A serpent woman haunts
Cecile McLorin Salvant's dreams on her boldly realized seventh album, 2023's
Melusine. Inspired by the European folktale most famously detailed by 14th century French writer Jean d'Arras,
Melusine tells the tale of a shapeshifting maiden, half-serpent/half-woman, whose righteous anger takes on ever-more dualistic meanings under
Salvant's dynamic musical sway. Having been lavished with accolades, including several Grammy Awards for her clarion, swinging jazz and French chanson-infused albums,
Salvant has increasingly leaned into the more stylistically experimental and personal aspects of her artistry. It was an approach she took to new levels with 2022's
Ghost Song, performing her poetic originals alongside unexpected covers of songs by
Kate Bush and
Sting. Centered on the title track, which she composed during the
Ghost Song sessions,
Melusine is a gorgeously realized production. Although there are some English lyrics here, the album features the most French
Salvant has sung on record. Thankfully, she offers translations of each song with a sentence that also highlights how each track illuminates the story.
The album also finds
Salvant (who produced the album with
Tom Korkidis) pulling together all of her disparate influences, from her moody cabaret jazz reading of
Charles Trenet's "La Route Enchantee" to her playfully mischievous interpretation of the 14th century composition "Dites Moi Que Je Suis Belle," the latter of which is done in dancerly duet with djembe percussion master
Weedie Braimah. Along with
Braimah, she's joined throughout by several longtime associates including pianists
Sullivan Fortner and
Aaron Diehl, bassists
Paul Sikivie and
Luques Curtis, drummers
Kyle Pool and
Obed Calvaire, and saxophonist
Godwin Louis. Shifting the line-up track to track,
Salvant offers inspired forays into '70s sci-fi-inspired Canadian musical theater ("Petite Musique Terrienne" from
Starmania), the dramatic French pop of
Veronique Sanson ("Le Temps est Assassin"), and an Afro-Latin take on 12th century troubadour
Almuc Castelnau's "Dame Iseut" that
Salvant sings in both Occitan and Haitian Creole, languages that underline her own rich dual heritage. There's even a synthesizer-accented take on
Michel Lambert's haunting 1660 air de coeur "D'un Feu Secret" that sounds like electronic composer
Suzanne Ciani,
Ella Fitzgerald, and the
Modern Jazz Quartet giving a Baroque court performance. Her originals here are just as stylistically wide-ranging as she pulls together jazz and Haitian compas rhythms on "Doudou," accompanies herself on analog synth on "Wedo," and weaves a dreamy overlay of vocals and electric piano on "Aida." It almost goes without saying that
Salvant's voice is utterly sublime on
Melusine, rich with an earthy jazz warmth on one song and shimmering with a brightly attenuated operatic resonance on another. There's also a feeling that for her, the story of a half-serpent half-woman is in keeping with her life as a Black woman raised in Miami by a Haitian father and French mother. Whether it's with the themes of romantic heartbreak and bodily autonomy, or the global boundary-pushing musicality at play on
Melusine,
Salvant's work is transcendent. ~ Matt Collar
