Cécile McLorin Salvant, who begins her Carnegie Hall Perspectives series this Saturday, stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. She chose recordings by Philip Glass, Jeff Parker, Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet, Early Music Consort of London, Björk, Caetano Veloso, Steve Reich, Dawn Upshaw, Adam Guettel, Gipsy Kings, and monks from Khampagar Monastery.

Cécile McLorin Salvant shares a live performance video for “Fenestra,” from her 2023 album, Mélusine. For the performance, filmed at Clonick Hall at Oberlin College and Conservatory, Salvant is joined by Sullivan Fortner on piano and Weedie Braimah on djembe. The video is directed & edited by Jacob Strauss. Mélusine features a mix of five originals and interpretations of nine songs, dating as far back as the twelfth century, mostly sung in French along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl, that tell the folk tale of Mélusine, a woman who turns into a half-snake each Saturday after a childhood curse by her mother. Additional live performance videos for Mélusine tracks “Dites moi que je suis belle,” “Le temps est assassin,” and “Dame Iseut” may be found here. 

Cécile McLorin Salvant shares a live performance video for “Doudou,” from her 2023 album, Mélusine. For the performance, filmed at Clonick Hall at Oberlin College and Conservatory, Salvant is joined by Sullivan Fortner on piano and Weedie Braimah on djembe. The video is directed & edited by Jacob Strauss. Mélusine features a mix of five originals and interpretations of nine songs, dating as far back as the twelfth century, mostly sung in French along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl, that tell the folk tale of Mélusine, a woman who turns into a half-snake each Saturday after a childhood curse by her mother.

Cécile McLorin Salvant shares a video for the title track to her 2023 album, Mélusine. The album features a mix of five originals and interpretations of nine songs, dating as far back as the twelfth century, mostly sung in French along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl, that tell the folk tale of Mélusine, a woman who turns into a half-snake each Saturday after a childhood curse by her mother.

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs “D’un feu secret,” Michel Lambert’s 1660 air de cour, from her 2023 album, Mélusine. The album features a mix of five originals and interpretations of nine songs, dating as far back as the twelfth century, mostly sung in French along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl, that tell the folk tale of Mélusine, a woman who turns into a half-snake each Saturday after a childhood curse by her mother. Video animated by Amanda Bonaiuto in Brooklyn, NY, with assistance by Kohana Wilson. 

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs “Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying,” the Grammy-nominated song from her from her Grammy-nominated Nonesuch Records debut, Ghost Song. Recorded during her two-night engagement at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center in May 2022, the video features Salvant along with pianist Sullivan Fortner, percussionist Keita Ogawa, guitarist Marvin Sewell, flutist Alexa Tarantino, and bassist Yasushi Nakamura, all of whom also are on the album. Salvant arranged the songs written by Harold Arlen/Herbert Stothart/Yip Harburg and Gregory Porter, respectively.

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs “Moon Song,” from her Grammy-nominated Nonesuch Records debut, Ghost Song. Recorded during her two-night engagement at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center in May 2022, the video features Salvant along with pianist Sullivan Fortner, percussionist Keita Ogawa, guitarist Marvin Sewell, flutist Alexa Tarantino, and bassist Yasushi Nakamura, all of whom also are on the album. 

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, and Herbert Stothart's "Optimistic Voices" and Gregory Porter's "No Love Dying," from her Nonesuch Records debut, Ghost Song. Filmed by Matthew Edginton at Power Station at BerkleeNYC.

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs "Until" from her Nonesuch Records debut, Ghost Song. Video directed by Matthew Edginton with animation by Salvant. "This is the weirdest, moodiest set of lyrics," Salvant says. "I feel like lyrics can morph into what you want them to be depending on when you listen. Of course it’s about love and romance, but there are these weird turns it takes, the dance at the center of the song. And that idea of catching the world in an hourglass is so great to me. I’m obsessed with hourglasses; I draw a lot of them in my visual art. It’s one of my favorite memento mori moments—the beauty of it and also the finality of it."