Enjoy two tickets to see Gretchen Parlato perform at Lawrence's Memorial Chapel on May 10, 2013, 8 p.m.

Vocalist Gretchen Parlato closes the four-concert Jazz Series May 10, 2013. A Los Angeles native, Parlato won the 2003 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and two years later released her debut self-titled album to critical acclaim. Gretchen’s 2009 sophomore breakthrough, In a Dream, signaled the arrival of an incredibly inventive modern jazz singer. Her follow-up, The Lost and Found, demonstrates that she has staying power. In a Dream garnered international acclaim with Billboard magazine hailing it as “the most alluring jazz vocal album of 2009.” It also made it onto the top year-end polls for Jazz Times, the Boston Globe, the Village Voice and NPR. The Lost and Found shows immediate weight and intensity, exposing a greater dynamic range. “I feel like I stepped out of my own way and allowed myself to be more revealing and vulnerable through the music,” reflects Parlato.

“Gretchen is one of the most unique, provocative, and hip singers on the scene today,” said Dane Richeson, professor music in Lawrence’s jazz studies department. “She pulls together great musicians to work with her and her band I promise hers will be a great concert.”

“She enters the music, becoming part of the band, improvising in melody and rhythm, prying open sweet spots in the songs … it’s evident that she’s an extraordinary singer.”
—The New York Times