Last month, singer/songwriter Melody Gardot took note of the sad fact that musicians around the world are out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She put out a call on social networks for musicians to join her on a new project titled “From Paris with Love” and received hundreds of online submissions, which she reviewed with her creative team of producer Larry Klein, conductor/arranger/composer Vince Mendoza, and engineers Al Schmitt and Steve Genewick. Now the final piece is ready, accompanied by a video that features selected musicians performing from their homes, along with a global montage of people who sent Gardot video portraits of themselves with messages of love.
All musicians chosen to be in the final project were paid a fee relative to a standard U.K. musician’s studio wage. Both Gardot and her label, Decca, are waiving their profits on this track and will pay a minimum of £0.50 to the charity Protégé Ton Soignant for each permanent download sold in the U.K. and £0.20 for each permanent download sold outside the U.K. or for every 150 streams. Protégé Ton Soignant raises funds to purchase essential healthcare supplies for French hospitals and caregivers.
“This video,” Gardot said in a statement, “is a kind of a digital postcard, made possible by the generous contributions of musicians and people currently confined. My hope is that this message will continue to find its way around the world and bring hope where hope is most needed to leave us all feeling more connected. My most heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in the making of this project.”
In related news, Gardot is now planning to collaborate with various orchestras across the globe for her next album, and last week she became the first artist to record (remotely from Paris, where she remains quarantined) at London’s Abbey Road Studios after its reopening from the coronavirus lockdown. The session, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was the first to be conducted at the fabled recording facility in 10 weeks; Abbey Road had never previously been closed in its nearly 90-year history.
