CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT (Quartet)

Showered with praise, awarded Grammys, and honored with prestigious prizes such as the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the 36-year-old singer is considered an exceptional talent. The Guardian called her a “jazz genius,” Der Spiegel saw her as the “heir to Billie Holiday,” and for The New York Times, she is simply “the best jazz singer of the past decade.”

Bold and unpredictable, she blends the traditions of blues, jazz, and folk with the attitude of hip-hop, as well as the passion and drama of artists like Björk or Kate Bush. Her singing is intense, almost painfully beautiful—driven by a deep understanding of musical history and, at the same time, an uncompromising drive for artistic freedom.

Cécile McLorin Salvant’s latest work, “With Every Breath I Take” (Nonesuch / Release Date: June 26, 2026), is a musical fable in the form of a cantata that blends a wide variety of genres, including folk, baroque, jazz, and country. The arrangement is by Darcy James Argue and is conceived for a thirteen-piece orchestra of multi-instrumentalists. The work explores themes such as fetishism, hunger, diaspora, cycles of appropriation, lies, othering, and ecology. “With Every Breath I Take” is also currently being developed into an animated feature film, which Salvant herself will direct.

Cast

• Cécile McLorin Salvant, vocals
• Yasushi Nakamura, bass
• Sullivan Fortner, piano
• Kyle Poole, drums