Listening to music isn't enough...I need to go where it's made

Well-travelled ... Melody Gardot

AFTER a gruelling world tour two years ago, Melody Gardot felt she had “used up everything in the bag”. 

Seeking fresh inspiration, the US jazz singer packed her suitcase and embarked on a year-long, global musical crusade. 

She embedded herself in the diverse sounds and cultures of Morocco, Portugal, Bali, Brazil and Argentina — acting on the resulting surges of creativity and penning songs for her beautiful third album, The Absence, on the way. 

Melody, 27, explains: “In the jazz world, when a cat has everything that he’s got in his bag and he uses it all the time, he gets tired of his bag of tricks. 

“I had used everything that I knew and learned from people I’d encountered in the cultures I had lived among up until that point in my life. 

“When I came off tour, the first thing I needed to do was rest. But I was intrigued by other parts of the world and I was interested in picking up new information, new languages, new kinds of music.

“It wasn’t enough just to listen to it. I had to be there.” 

What struck her the most was the powerful impact music had on every community she immersed herself in. 

Unlike much of the Western world, songs weren’t confined to the iPods of individuals — they were blasted out in public to drive all-singing, all-dancing celebrations of togetherness. 

She reflects: “It’s interesting to walk through Lisbon — everybody’s singing. In Brazil, people converse through song. 

“You finish whatever it is you’re doing and you come home and play an instrument. It’s a way of expressing yourself. 

“In the Western world, we do it only at Christmas with carolling. We don’t sit down and play, which is a real shame.” 

The Absence encapsulates the musical souls of the places Melody visited, hence its universal appeal. 

Mesmerising opener Mira starts with a verse sung in Spanish — one of several languages she picked up with fluency.

New album ... out May 28

She says: “I was learning different languages and dialects and using these words every day. 

“When I was finally sent back to LA, I was almost refusing to speak English because I hadn’t done it in so long. The words weren’t coming out of my mouth.” 

Revitalised by her year abroad, Melody recruited Brazilian composer Heitor Pereira to produce her album. And with their shared love of authentic audio and experimentation, it didn’t take them long to establish a strong chemistry in the studio. 

Melody says: “After coming from all these places where the soundtrack to my life was the beauty of the breeze, I had loads of recordings. I’m a bit of an audiophiliac. 

“I love beautiful, natural sounds. They inspire me. It could be someone who’s singing along their way or sweeping. 

“In Bali, you could hear the sound of women sweeping for two hours every morning. The whole city sweeping as the whole city was sleeping. 

“When I met Heitor, one of the first things he said was, ‘Let’s get a tree and shake some leaves and make the breeze’. 

“I silently smiled because I had said this exact same thing to someone the week before and he thought I was crazy.” 

Melody’s hypnotically soothing voice belies her history of poor health. 

While cycling along a road in 2003, she was knocked down by a car and suffered serious head and spinal injuries. 

She spent a year on her back in hospital and has been living with the debilitating consequences of that accident ever since. 

“My nervous system is not so good — my hands and my feet freeze up,” says Melody. 

“I’m in pain on a regular basis, but I can deal with it. I get out of bed slowly and move my body so that I can manoeuvre. 

“I don’t get to see the world as quickly as most people. It takes me a while to get moving. 

“But if spending all day soaking in a bathtub means I get to play a two-hour gig at the end of the day, then life is good.”