Michelle Lordi & Matthew Parrish - Live At Dirty Dog
(Bump Jazz Productions, 2025)
“Lately, I find myself out gazing at stars
Hearing (bass) guitars like someone in love…”
— "Like Someone in Love" (Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Burke).
I have been following bassist Matthew Parrish and vocalist Michelle Lordi for my entire jazz writing career since reviewing Parrish’s Circles (HiPNOTIC Records, 2002) and Lordi’s Dream a Little Dream (Self-Produced, 2017). The two look their shared love of jazz and one another to the next level, making music together with an uncommon synergy and depth. The two joined forces on Lordi’s superb Break Up With The Sound (Cabinet of Wonders, 2019), continuing their collaboration on Two Moons (Imani Records, 2023). These two musicians maintain busy schedules together and apart, managing an intimate evening at Dirty Dog Jazz Café in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.
Live at Dirty Dog is the pair’s debut album as co-leaders, in music and in life, evidenced by the free intimacy shared between the two principals, supported by pianist Xavier Davis and guitarist Randy Napoleon. The lack of a drummer contributes to the established intimacy, while taking nothing away from the effortless swing Parrish infuses into the performances. This recording as a special one that translates into an exceptional one.
A slim offering at six selections, Lordi and Parrish made the best of the time waxed, spinning a heady wind of love, loss, and acceptance. The recital opens with Bernice Petkere’s 1933 “Close Your Eyes” from Lordi’s Two Moons. The song begins with the rhythm section, lightly tethered, insinuating an introduction captured by Lordi like lightning in a bottle. Lordi’s durable mezzo voice floats like a fragrance, buoyed by the light touch of the band. A similar ambiance, seasoned with Brazilian spice, supports Jobim’s “No Blues,” allowing Lordi’s voice to dance gracefully over the changes. Napoleon takes a sprite Bossa solo over Parrish’s throbbing bass, adding an authentic Brazilian feel.
Parrish introduces “I Will Wait For You,” then prefaced by Lordi, in a way that betrays her amiable, but commanding stage presence. The most organically perfect selection is the alt-country “When the Stars Go Blue” composed by Ryan Adams and made famous by Tim McGraw. Everything gels between band members and created here is a fine eutection between jazz and country that Norah Jones would envy. Live performance is the touchstone of jazz, and a performance like this begs for more.