Melody Gardot Some Lessons: The Bedroom SessionsIt's a trick of alchemy that awful pain and uncertainty can give rise to such bold and striking music. In desperate ballads ("Wicked Ride") and smoky blues songs ("Don’t You Worry Baby"), Philly-area singer-songwriter Melody Gardot finds the universal in her experiences and makes the most of a few well-chosen words. Occasional swells of background vocals and string arrangements rise up to lend angelic support, a throwback to lush, Cole Porter-style jazz-pop. But Some Lessons is more often a sparse affair that recalls her piano bar days, her rich range accompanied by little more than a tender guitar or a stormy piano. Mature beyond her 21 years, Gardot has mostly skipped the trappings of piano-pop cliche and aimed for something more poised and ambitious.
Melody Gardot plays through the pain
May 12-18, 2005 Article
"Remember sound of the pavement/ World turned upside down/ City street unlined and empty/ Not a soul around/ Life goes away in a flash right before your eyes/ If I think real hard well I reckon/ I've had some real good times. "Some Lessons," Melody Gardot.
Mostly, though, this is Gardot's little secret, a quiet place the young singer-songwriter used to sneak off to before the accident.
Two years ago, she was 19, living in Queen Village and studying fashion at Community College of Philadelphia. One day while riding her bike in Old City, she was struck by a Jeep making an illegal turn. The effects were devastating. Her pelvis was shattered in two places and a spinal injury left her with myriad and strange symptoms. Her debut EP, Some Lessons, recounts the daily struggles and changing worldview which accompanied her gradual, possibly endless, recovery.
"Why do the hands of time so easily unwind?" she ponders over gentle, jazzy guitar. On to the torchy, ruminating chorus: "Some lessons we learn the hard way." Her voice is warm and weighty, hinting at a maturity born not of mileage but of burden and experience. She sings like an older woman because she feels like one.
Her laundry list of medical ailments is so long and so multifaceted, you wonder how she had the strength — or desire — to make music at all.
The pelvic injury means she needs the cane to get around, and can't sit in one place for very long. She finds she has to stretch several times a day, so she's always got her yoga mat with her. "I'm still not the stair master, but I'm working on it," says the upbeat, energetic Gardot. ...more at http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2005-05-12/music3.shtml.
Two years ago, she was 19, living in Queen Village and studying fashion at Community College of Philadelphia. One day while riding her bike in Old City, she was struck by a Jeep making an illegal turn. The effects were devastating. Her pelvis was shattered in two places and a spinal injury left her with myriad and strange symptoms. Her debut EP, Some Lessons, recounts the daily struggles and changing worldview which accompanied her gradual, possibly endless, recovery.
"Why do the hands of time so easily unwind?" she ponders over gentle, jazzy guitar. On to the torchy, ruminating chorus: "Some lessons we learn the hard way." Her voice is warm and weighty, hinting at a maturity born not of mileage but of burden and experience. She sings like an older woman because she feels like one.
Her laundry list of medical ailments is so long and so multifaceted, you wonder how she had the strength — or desire — to make music at all.
The pelvic injury means she needs the cane to get around, and can't sit in one place for very long. She finds she has to stretch several times a day, so she's always got her yoga mat with her. "I'm still not the stair master, but I'm working on it," says the upbeat, energetic Gardot. ...more at http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2005-05-12/music3.shtml.
Artist of the Month" April 2005
written by Kathy Peck, CEO and founder of Hearnet.com H.E.A.R.
Honors Melody or artist Melody Gardot, to say that life is full of trial and tribulations is an understatement. At 21, this young singer/songwriter has gained the life-experience most people don’t achieve until their late forties. “I feel like I have been 40 since I was 8.” she laughs. “I think I had my mid-life crisis at 13”. But despite a having the aura of an old soul about her, this young singer/guitarist/pianist makes it clear that even the toughest spots in our lives are an opportunity to shine.
The release of the “Some Lessons Bedroom Sessions EP” happens this April. “Some Lessons” is the title track featured on the album. It tells the story of the accident that recently happened: While Melody was atop her old messenger bike on her way home in Philadelphia, PA, she was struck by a Jeep, landing her in a whirl of recovery for nearly two years. Yet, the most difficult consequences were not multiple pelvic fractures or head trauma - at least not to Melody. Most trying, were the hearing and vision disorders which persist, even now, due to what is believed to be an autonomic nervous system dysfunction. This extreme Hyperacusis and Photosensitivity immediately meant: no more music.
Wanting desperately to regain her privilege to play, Melody continued to seek a solution. That solution came all on its own, in the form of inspiration for this album. It was recorded initially by her bedside, while she could not walk. More tracks were cut while she regained her ability to sit up, but all in the bedroom (hence why subtitled “bedroom sessions”). In this EP, the young songstress has woven simple elements of blues, jazz, folk and even old Tin Pan Alley stylistics, giving the album a rich, soul-filled mix, which reaches deep into your memory for heart-felt classics. Her titled track “some lessons”, a note-to-self kind of song depicting the insight gained from life’s hardships, is the last track on the EP, and rightly so. Quiet resignation is clearly not an option for Melody Gardot. Rather than backing down in the face of disability, she chooses to humbly bow to it with a six song tribute to its very existence.
"As a former bass player and singer who has suffered hearing damage and tinnitus I appreciate Melody's courage and talents in the face of her affliction. Her new Cd release "Some Lessons" is scheduled out this month and we highly recommend that you check her music out. Congratulations Melody from everyone at H.E.A.R.. We hope you and your band mates go far"... Kathy Peck
The release of the “Some Lessons Bedroom Sessions EP” happens this April. “Some Lessons” is the title track featured on the album. It tells the story of the accident that recently happened: While Melody was atop her old messenger bike on her way home in Philadelphia, PA, she was struck by a Jeep, landing her in a whirl of recovery for nearly two years. Yet, the most difficult consequences were not multiple pelvic fractures or head trauma - at least not to Melody. Most trying, were the hearing and vision disorders which persist, even now, due to what is believed to be an autonomic nervous system dysfunction. This extreme Hyperacusis and Photosensitivity immediately meant: no more music.
Wanting desperately to regain her privilege to play, Melody continued to seek a solution. That solution came all on its own, in the form of inspiration for this album. It was recorded initially by her bedside, while she could not walk. More tracks were cut while she regained her ability to sit up, but all in the bedroom (hence why subtitled “bedroom sessions”). In this EP, the young songstress has woven simple elements of blues, jazz, folk and even old Tin Pan Alley stylistics, giving the album a rich, soul-filled mix, which reaches deep into your memory for heart-felt classics. Her titled track “some lessons”, a note-to-self kind of song depicting the insight gained from life’s hardships, is the last track on the EP, and rightly so. Quiet resignation is clearly not an option for Melody Gardot. Rather than backing down in the face of disability, she chooses to humbly bow to it with a six song tribute to its very existence.
"As a former bass player and singer who has suffered hearing damage and tinnitus I appreciate Melody's courage and talents in the face of her affliction. Her new Cd release "Some Lessons" is scheduled out this month and we highly recommend that you check her music out. Congratulations Melody from everyone at H.E.A.R.. We hope you and your band mates go far"... Kathy Peck
