Melody Gardot: The Essential (2CD)

When an artist like Melody Gardot releases her first Best Of album, you can expect something special: she has curated the 24 tracks on the double album herself from over two decades of her Decca recordings, and in addition to great successes such as "Baby I'm A Fool", "Morning Sun" and "C'est Magnifique", rare live recordings and two previously unreleased tracks are also highlighted. The first of the two previously unreleased tracks, the ballad "First Song", is a collaboration between Gardot and legendary bassist Charlie Haden, while the atmospheric Mexican folk song "La Llorena", accompanied only by guitar and cello, was recorded at a performance in Mallorca in 2019.