Mélusine
A profile shot of Salvant with her tongue sticking out in front of a brown and orange backdrop.
Studio album by
Cécile McLorin Salvant
ReleasedMarch 24, 2023
RecordedApril 12 and 26, 2022
Studio
  • Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn
  • The Bunker Studio, Brooklyn
GenreJazz
Length45:07
LanguageFrench
LabelNonesuch
Producer
  • Cécile McLorin Salvant
  • Tom Korkidis
Cécile McLorin Salvant chronology
Ghost Song
(2022)		 Mélusine
(2023)
Singles from Mélusine
  1. "D'un feu secret"
    Released: January 26, 2023
  2. "Mélusine"
    Released: March 2, 2023

Mélusine is the seventh solo studio album by American jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, released on March 24, 2023, by Nonesuch Records. The album was recorded in April 2022 in Brooklyn, with Salvant and Tom Korkidis producing. It is primarily sung in French, and is a concept album based on the folkoric story of Melusine. It was preceded by two singles.

The album was met with critical acclaim, and was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals for Godwin Louis's arranging of the song "Fenestra".

Recording and release

The album was recorded on April 12 and 26, 2022, at Brooklyn Recording and the Bunker Studio, both in Brooklyn, New York,[1][2] except for "La route enchantée" which was recorded live.[3] Salvant produced the album with Tom Korkidis, and her band included percussionist Weedie Braimah, pianists Sullivan Fortner and Aaron Diehl, bassists Paul Sikivie and Luques Curtis, drummers Kyle Pool and Obed Calvaire, and saxophonist Godwin Louis.[1] Salvant primarily sang in French, her first language, with other songs in English, Occitan, and Haitian Kreyòl.[4][5][6]

The album was first announced on January 26, 2023, with release dates set for March 24 for digital, and May 19 on vinyl, both by Nonesuch Records.[7] The announcement came with the lead single, "D'un feu secret", and an animated music video by Amanda Bonaiuto.[7] "D'un feu secret" ("Of a Secret Fire") is a 1660 composition by Michel Lambert, which Salvant sings "like an early music performer, poised and delicate with feathery ornaments", while Fortner's synthesizer "savor[s] the anachronism".[8] The second single, the title track, was released on March 2.[9]

Themes

The album is named after Melusine, a figure of European folklore detailed by 14th century French writer Jean d'Arras.[1] Melusine is a woman whose lower body transforms into a snake on Saturdays.[3][5] She is met by Raymondin and agrees to marry him and make him rich if he promises not to visit her on Saturdays, but when he eventually breaks that promise, she turns into a dragon and flies away.[6] Salvant said she first connected with the story's inclusion of "that alone time, that Room of One's Own, as Virginia Woolf put it, and how difficult it is to find that and protect it", but later also identified with Raymondin's desire to not allow one's partner to have a world outside the relationship.[6]

Salvant also described the album as being about "that feeling of being a hybrid, a mixture of different cultures, which I've experienced not only as the American-born child of two first generation immigrants, but as someone raised in a family that is racially mixed, from several different countries, with different languages spoken in the home."[7]

Style

Unlike traditional opera or musical theatre, where each song advances the main narrative, the songs of Mélusine reflect the emotional temperature of each part of the story.[6] Slate's Fred Kaplan said the album is "as much cabaret, Renaissance, mystical, and folk as it is jazz ... with songs spanning from the 12th century to vaudeville ditties and Broadway showtunes to a few Salvant originals".[10]

Reception

Mélusine ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic89/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz[3]
AllMusic[1]
The Arts Desk[12]
Jazzwise[2]
Louder Than War[4]
Mojo[13]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Mélusine received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 89 out of 100 from 4 critic scores.[11] All About Jazz's Katchie Cartwright called Mélusine "a wondrous album, top to bottom".[3] Mojo stated that the album "retains the intellectual curiosity of Salvant's jittery, questing catalogue".[13]

Awards and nominations

Mélusine awards and nominations
Year Organization Award Work Recipient Status Ref.
2024 Grammy Awards Best Jazz Vocal Album Mélusine Salvant Pending [14]
Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals "Fenestra" Godwin Louis Pending [14]

Year-end lists

Mélusine on year-end lists
Publication # Ref.
AllMusic — [15]
Louder Than War 36 [16]
Mojo 67 [17]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Cécile McLorin Salvant except where noted.

Mélusine track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent?"
5:26
2."La route enchantée"Charles Trenet5:57
3."Il m'a vue nue"Pierre Chagnon2:47
4."Dites moi que je suis belle"
2:41
5."Doudou" 5:34
6."Petite musique terrienne"
2:20
7."Aida" 1:03
8."Mélusine" 3:13
9."Wedo" 0:58
10."D'un feu secret"Michel Lambert3:44
11."Le temps est assassin"Véronique Sanson3:49
12."Fenestra" 5:18
13."Domna n'almucs"Iseut de Capio0:44
14."Dame Iseut"Almucs de Castelnau1:33
Total length:45:07

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

  • Cécile McLorin Salvant – producer, recording engineer (7, 9, 13), programming (7, 9, 13)
  • Tom Korkidis – co–producer
  • John Davis – mixing engineer, recording engineer (1, 2, 6, 10, 11)
  • Andy Taub – recording engineer (3–5, 12, 14)
  • Samuel Wahl – assistant recording engineer (3–5, 12, 14)
  • Todd Whitelock – recording engineer (8)
  • Alex Deturk – mastering engineer
  • Godwin Louis – arrangement (3, 5, 12)

Charts

Chart performance for Mélusine
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[18] 44
UK Jazz & Blues Albums (OCC)[19] 9

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Collar, Matt. "Cécile McLorin Salvant – Mélusine". AllMusic. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Quinn, Peter (April 2023). "Cécile McLorin Salvant: Mélusine". Jazzwise. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cartwright, Katchie (March 30, 2023). "Cecile McLorin Salvant: Mélusine". All About Jazz. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Rutherford, Gordon (March 28, 2023). "Cécile McLorin Salvant: Mélusine – album review". Louder Than War. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Hochman, Steve (March 28, 2023). "Cécile McLorin Salvant's Mélusine is Imaginative and Thrilling". Spin. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Himes, Geoffrey (April 27, 2023). "The Many Voices of Cécile McLorin Salvant". Paste. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 "Singer/Composer Cécile McLorin Salvant's New Album, Mélusine, Due March 24 on Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch Records. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  8. ↑ Pareles, Jon (January 27, 2023). "Rosalía Issues an English Request, and 9 More New Songs". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Mélusine – Single by Cécile McLorin Salvant". Spotify. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  10. ↑ Kaplan, Fred (December 4, 2023). "The Best Jazz Albums of 2023". Slate. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  11. 1 2 "Mélusine by Cécile McLorin Salvant Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  12. ↑ Tyler, Kieron (March 20, 2023). "Album: Cécile McLorin Salvant – Mélusine". The Arts Desk. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  13. 1 2 "Cécile McLorin Salvant – Mélusine". Mojo. May 2023. p. 86.
  14. 1 2 Minsker, Evan (November 10, 2023). "Grammy Nominations 2024: See the Full List Here". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  15. ↑ "AllMusic Best of 2023". AllMusic. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Louder Than War Albums of 2023". Louder Than War. December 1, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Mojo's 75 Best Albums of 2023". Mojo. November 9, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Cécile McLorin Salvant – Mélusine". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Official Jazz & Blues Albums Chart Top 30". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
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