Melody Gardot: Live at The Olympia Paris Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Melody Gardot: Live at The Olympia Paris Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 6, 2016

Melody Gardot doesn’t possess a huge voice, and indeed her reedy, somewhat nasal and quivery singing presence can make her slightly hard to hear at times, something that would suggest a venue like a corner cabaret more than even the relatively intimate confines of Paris’ gorgeous Belle Epoque concert hall, Olympia. As hard as she is to hear sometimes, she’s even harder to see in this winning if occasionally stylistically confusing performance, as can be clearly (or not so clearly, as the case may be) seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. At least Gardot’s choices in apparel, which includes a huge draping fedora and equally gigantic dark glasses, may have a basis in the chanteuse’s health history, since some online data seems to suggest Gardot was the victim of a horrifying car accident years ago which left her severely injured and subsequently highly sensitive to light. Gardot has released four well received albums thus far, with all four doing at least reasonably well in her native United States. However, all four have been Top 10 smashes in France, with three of the four making Top 5 status. Gardot is at ease in this concert segueing back and forth between English and French in between song patter, and if she herself comes off as slightly pretentious at times (“schooling” the audience in the importance of such musicians as Charles Mingus), her band is fantastic, offering punch with a three piece brass aggregation, and some good, propulsive drumming and bass work.

Gardot’s music crosses several genres, but she often sets up a bluesy riff on her guitar which is interwoven with unison sax and trumpet riffs which reminded me at times of Average White Band. While she mentions her “musical fathers” like the aforementioned Mingus, her music is less harmonically provocative than Mingus’, tending to reside more in a comfortable pop jazz ambience that flirts with progressivism without ever really going there. Her backup musicians provide most of the flair in terms of solos here, leaving Gardot to warble appealingly enough in her wide brimmed hat and big dark glasses.

The concert’s set list is:

Don’t Misunderstand
Same to You
She Don’t Know
Bad News
March for Mingus
Morning Sun
Les Étoiles
Baby I’m a Fool
Who Will Comfort Me
Preacherman
It Gonna Come

Melody Gardot: Live at The Olympia Paris Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Melody Gardot Live at the Olympia Paris is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment. I've joked in two recent reviews (Remember and Heartless) about the "need" for some pianist to coach actors to more accurately "finger synch" when they're forced to "play" a keyboard on screen, a need I as an at least decent pianist am more than happy to provide. I'm now going to weirdly widen my offer to include my "expertise" in helping to determine lighting schemes for those considering filming their concerts for home video release. While this concert probably looked perfectly evocative in the relatively cloistered environment of the Olympia, on video it is often a wash of posterizing and banding courtesy of really aggressive lighting choices, often in the ever popular blue and purple tones which tend to eradicate all but baseline levels of detail (take a gander at screenshot 6 for just one example). That means that fine detail really only pops in close-ups, and then only when lighting is fairly normal. Even then, Gardot's huge hat and dark glasses tend to mask her face (as can be seen in some other screenshots).

Melody Gardot: Live at The Olympia Paris Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Melody Gardot Live at the Olympia Paris offers LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes (the disc is authored to default to the stereo track). There are occasional slight prioritization issues due to Gardot's less than forceful singing voice, but overall the 5.1 track especially provides some sterling fidelity and exceptional low end (there's a cool upright bass solo where the low frequencies are quite impressive). Clarity and separation are also excellent throughout the presentation, and there are no issues with distortion or dropouts to warrant concern.

Melody Gardot: Live at The Olympia Paris Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements of any kind on the Blu-ray disc.

Melody Gardot: Live at The Olympia Paris Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Melody Gardot Live at the Olympia Paris is an enjoyable if slightly pretentious feeling concert. Gardot is an appealing presence, though she should perhaps concentrate more on performing and less on some middling patter (none of which seems to really connect with an otherwise appreciative audience). Fans of singers like Nina Simone may find Gardot right up their musical alley. Video has a few hurdles to overcome, but audio is great. Recommended.