Cécile McLorin Salvant continues to rise at Monterey Jazz Fest.

Cécile McLorin Salvant was riding the high of a first Grammy nomination (WomanChild in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category) when she made her Monterey Jazz Festival debut in 2014. The 27-year-old phenom returns to the Fairgrounds’ Main Stage Arena Friday soaring even higher: Not only did Salvant’s masterful follow-up to WomanChild, For One to Love, make her a Grammy Award winner again in 2016, it earned the Miami native a coveted Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Award for Female Singer of the Year.

“The goal is to always make music that’s sincere,” Salvant says. “When we get these awards, it’s a wonderful nod – for the Grammy, from a more mainstream group of people and from the Jazz Journalists Association, from people who are dealing with jazz all the time. It’s great to get both.”

Since erupting onto the jazz scene at 21, Salvant has been widely touted for her ability to blend her natural raw talent with an extensive education (formal and informal) that includes classical, baroque and jazz vocals. Ongoing learning is pivotal to the singer, especially when she’s making a new record. Salvant’s breathy soprano in the funky and playful “Growlin’ Dan” is pulp noir personified. The tune appears on For One to Love and was penned by Blanche Calloway, “another one of those great singers that nobody remembers,” Salvant says. Salvant had only recently been turned on to Calloway (jazz singer Cab Calloway’s older sister), but quickly devoured every recording she could find.

“It’s always been a passion of mine to discover forgotten artists."

“I thought it was insane that there was someone in [Cab’s] immediate family, with the same last name, making excellent music and we don’t know about her,” Salvant explains. “It’s always been a great passion of mine to discover these forgotten artists.”

Salvant’s passion for musical discovery is limitless. She says she’s always on the look-out for something new that touches her in any way. In 2014, she had immersed herself into ’90s grunge and punk and delved deep into bands like Bikini Kill.

“I have these little fixations,” Salvant says. “Now, it’s not so much even music. I’ve been obsessed with listening to interviews with certain comedians and actors. I want to get into their heads because they feel very fascinating to me.”

As Salvant continues to gain international fame, she’s only recently become comfortable with performing in front of large audiences.

“I’m able to look at people in the eye and focus on them,” she says. “I’d like to have a way of singing that’s a little more relaxed, so that’s what I’ve been working on.”

Salvant says she recently developed an unexplainable perpetual fear of forgetting song lyrics, but is hopeful that it will pass.

“Unfortunately, I now have to bring the lyrics out with me [on stage] even on the songs I know,” she admits. “It’s weird and neurotic – I’ve song these songs hundreds of times, so I know them, but there’s a little man in my head telling me I’m going to forget. Hopefully it passes. It’s more fun to be free.”

CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT performs at 7:30pm Friday, Sept. 16 on the Jimmy Lyons Stage and at 9:30pm in Dizzy’s Den.