most sought for artists with her deeply compelling, soulful renditions of love, life and loss.

How she found her voice and inclination to the soothing beats of jazz music is quite a story to tell. She took music lessons at the age of 9 and started playing piano in Philadelphia bars at 16. Then tragedy struck by the age of 19. While riding her bicycle she was suddenly hit by a car that left her with a fractured pelvis, damaged spine and a devastating brain trauma that affected her memory, speech and sensitivity to light and sound. The accident was quite deplorable as her prognosis entailed a desperate cry for a miracle. When therapies and medicine did not produce a great impact on her recovery, her physician, Dr. Richard Jermyn turned to music therapy and this changed her life. Music therapy, a well researched form of alternative remedy, was known to reconnect neural pathways in the brain, improve speech, soothe pain and relax the mind and spirit. This kind of therapy played a huge role in her recovery and her love for music. While in the hospital, she recalls her friends giving her a record of Stan Getz’s The Bossa Nova Years and her sudden addiction to the music made it a little more personal for her.

Also, while in the hospital, she learned how to play a guitar and started to write her own compositions. While still undergoing therapy, she started recording and playing at some venues in Philadelphia and was spotted by the radio station WXPN. The said station offered her a demo opportunity which was then discovered by Universal Records. Her earlier works while in the hospital can be found on iTunes and are released in her album Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions (2005).

Worrisome Heart, her first full-length album which she co-produced with Grammy-winner Glenn Barratt as an originally independent record in 2006, reflected her personal experiences, emphasized how she transformed the jazz and blues tradition into her own subtle yet seductive music and highlighted her debut as a contemporary jazz artist. It was released again in 2008 by Verve Records produced by another Grammy-winning producer Larry Klein.  In April 28, 2009 she released her second album My One and Only Thrill. This album got her nominated for categories Best Jazz Act at MOBO Awards 2009 and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical at the Grammy’s 2010.

Edited: July 28th, 2011