Making ‘Room for Everybody,’ Gretchen Parlato Brings Her Multi-Genre Brand of Jazz to Houston
Aug. 14, 2023
BEGINNING THIS THURSDAY, Aug. 17, DACAMERA’s Houston SUMMERJAZZ festival presents a concise, three-night program of jazz in a myriad of contemporary forms, with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Aug. 17) illuminating its historical connections to Cuba and Puerto Rico, and internationalists Mwenso and The Shakes (Aug. 19) extolling the music’s pan-African, funk, and pop potential. In between those two hits, on Friday, Aug. 18, all of these tributaries and more will be explored in a set by two-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Gretchen Parlato, making her first appearance in Houston.
Though jazz is still, on its surface, very much a dude-centric world, with women woefully unrepresented on the bandstand, Parlato has gracefully navigated and pushed the music forward while collaborating with some of today’s finest musicians — including Houston-born musicians pianist Robert Glasper and drummer Kendrick Scott. The band Parlato has assembled for Friday includes HSPVA alum Alan Hampton on bass, pianist Taylor Eigsti, and her husband, drummer Mark Guiliana.
“Like many people of my generation, I’ve always been interested in different genres of music,” says Parlato, 47, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles before being accepted into the Thelonious Monk Institute as the first vocalist (and second woman) admitted into the program. “(My music) might have many different genres in it, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be defined by one of those.”
Parlato was born into an artistic family; her father is a bass player, who played with everyone from Frank Zappa to Barbara Streisand to Buddy Rich, her mother is a visual artist, and her grandfather Charlie was a big band trumpeter. Parlato always looked to her relatives for inspiration when it came to the possibility of pursuing a career in music, and needless to say, family gatherings were always quite musical.
“Whenever it was someone’s birthday, we’d sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ and it sounded really good,” laughs Parlato. “That was normal to me!”
As a vocalist, Parlato possesses a truly singular instrument; her delivery is understated, even fragile, yet filled with emotion, and thoroughly rooted in rhythm, especially the rhythms of West Africa, Brazil, and even Philadelphia by way of Manchester. (Parlato’s cover of Simply Red’s “Holding Back the Years” is a highlight of her second album Lost and Found, which she co-produced by Glasper.) Parlato’s latest album Lean In is a recording with acclaimed Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke, who she met while at the Thelonious Monk Institute. The album speaks to their 22 years of friendship, and among several original tunes by the duo are a beautifully re-imagined version of the Foo Fighters song “Walking After You,” and on three tracks, vocals by Parlato and Guiliana’s nine-year-old son Marley.
When asked about the lack of representation of women in jazz, Parlato, who guested on drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s all-female, Grammy-winning recording The Mosaic Project, is pragmatic. “It’s that line of accepting the situation, but also making sure you are a part of the change,” says Parlato, who also names her longtime manager Karen Kennedy as another inspiring figure in her life. “I’m surrounded by a lot of empowering, female energy, and creative- and business-minded people who are always helping and guiding me.”
Speaking of change, if jazz in the 21st century has evolved into a more openly defined, and inclusive genre of music, Parlato can certainly take credit for helping to make that happen.
“There’s room for everybody,” says Parlato. “There’s room for traditional jazz artists, and there’s room for those who are taking it to another place. I’ll fit somewhere in there! As long as the music is genuine and honest, and coming from the heart, that’s what I care about.”
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Award-Winning Choreographer Hosts Free Film Workshops for Marketeers and Aspiring TikTok Stars in Fifth Ward
Aug. 14, 2023
Rivkah French and Margo Smolik (photo by Ian Leonard)
IF YOU OWN a smartphone and wonder how those crazy kids on TikTok are making such cool videos, and perhaps even imagine how doing so might help market your artistic practice or small business, Rivkah French is here to help. On Aug. 16 and 17, award-winning queer dance choreographer and filmmaker French continues her mission of community engagement when Rivkah French Choreography (RFC) hosts two free DIY film workshops at Tuttle Library. Participants will learn how to script, shoot, and edit their own short films with their phones. The beginner-friendly workshops are tailored to teach anyone how to create content to support their businesses or hobbies, with an emphasis on branding for a strong online presence. The workshops are free, but registration is required.
Over the course of her 25-year career, French has created 37 provocative, full-length dances and multimedia performances while nurturing a diverse, community based practice, teaching movement arts to seniors, at-risk children and adults, and homeless and incarcerated teens. French is also committed to developing safe spaces and empowering performative experiences for the LGBTQ+ community, and has curated public programs, including last Spring’s Twisting Through Secrets at the Blaffer Museum, featuring dance, drag, and spoken word performers.
On Saturday, Aug. 19, the film workshop participants will present their projects at the historic DeLUXE Theater. Located on Lyons Avenue in Houston’s Fifth Ward Cultural Arts District, and once the neighborhood’s main Black theater during the years of segregation, the DeLUXE reopened in 2019 as a community performance and visual arts venue. The Aug 19 screening includes the premiere of French’s dance film GAZE, featuring French and fellow gender non-conforming dancer Margo Smolik. Filmed and edited by Ian Leonard, GAZEcombines special video effects, performative body paint application, and elements of Japanese Butoh and Middle Eastern and African dance gestures blended with movement drawn from the contemporary Western canon. In a press statement, French explains the intimate partnering in GAZE was born out of the trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic and is a celebration of “the power of touch and physical connection.”
“The metaphor of diversity in gender and identity expression is visibly manifested in a striking, and beautiful way,” writes French.
The film workshops and screening are funded by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance and Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation.
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