Madeleine+peyroux

On The Blue Room, her second Decca recording, Madeleine Peyroux and producer Larry Klein re-examine the influence of Ray Charles' revolutionary 1962 date, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. They don't try to re-create the album, but remake some of its songs and include others by composers whose work would benefit from the genre-blurring treatment Charles pioneered. Bassist David Pilch, drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarist Dean Parks, and pianist/organist Larry Goldings are the perfect collaborators. Most these ten tracks feature string arrangements by Vince Mendoza. Five tunes here are reinterpretations of Charles' from MSICAWM. "Take These Chains" commences as a sultry jazz tune, and in Peyroux's vocal, there is no supplication – only a demand. Parks' pedal steel moves between sounding like itself and a clarinet.

Let's Walk is the ninth album by Madeleine Peyroux. On her previous outings, she recorded covers of jazz and Great American Songbook standards and works of contemporary songwriters. While she's often co-written songs with her collaborators, Let's Walk is entirely composed of her written originals, which offer excellent lyrics as she continues to mine jazz, blues, and folk. Longtime guitarist Jon Herrington wrote the charts. He plays several instruments, as does pianist Andy Ezrin; also in her band are bassist Paul Frazier and drummer/percussionist Graham Hawthorne. Peyroux also recruited a top-shelf backing chorus: Catherine Russell, Cindy Mizelle, and Keith Fluitt. Peyroux's writing here is often topical, clever, and thornily humorous. During the pandemic she read the writings of James Baldwin, W.E.B. Dubois, Cornel West, all of whom inspired her.

In 2009, Madeleine Peyroux issued Bare Bones, her first recording of all-original material with producer Larry Klein and a small group of jazz musicians and co-composers. Standing on the Rooftop is her debut recording for Decca with producer Craig Street. The group of players here is a diverse lot: drummer Charlie Drayton, guitarists Christopher Bruce and Marc Ribot, bassist Me'Shell Ndegeocello; John Kirby, Glenn Patscha, and Patrick Warren alternate on keyboards, percussionist Mauro Refosco, violinist Jenny Scheinman, and Allen Toussaint guests on piano. The program is richly and elegantly painted with modern production touches even as its songs are rooted in the historical past of classic Americana: pop songs, blues, jazz, and sitting room tunes. It includes eight originals and four covers, among them a poem by W.H. Auden set to music by Ribot entitled "Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love"…

Madeleine Peyroux's fourth album isn't the normal mix of standards (contemporary or traditional) with a few songs of her own composing; each of the 11 tracks is a new song written by Peyroux, usually in tandem with producer Larry Klein or a guest. Still, she appears in her usual relaxed setting, with a small group perfectly poised to translate her languorous vocals into perfect accompaniment – organist Larry Goldings, pianist Jim Beard, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, plus producer Klein on bass, Dean Parks on guitar, and Carla Kihlstedt on violin. Fans of vocal jazz may be disappointed to see that all the songs are new ones – many a great conversation could consist solely of the standards she should perform – but they may regret the disappointment.

Madeleine Peyroux - Bare Bones
EAC+LOG+CUE | APE (tracks): 435 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Rounder Rec. # 460502670147 | Country/Year: Russia 2009
Genre: Jazz | Style: Vocal Jazz, Contemporary

"Madeleine Peyroux's fourth album isn't the normal mix of standards (contemporary or traditional) with a few songs of her own composing; each of the 11 tracks is a new song written by Peyroux, usually in tandem with producer Larry Klein or a guest. (…) Bare Bones is a remarkable work from one of the best artists in vocal jazz."

Madeleine Peyroux took significantly less time than the eight years between her debut and its follow-up to release her third album, Half the Perfect World, which finds a more mature – or at least less vulnerable – singer, one who chooses to express herself with nuance rather than overtness. Often, like in the opening "I'm All Right" – one of four original songs – this aversion to unconcealed emotion works well, playing off the swelling Hammond, the swinging rhythm of the acoustic guitar (contrasting nicely with the hook of "It's all right, I've been lonely before"), and the simple drums. But at other times, like in "A Little Bit" – which is bluesy and more upbeat and practically screams for an outburst, a growl, something – her hesitancy instead almost comes across as a flaw, as a fear of fully expressing herself.