Dawning, a blue wig, performing a whacky improvisation of a very senior citizen awaiting her boyfriend’s arrival, the absolutely comedic woman on the youtube video is obviously blessed with talent. Miss MacKenzie’s performance was repeated in part last Valentine’s Day as she delighted the patrons of New York City’s Cornelius Street Café. This time she had an accomplice in a jazz artist by the name of Dave Devoe. Miss MacKenzie’s is the alter ego of the very talented and equally beautiful jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato, whose ethereal vocals have caused seasoned jazz musicians and singers to marvel at her seemingly endless musical gifts.

The former Valley Girl from LA says, “This is great because you are the first person (in an interview) to dive into this (her comedic side). There are sides of me that only certain people see. I am still not the kind of person that will show you all the sides of my personality. It might be certain people in my life that bring that out. I have always found some sort of relief in humour, acting and performing. That (the video) was all improvisation and based on extreme caricatures of family members (she is laughing). If you put a wig no me, I just become a different person. I am still trying to think of how to incorporate the wild humorous side of me into my music. Before I became a singer, I always liked being in drama class and theatre.” 

It seems that Parlato was destined for the stage from an early age, “Every single person in my family is an artist in some way, whether as a performer, involved in visual arts, as a graphic designer or something in the entertainment field.  There is no question that it was a part of everyday life,” she says.

Parlato’s first encounter with the stage came at age thirteen when she auditioned for a major role in the musical Bye Bye Birdie. She fell in love with the stage and the feeling that she had while she was performing. At the suggestion of one of her teachers, she auditioned as a requirement for entrance into the LA County High School For The Arts. She says that when she first considered auditioning she still had not made up her mind whether she wanted to be in the theatre program or the music program. She admits that she considered the requirements for the drama program to be too tough so in her own words opted for the lazy way out and decided to audition for the music program.

“I sang, was accepted into that program and it really changed my life,” Parlato says.

Yes, that decision did indeed change Parlato’s life. The twenty something vocalist has garnered accolades such as, “a singer with a deep, almost magical connection to the music,” from Herbie Hancock.

Wayne Shorter with whom she will appear in Paris at September’s la villette jazz festival cite de la musique paris, observed, “When Gretchen scats, it’s almost like Nat Cole playing the piano, and then when she sings, it’s like him singing, so can cover both parts.” 

She is in demand as a vocalist for the projects of some of today’s most respected jazz musicians, performing on guitarist Lionel Loueke’s Virgin Forest and astounding listeners with her emotive and ethereal soprano vocals on pieces such as “Insensatez,” recorded on bass player Morrie Louden’s CD Time Piece.

In 2005, Parlato’s self-titled CD was released to critical acclaim, which is not surprising considering four years earlier in 2001 she was the first vocalist accepted into the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance.

 September 2007