My One and Only Thrill by Melody Gardot

My One and Only Thrill, Melody Gardot's second album, came out on Verve on March 16, 2009, and it's a late-night record in the best sense: smoky, unhurried and close enough to the microphone that you can hear her breathe. Larry Klein produced it and Vince Mendoza wrote the string arrangements, a pairing both known for their work with Joni Mitchell, and they wrap Gardot's low, understated contralto in lush, cinematic orchestration without ever drowning it.

Every song is her own except "Over the Rainbow", which she sings as a tribute to her grandmother. "Who Will Comfort Me" was one of three singles, a slinky, bluesy strut, with "Baby I'm a Fool" and "Your Heart Is as Black as Night" following. The record earned three Grammy nominations, for Mendoza's arrangement on the title track, for the engineering of Helik Hadar and Al Schmitt, and for Klein as producer, and it has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.