Jazz Guitarist Dida Pelled Releases ‘Love of the Tiger’

Widely regarded as the greatest jazz guitarist this side of the Mississippi, Pelled quickly made a name for herself in the New York jazz scene, recording with Jazz masters like Roy Hargrove and Gregory Hutchinson and touring the world. Feeling a pull toward classic American songwriting, Pelled shifted her direction and is redefining her voice. The result is the product of a jazz prodigy gone rogue. It is a love letter to the obscure, weaving across genres, twisting and turning with Pelled’s ever-expanding range of musical abilities and interests.

Pelled writes about obsession and salvation, fleeting love, smoke and mirrors, madness and conformity. For her first single “Sylvia (lost her sense of being a woman)”, Pelled writes the story of a woman losing touch with her femininity as she ages, and finding freedom and power in the unknown. “Melody,” coined by Wonderland Magazine as “a sweet-sounding, slowly-winding tune”, drips down your spine with a jazz-infused, r&b sound, aglow with the thrill of a big love – watch the music video with fellow singer/songwriter Cassandra Jenkins HERE. “Love of the Tiger,” is her own version of a Thai blues song, inspired by Pelled’s roots: she’s Thai, Iraqi, and Israeli. It’s cryptic, full of doors that lead to strange places. “My dog is not really barking,” sings Pelled, her vocals compressed as bass and percussion snake around her, “My door is not really open.” The song is bursting in color, surprising and captivating, like seeing the world through prismatic glasses. The world Pelled creates with Love Of The Tiger is playful and mysterious, with soft pangs of heartbreak and a commitment to always letting a little part of yourself stay lost.

The final recording of Love Of The Tiger was the culmination of countless false starts. Pelled spent years working with established producers in New York, Berlin, Switzerland, and Tel Aviv, testing out various channels, worlds where the songs could reside. As a jazz musician who shines in spontaneous situations where improvisation and mistakes are celebrated, she found herself a square peg in the round hole of conventional studio production. In solitude due to the pandemic, Pelled began recording herself at home, playing around with arrangements and creating stripped-down versions of each song. Suddenly the bare-boned recordings began to make sense, they were honest and convincing, unbound and free to take up space in the imagination.  Pelled is a virtuoso not only in the ways of jazz guitar, but also in making you have a good time. She plays tricks on you, leading you to places you wouldn’t quite expect. The world she creates with Love of the Tiger, is playful and mysterious, with soft pangs of heartbreak and a commitment to always letting a little part of yourself stay lost.

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