Gillian Margot

Following her acclaimed debut Black Butterfly, Toronto native Gillian Margot builds on her unique and emotive interpretations of American Standards with Power Flower, a deeply soothing homage to her influences in the Jazz, Pop, and Funk of the 70s and 80s. Margot spent two and a half years building the work; selecting seasoned titans Geoffrey Keezer, Billy Kilson, Seamus Blake, Ingrid Jensen, and Munyungo Jackson, and working the arrangements and recordings to her complete satisfaction. Included in the liner notes is the phrase ‘All vocals recorded without use of any pitch correction technology,’ which sums up the care and attention she has paid to Power Flower . The song selection reveals the same care; three rare covers from Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Sample are balanced with three originals and a wonderful arrangement of the traditional song “Black Is The Color (Of My True Love’s Hair).” Gillian Margot is a singer with a rare gift that makes people sit up and listen. She possesses an exquisite voice, a disarmingly wide range and a style that eschews jazz singer clichés in favour of an original, interpretive delivery grounded in a song's lyrical and emotional content. A student of a generation of jazz legends including Oscar Peterson, Freddy Cole, Carol Welsman and Norman Simmons, she has since been invited to perform in major venues worldwide with top- tier talent, including rock icon Sting, jazz trumpeters Chris Botti and Jeremy Pelt, pianist Robert Glasper, famed soprano Kathleen Battle, conductors Wayne Marshall (London Philharmonic) and Jukka-Pekka Saraste (Toronto Symphony Orchestra). Equally at home in the musical worlds of jazz, R&B, chamber, and pop, her voice and music can be also heard in commercials, feature films, and television programs including Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees (IMAX 2002), New Year (Doublesee 2010), Lethal Weapon (FOX 2016), The Young and The Restless (2016-2019), and One Good Reason (Alone.Calm 2020).

In 2018, Margot collaborated with pianist Geoffrey Keezer on his latest album, On My Way to You (MarKeez). With Margot featured on five of ten tracks, Ted Panken writes that the vocalist and pianist “achieve an uncanny mind-meld on the co-composed ‘You Stay With Me’ — Margot projects her magnificent contralto to equally compelling effect both when conveying her tender, sensuous lyric and then improvising in dialogue with the piano during the latter section. They also co-wrote the percolating ‘Guanajuato’ (named for the Central Mexican city where they performed a duo concert), on which the protagonists engage in a protracted, intuitive musical conversation." Her 2016 album, titled Black Butterfly (Hipnotic) is an artfully crafted set that showcases her multifaceted musicality and speaks to the singer's passion for diversity.

The album blends Great American Songbook standards, intriguing jazz originals, gutbucket blues, contemporary hip-hop flavours and uniquely personal covers of songs by Curtis Mayfield, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, and 80’s English rockers Simply Red. Margot’s new album, Power Flower was released on vinyl in March 2021 (CD released October 2020) on Ropeadope Records.

Awards

Ella Fitzgerald Award of Excellence in Jazz Performance Chalmers Professional Development Grant (Ontario Arts Council, Canada)