Cécile McLorin Salvant, who is accompanied by the extremely talented trio of Aaron Diehl (piano), Paul Skivie (bass) and Lawrence Leathers (drums) is one of the most exciting vocalists in jazz today. Her past two albums were quality, a particular highlight being an original tune named "WomanChild". "WomanChild" is a wonderfully written tune that may have had more than a decent chance of being a jazz standard if it was released back when jazz was a big part of mainstream music culture. Salvant is one of the key young jazz performers right now, equipped with an extremely expressive voice that has a great range. This range is one of the key aspects of her singing style, which occasionally features her using starkly distinct tones to convey various (and at times, conflicting) emotions in the same track. Salvant's voice is equally as captivating when it is singing playfully ("Stepsister's Lament") as when it is bellowing powerfully ("Growlin' Dan") and For One to Love may be her best release yet.
The best feature of For One to Love is Salvant showing her talents as a songwriter, with her songs generally having an air of beautiful, playful melancholy about them. The originals are all highlights of this record, with For One to Love featuring 5 Salvant penned songs: "Fog","Look at Me","Left Over","Monday" and "Underling". For Salvant, this is an individual step up from WomanChild, which only had 2 Salvant compositions. Unsurprisingly, all of the original songs here have to do with love. "Look at Me", is a great example of Salvant's brilliant songwriting, with Aaron Diehl accompanying her beautifully. The way his piano and her voice eloquently play through the second, more vibrant half of the "Look at me" is definitely stand out moment of this record. Another key moment is "Left Over" in its entirety. "Left Over" is a song that may be the best example of Salvant's knack to beautifully manipulate her voice to express strong emotion. It's a piece where the listener gets almost all of her wide range, with her voice moving between sounding sweet, light and innocent, to loud and dramatic. There is also brilliance to be heard in Salvant's interpretations of other composers' work. "Wives and Lovers" is probably the most energetic vocal performance on the album, featuring a strongly sung chorus that blows the listener away. Although through her own compositions she may seem to have an attraction towards the more delicate and moody, Salvant still wonderfully performs and adjusts her vocal phrasing accordingly on the more playful and humorous tracks like "Stepsisters Lament" or "What's the Matter Now?". She also shows off her French chops through her fantastic interpretation of Monique Andrée Serf's "Le Mal de Vivre", a tune that shows that the beauty of her passionate and colorful style works in at least two languages. For One to Love is a great, well rounded album that is sure to please those with even a cursory interest in vocal jazz.
