MADELEINE PEYROUX
''THE BLUE ROOM''
FEBRUARY 5 2013
42:56
1/Take These Chains/3:11
2/Bye Bye Love/3:27
3/Changing All Those Changes/3:09
4/Born To Lose/4:26
5/Guilty/3:51
6/Bird On the Wire/5:36
7/I Can't Stop Loving You/4:17
8/Gentle On My Mind/6:40
9/You Don't Know Me/4:00
10/Desperadoes Under the Eaves/4:19
Celebrated and Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Madeleine Peyroux gears up to release her inspired new album, THE BLUE ROOM, March 5, 2013 on Decca. The album is a return to what she is known best for – reinterpreting songs with an emotion and depth that can’t help but touch the soul.
THE BLUE ROOM features Madeleine reinterpreting songs from Ray Charles’ seminal album MODERN SOUNDS IN COUNTRY & WESTERN MUSIC, as well as others from legendary artists such as Randy Newman and Leonard Cohen, whose legacies are herein enveloped into a similar melting pot of the variety of American popular song. Released in the summer of 1962, MODERN SOUNDS was a daring album for Charles as it broke the mold of what was expected from him, and in turn, truly represented artistic freedom – something that clearly inspires Peyroux’s album THE BLUE ROOM. Conceived and produced by the legendary GRAMMY-Award winner Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Herbie Hancock), he says, “Ray’s cultural landmark of an album has always been a part of me. I have loved this album ever since I can remember and I knew that Madeleine would be the perfect voice to bring it to the forefront again.”
BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly
Vocalist Madeleine Peyroux can best be thought of as a Billie Holiday for the 1990s. Like Holiday, Peyroux was marketed as a jazz singer, when what she seems to do best is sing blues music. Though Peyroux may remind some listeners of Holiday, there are differences; she has her own sense of phrasing and interpretation. Her 1996 Atlantic Records debut, Dreamland, is a brilliant recording, as Peyroux's distinctive voice is not hindered by overly intricate arrangements. Most of the accompaniment on the record is light and sparse, the way it should be for a singer with such a unique voice. Her debut album features a cast of top players from the New York jazz scene, including pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Leon Parker, guitarists Vernon Reid and Marc Ribot, and saxophonist/clarinetist James Carter.
Peyroux was born in Athens, Georgia, and raised between Southern California, Brooklyn, and Paris. She began singing at age 15, when she discovered the Latin Quarter in Paris and became enamored with several street musicians. By 1989, she was working with a group of musicians called the Riverboat Shufflers, and after working for a while as a hat passer for the group, she began singing with them. She then joined the Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band at age 16, spending the next couple of years touring Europe while holding college in abeyance. That group formed the basis for her first album, for they performed the songs of Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, early Ella Fitzgerald, and others.
Though Dreamland was by no means a straight-ahead jazz album, Peyroux and her producers take a thoroughly modern approach to blues tunes from the 1920s and '30s. She interprets songs like Fats Waller's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," Billie Holiday's "Gettin' Some Fun Out of Life," as well as tunes popularized by Bessie Smith, like "Reckless Blues" and "Lovesick Blues." But unlike Smith or Holiday, who weren't known as songwriters, Peyroux also recorded three of her own tunes on Dreamland, "Always a Use" (on which she accompanies herself on guitar), "Hey Sweet Man," and "Dreamland."
It took another eight years, however (the reasons for which were never very clear), for her follow-up, Careless Love, to hit shelves. This time working with producer Larry Klein on Rounder Records, Peyroux explored a more contemporary and eclectic mix of covers, including Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars," Bob Dylan's "You're Going to Make Me Lonesome," as well as older songs like Hank Williams' "Weary Blues." It was very well received and made the 2006 release of Half the Perfect World, again a combination of covers and originals, highly anticipated. The record, which featured a duet with k.d. lang, included versions of songs by Serge Gainsbourg and Tom Waits, among others. Peyroux's third Rounder release was 2009's Bare Bones, her first to feature all original compositions by Peyroux (some shared with co-writers), was greeted with favorable reviews and was followed by an international tour. Peyroux took some time off, and emerged in 2011 with a download single that foreshadowed Standing on the Rooftop, her debut for the Decca imprint. The digital-only single offered a restrained yet elegant cover of the Beatles' "Martha My Dear," and the original "The Things I've Seen Today," co-written with violinist Jenny Scheinman. Standing on the Rooftop, released in June of 10011, was produced by Craig Street, and featured a core band of guitarists Marc Ribot and Chris Bruce, bassist Me'Shell Ndegeocello, and drummer Charlie Drayton. There guest appearances by Patrick Warren and Allen Toussaint, among others. Peyroux, wrote or co-wrote eight of the album's 12 songs; the covers included the aforementioned Beatles' tune, Bob Dylan's "I Threw It All Away," and Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," as well as a the W.H. Auden poem, "Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love," set to music by Ribot.
