Cécile McLorin Salvant has released "Thunderclouds," from her Nonesuch Records debut album, Ghost Song; you can watch a video for the track, written by Salvant, below. Ghost Song, due March 4, 2022, features a diverse mix of seven originals and five interpretations on the themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning. Salvant says, “It’s unlike anything I’ve done before—it’s getting closer to reflecting my personality as an eclectic curator. I’m embracing my weirdness!” Ghost Song may be preordered here and comes with an exclusive, limited edition signed artwork by Salvant when purchased from the Nonesuch Store. Cécile McLorin Salvant plays four shows at SFJAZZ in February and two nights featuring the music of Ghost Song at Jazz at Lincoln Center in May; you can find all the latest tour details here.

Salvant says of “Thunderclouds,” “I suffer from insomnia, and so do others in my family, and in one way this song is about having to suffer in darkness. It’s again celebrating something that is dark—that line, ‘Sometimes you have to gaze into a well to see the sky.’ It’s talking about looking down into the depths of a situation to truly see the beauty of it. The powerful suggestion of looking through the rain to engage with the sun … That’s a wink to one of my all-time favorite movies, Children of Paradise. The sentiment of that movie is so aligned with how I was feeling writing this album. The image of looking down into a well, that sorta goes along with this whole entire theme, about dancing with the ghost of love, dancing with loss, darkness, sadness. And being joyful in it.”

Cécile McLorin Salvant, a 2020 MacArthur Fellow and three-time Grammy Award winner, is a singer and composer bringing historical perspective, a renewed sense of drama, and an enlightened musical understanding to both jazz standards and her own original compositions. Classically trained, steeped in jazz, blues, and folk, and drawing from musical theater and vaudeville, Salvant embraces a wide-ranging repertoire that broadens the possibilities for live performance.

Salvant’s performances range from spare duets for voice and piano to instrumental trios to orchestral ensembles. Her unreleased work Ogresse is an ambitious long-form song cycle based on oral fairy tales from the nineteenth century that explores the nature of freedom and desire in a racialized, patriarchal world. Salvant studied at the Université Pierre Mendès-France. She has performed at national and international venues and festivals such as the Newport Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Village Vanguard, and the Kennedy Center. Salvant is also a visual artist.