Gretchen Parlato

7:30 p.m. Friday, September 30, 2011
Schwab Auditorium

“Gretchen Parlato is emerging as the most important jazz singer since Cassandra Wilson,” writes a critic for All About Jazz. “Her vocal approach is so unique and her repertoire so eclectic that she stands to create a jazz vocal genre unto herself.” Parlato, who won the 2004 Thelonious Monk Institute International Vocal Competition, beguiles listeners with a sultry voice and rhythmically agile phrasing. Billboard called her In a Dream “the most alluring jazz vocal album of 2009.” The Lost and Found, her 2011 follow-up about embracing the ebbs and flows of life, reveals an even greater dynamic range and showcases Parlato’s maturing contributions as composer and lyricist. Parlato makes her Penn State debut backed by piano, bass, and percussion.

This tour engagement of Gretchen Parlato is funded through the American Masterpieces program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.