''THE BLUE ROOM''
FEBRUARY 5 2013
42:56
1/Take These Chains/3:11
2/Bye Bye Love/3:27
3/Changing All Those Changes/3:09
4/Born To Lose/4:26
5/Guilty/3:51
6/Bird On the Wire/5:36
7/I Can't Stop Loving You/4:17
8/Gentle On My Mind/6:40
9/You Don't Know Me/4:00
10/Desperadoes Under the Eaves/4:19
Celebrated and Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Madeleine Peyroux gears up to release her inspired new album, THE BLUE ROOM, March 5, 2013 on Decca. The album is a return to what she is known best for – reinterpreting songs with an emotion and depth that can’t help but touch the soul.
THE BLUE ROOM features Madeleine reinterpreting songs from Ray Charles’ seminal album MODERN SOUNDS IN COUNTRY & WESTERN MUSIC, as well as others from legendary artists such as Randy Newman and Leonard Cohen, whose legacies are herein enveloped into a similar melting pot of the variety of American popular song. Released in the summer of 1962, MODERN SOUNDS was a daring album for Charles as it broke the mold of what was expected from him, and in turn, truly represented artistic freedom – something that clearly inspires Peyroux’s album THE BLUE ROOM. Conceived and produced by the legendary GRAMMY-Award winner Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Herbie Hancock), he says, “Ray’s cultural landmark of an album has always been a part of me. I have loved this album ever since I can remember and I knew that Madeleine would be the perfect voice to bring it to the forefront again.”
BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly
Vocalist Madeleine Peyroux can best be thought of as a Billie Holiday for the 1990s. Like Holiday, Peyroux was marketed as a jazz singer, when what she seems to do best is sing blues music. Though Peyroux may remind some listeners of Holiday, there are differences; she has her own sense of phrasing and interpretation. Her 1996 Atlantic Records debut, Dreamland, is a brilliant recording, as Peyroux's distinctive voice is not hindered by overly intricate arrangements. Most of the accompaniment on the record is light and sparse, the way it should be for a singer with such a unique voice. Her debut album features a cast of top players from the New York jazz scene, including pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Leon Parker, guitarists Vernon Reid and Marc Ribot, and saxophonist/clarinetist James Carter.
Peyroux was born in Athens, Georgia, and raised between Southern California, Brooklyn, and Paris. She began singing at age 15, when she discovered the Latin Quarter in Paris and became enamored with several street musicians. By 1989, she was working with a group of musicians called the Riverboat Shufflers, and after working for a while as a hat passer for the group, she began singing with them. She then joined the Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band at age 16, spending the next couple of years touring Europe while holding college in abeyance. That group formed the basis for her first album, for they performed the songs of Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, early Ella Fitzgerald, and others.
Though Dreamland was by no means a straight-ahead jazz album, Peyroux and her producers take a thoroughly modern approach to blues tunes from the 1920s and '30s. She interprets songs like Fats Waller's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," Billie Holiday's "Gettin' Some Fun Out of Life," as well as tunes popularized by Bessie Smith, like "Reckless Blues" and "Lovesick Blues." But unlike Smith or Holiday, who weren't known as songwriters, Peyroux also recorded three of her own tunes on Dreamland, "Always a Use" (on which she accompanies herself on guitar), "Hey Sweet Man," and "Dreamland."
It took another eight years, however (the reasons for which were never very clear), for her follow-up, Careless Love, to hit shelves. This time working with producer Larry Klein on Rounder Records, Peyroux explored a more contemporary and eclectic mix of covers, including Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars," Bob Dylan's "You're Going to Make Me Lonesome," as well as older songs like Hank Williams' "Weary Blues." It was very well received and made the 2006 release of Half the Perfect World, again a combination of covers and originals, highly anticipated. The record, which featured a duet with k.d. lang, included versions of songs by Serge Gainsbourg and Tom Waits, among others. Peyroux's third Rounder release was 2009's Bare Bones, her first to feature all original compositions by Peyroux (some shared with co-writers), was greeted with favorable reviews and was followed by an international tour. Peyroux took some time off, and emerged in 2011 with a download single that foreshadowed Standing on the Rooftop, her debut for the Decca imprint. The digital-only single offered a restrained yet elegant cover of the Beatles' "Martha My Dear," and the original "The Things I've Seen Today," co-written with violinist Jenny Scheinman. Standing on the Rooftop, released in June of 10011, was produced by Craig Street, and featured a core band of guitarists Marc Ribot and Chris Bruce, bassist Me'Shell Ndegeocello, and drummer Charlie Drayton. There guest appearances by Patrick Warren and Allen Toussaint, among others. Peyroux, wrote or co-wrote eight of the album's 12 songs; the covers included the aforementioned Beatles' tune, Bob Dylan's "I Threw It All Away," and Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," as well as a the W.H. Auden poem, "Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love," set to music by Ribot.
