Fred Hersch & Rondi Charleston, Suspended in Time Review
by Rudy Palma
Suspended in Time is a seven-song jazz song cycle representing a unique collaboration between celebrated vocalist-lyricist Rondi Charleston and master pianist-composer Fred Hersch. Released on February 7, 2025, by Charleston’s own Resilience Music Alliance label, the project holds special significance as a “poignant and evocative meditation on the loss of time itself.”
Conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic from Charleston’s personal journal entries turned lyrics, the album reflects on how time seemed to warp and stand still in those years. (Charleston’s last album, Resilience (2017), also dealt with overcoming struggles, seemingly foreshadowing this more personal follow-up.) Suspended in Time unfolds as a hopeful narrative as Charleston’s lyrics move the story forward with engaging narratives and emotions. Hersch’s renowned compositional and accompanying skills meet the interpretive brilliance of three distinctive vocalists, resulting in a work that blurs the line between jazz and art song.
Hersch and Charleston used the lockdown period to craft an intimate yet grand piece that channels collective experience into music. The cycle traces a journey from the uncertainty of spring 2020 to a resolution of renewal by 2023, essentially capturing a universal emotional timeline. This context gives Suspended in Time a weighty resonance; however, the execution is anything but dour. The music breathes with sensitivity and restraint, handling the poignant themes gracefully.
The album’s ensemble is carefully tailored to serve its song cycle format, combining veteran jazz artistry with chamber music elements. At the core is Hersch on piano, composer and musical director, and Rondi Charleston as lyricist and co-producer. Notably, Charleston (a respected jazz vocalist in her own right) chose not to sing her compositions here due to the long-term effects of illness, instead enlisting two acclaimed vocalists to interpret her work.
Kate McGarry and Gabrielle Stravelli share lead vocal duties, each bringing a distinct voice and interpretive style complementing the narrative. McGarry, a Grammy-nominated singer known for her purity of tone and storytelling nuance, is a close friend and label-mate of Charleston’s, entrusted with some of the cycle’s most poignant melodies. Stravelli, a dynamic vocalist who previously worked with Hersch on his Rooms of Light song cycle project, lends her rich expressivity to the album’s other key songs. Together, these three women (with Charleston contributing a spoken-word piece) form a vocal triumvirate that animates the lyrics through different lenses of emotion.
The supporting instrumental lineup further elevates the project’s palette. Hersch is joined by Bruce Williamson on clarinet, Matt Aronoff on bass, drummer Kush Abadey, and percussionist Rogerio Boccato, creating a flexible jazz chamber ensemble. In addition, the Crosby Street String Quartet appears on several tracks, adding gorgeous gravitas and textures to Hersch’s writing.
Williamson’s clarinet provides a warm, lyrical counterpoint to the vocals – an especially prominent voice in the ensemble’s sound – while Aronoff’s acoustic bass and Abadey’s drums supply a grounded rhythmic foundation from ballad tempos to brighter swings. Boccato’s array of percussion colors (from the subtle shaker and brush textures to gentle, rhythmic accents) infuse the music with an extra dimension, often underscoring the thematic elements of each song. Each member’s role is acknowledged in the arrangements with moments to shine: for example, Williamson’s haunting clarinet solo on “Sea of Eyes” adds emotional depth alongside Stravelli’s vocals, and the string quartet amplifies the drama of McGarry’s phrasing on the title track. The ensemble thinks and breathes as one, shifting the sonic fabric as the album’s seasons change. The result is an ensemble sound that can scale from intimate piano-vocal moments to full, orchestral passages, always in service of the song cycle’s emotional storyline.
Each of the album’s three vocal interpreters brings refined technique and emotional authenticity to their performances, making the material come alive. Kate McGarry imbues the songs she leads with a luminous, heartfelt delivery characterized by precise phrasing and an intimate connection to the lyrics. On the opening title track, “Suspended in Time,” McGarry’s voice is with emotion over Hersch’s string quartet arrangement, her phrasing stretching gracefully across bar lines to convey the feeling of time suspended. She shows impeccable diction; every syllable of Charleston’s imagery (such as days that “flew by in a blur”) is crystal clear, allowing the listener to absorb the narrative. McGarry’s jazz background shines through in her subtle rhythmic feel; even when treating the piece as an art song, she retains a gentle internal swing and uses tasteful rubato in introspective moments. Her pitch control is fully displayed during sustained notes and wide interval leaps in the melody, maintaining warmth and clarity even in the song’s higher register.
Gabrielle Stravelli, in turn, offers a complementary approach, emphasizing rich tonal colors and dynamic phrasing. Stravelli’s voice carries a slightly darker timbre and a soulful intensity, which she uses to great effect in “Sea of Eyes.” The cycle’s meditation on mid-pandemic isolation is delivered over a sparse backdrop of strings and augmented by Bruce Williamson’s clarinet lines. Stravelli delivers a passionate, aching vocal performance. Her phrasing in this song is notably elastic; she often begins a line in a quiet, breathy murmur and crescendos to a full-bodied tone, mirroring the emotional swell of the lyric. For instance, when delivering Charleston’s line about “keeping our distance … and moving in single file,” Stravelli elongates the words and adds a plaintive inflection, effectively painting the loneliness of the scene with sound. Her diction is precise as she enunciates each word enough to be understood, yet never at the expense of emotional expression.
The album’s lone spoken-word track, “Fever Dreams,” features Charleston stepping up to the microphone – not as a singer, but as a narrator. In this context, Charleston’s performance is all about dramatic phrasing and timing. Drawing on her background in theater, she delivers her poetic monologue with an actor’s sense of cadence, varying her pace and intonation to match the content of this tale born of isolation. Charleston uses subtle shifts in tone – a crack in the voice here, a hushed emphasis there – to convey vulnerability and desire, effectively turning the spoken poem into a musical experience. She paces her delivery in tandem with Hersch’s sparse piano accompaniment, which gently underpins the recitation. At times, Charleston accelerates in a rush of emotion, then pauses for effect, creating a compelling ebb and flow that holds the ear.
Hersch’s musical insight lies at the heart of the album’s sound, providing the harmonic framework and responsive interplay that can be heard and felt in each song. Hersch is renowned for his sensitive accompaniment, and here he tailors his touch exquisitely to the needs of the cycle. His introductions set the scene – for example, a contemplative piano figure opens “Suspended in Time” before the vocals and strings enter – and his solos often serve as reflective commentaries on the lyrics. Throughout the album, Hersch’s comping is economical yet deeply expressive: he uses plush, Bill Evans-like chord voicings and delicate countermelodies to support the singers without ever intruding. In more dramatic moments, he can summon dense, almost orchestral piano textures (as in the swelling bridge of “Awakenings”); by contrast, on sparse tunes like “Lullaby” and “Patience,” he pares down to skeletal whispers of harmony, leaving plenty of air for the vocals to breathe.
The strings do more than add sweetness; they interact with the piano and voice, swelling on lyrical peaks and adding gravitas to the cycle’s most poignant climaxes. The addition of the quartet’s tones enriches the palette of the album.
Suspended in Time is a project that marries poetic storytelling with refined cabaret jazz artistry. It highlights the best of what collaborative creativity can yield: lyrics that speak to the shared human condition, melodies and improvisations that reinforce those themes, and performances that are technically superb yet deeply expressive. This album will undoubtedly inspire listeners beyond its specific context, as it is also a beautiful example of cabaret jazz vocal art. For Rondi Charleston and Fred Hersch, this collaboration is an achievement that reminds the jazz world of how powerful a union of great songwriting, sensitive accompaniment, and passionate vocal interpretation can be.
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