Some tracks of this cool slice of soulful lounge jazz are on Bandcamp, but all are on Spotify. It’s a daytime jazz radio kind of listen as much as a very late night one, a feat in itself. Physical formats are due soon. There is a lot of depth to the sonics even on a digital format.
Stevie Wonder’s ‘If It’s Magic’ and Tears for Fears’ ‘Mad World’ are among the songs which also bring Robert Glasper who opens the new Blue Note in London soon back once again into a central role in influential fellow American singer Gretchen Parlato’s oeuvre.
Glasper co-wrote ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Block The Sun’, arranged ‘If It’s Magic’ and plays piano and Rhodes on several tracks. He is one of a core group of collaborators that also includes Gerald Clayton, Parlato’s husband Mark Guiliana and long time Glasper associate from their H Town days in Texas, Alan Hampton. Houston, we don’t have a problem with any of this!
Parlato’s out of this world associations with Glasper go back more than 20 years. He co-produced her 2011 album, The Lost and Found.
On The Wise Ones, Glasper appears on ‘Rainbow’, ‘The Wise Ones’, ‘If It’s Magic’, ‘Already Gone’ and ‘Block The Sun’. He plays Rhodes on ‘Rainbow’, ‘If It’s Magic’ and ‘Already Gone’ and piano on ‘The Wise Ones’ and ‘Block The Sun.’
The album opens with Hampton’s ‘Capricorn’ followed by Parlato’s ‘Never Come Down’, co-written with Guiliana.
‘Never Come Down’ features bass guitarist Meshell Ndegeocello – who has new album Synonym out on Blue Note soon – and Guiliana.
The title track, ‘The Wise Ones’, is co-written by Parlato and Amber Navran, a founding member of the alternative R&B and neo-soul trio Moonchild – you might know Moonchild number ‘The List‘ (22m + views on YouTube alone) – with Navran and Glasper featured. Other original material includes ‘It’s You’ by Hampton and ‘Already Gone’, written by Parlato with Max Bryk and Navran.
1982 hit ‘Mad World’, written by Roland Orzabal, is arranged by Parlato and Becca Stevens, who also contributes vocals and kora. The closing tracks are ‘In My Bed’ and ‘Landslide’, both written by Josh Mease and featuring Hampton. Mease, who hails from Houston, when he does dream pop is known as Lapland.
The personnel also includes Jacob Mann and Max Bryk on synthesisers, Mease on guitar, and Marley Guiliana (Parlato and Guiliana’s son) and Lauren Desberg on additional vocals and handclaps. Mark Guiliana plays drums and percussion throughout.
Recorded in Los Angeles, The Wise Ones is Parlato’s first album under her own name singly since Flor in 2021, following the excellent 2023 collaboration Lean In with Beninese jazz guitar icon the Franco and George Benson influenced Lionel Loueke.
GP’s previous solo albums include In a Dream (2009), The Lost and Found mentioned earlier and Live in NYC (2013).
The Wise Ones exudes a laidback feel that makes me think of soul music a bit. But the outcome isn’t that really at all given how much more jazz “core” – not weaselly “adjacent” at all – the direction proves. But traditionalists won’t see that.
I am still processing my thoughts on all this having lived with it ONLY for a few days. But I know the way my reaction curve works and mitigate against impetuosity where necessary but firmly believe it’s an instant classic. And instinctively I also think it’s GP’s strongest to date having been a bit meh about her work now and then in the past yet blamed myself for not getting it more than anything she happened to do.
The Stevie Wonder influence is foundational. To me her best thing before this is her version of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Butterfly’ that appeared on In a Dream way back. Beyond that observation and going back to my earlier comment about this being both a daytime jazz radio and a night time one, to enlarge upon this The Wise Ones exudes a laidback feel that makes me think of soul music a bit. But the outcome isn’t that really at all given how much more jazz “core” – not weaselly “adjacent” at all – the direction proves. But traditionalists won’t see that. That term used earlier “lounge jazz” is better and while not a bossa nova affair at all sits well with soft samba stylings elsewhere.
The Glasper contributions are quite brilliant and the comping whether from him or Clayton are textbook as is the drum feel. Glasper stands on the shoulders of Herbie Hancock without fear of understatement – for a long time he made that connection overt by playing Herbie tunes a good deal. While often operating beyond jazz in R&B and hip hop he is so influential on jazz pianists – for example new generation players like Zak Irvine owe him a big debt.
As for Guiliana père think back to Alive the first and greatest Phronesis album which Guiliana is on – itself an outlier as the drummer in Phronesis is the also credible Anton Eger – or his work with Brad Mehldau on Mehliana, the brilliant Taming the Dragon. Here he’s not the main draw but obviously important. Obviously? Because all jazz comes from the drums first and fundamentally (and we believe that piano is 88 tuned drums in a strong sense). Parlato given how highly rhythmical she is knows this instinctively. Her grasp of syncopation is masterly.
Final word for now: clearly one for the list makers among us and The Wise Ones shoots to the top of the best vocals albums of the year list that any self respecting jazz fan might keep. And even given the excitement of something that is new it’s not at all rash to realise if paying attention at all that this is something special and so contemporary sounding too. Nobody can say anything here seems dated which sometimes is an accusation thrown at even the best jazz vocals releases. If Parlato has a mantlepiece it’s make room time surely for a few new arrivals when awards season comes around. Mystic Meg, eh.
