The real test whether a vocalist has the “veritas” for performance has to be in the context of duets with a pianist. All come to that challenge sooner or later, and at this point in her career, Gretchen Parlato showed the packed house at the Blue Whale that she’s a force to be taken seriously. She has a wisp of a voice, and while her range and dynamics are not her forte’, what she wisely does with her talents is to emphasize rhythm and take the melody on breezy excursions.
With Eigsti’s warm and sensitive chords in amply supply, Parlato took a song like “Blue in Green” and made the lyrics feel like a gentle wind flow through fall leaves. Using hand claps for percussive dialogue with the supportive and adventurous pianist, Parlato supplied various vocal affects to her kinetic treatment of “Me and You” while the exotic beat of “Ju Ju” mixed African caravan mystery with a gentle light shining through the baobab trees. Eigsti’s dark and curious chords throbbed through the foreboding trail, yet Parlato served as the guide foraging through the forest with a sharp blade of tone with her delivery that cut away every obstacle in her path. Peppy and bouncy on a pair of Brazilian pieces, she can fearlessly take a verse and twist it around like a piece of taffy and still make it taste just as sweet, while the closing “Believe in Everything” displayed her ruminating and pensive side, creating a luminescent atmosphere like a single candle in a contemplative grotto. She’s going places, seems happy to take us with her.