my  block

where uzairs roam

I’ve heard a couple of fabulous modern jazz singers in the last few weeks. Madeleine Peyroux, a wonderful singer with the same rich voice as Billie Holiday is now officially top 15 on my list of current artists, even though she’s only got a couple of songs that I really truly love, namely Careless Love and I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate. They’re enough — like I said, she’s got a fabulous voice, and her producers have done a great job of highlighting it with a less crowded musical arrangement than is the trend these days. SAA had a great point about this:

[21:18] SAA: what disturbs me about her
[21:18] SAA: about peyroux
[21:18] SAA: is that they seem to be doing smth to the recording
quality so that she sounds far away
[21:18] SAA: in teh past
[21:18] SAA: do you hear it?
[21:18] SAA: that's not her voice
[21:18] Uzair: ah
[21:18] Uzair: they're exploring the studio space :)
[21:18] SAA: it's the recording quality
[21:19] SAA: sherr
[21:19] SAA: :)
[21:19] Uzair: i have crappy speakers so I can't really tell
[21:19] SAA: oh
[21:19] Uzair: but these sound like those whole-orchestra-in-one-room-
all-laying-down-the-track-at-the-same-time
[21:19] Uzair: songs
[21:19] SAA: yes - 
[21:20] SAA: btu also like she's got one of those mikes 
that's pikcing up every dust mote in teh air along w /her voice
[21:20] SAA: which is what's lending it a sepia tone, as it were
[21:20] Uzair: good metaphor
[21:20] SAA: :)

So clearly my more-cowbell/exploring-the-studio-space SNL reference was lost on her, but the sepia tone comment is dead-on. The producers have done something to make the tracks sound like they were mastered in 1930…and I love it! Makes sense actually, since according to her website she grew up performing with a band of buskers. SAA also pointed out that Dance Me To The End Of Love is a Leonard Cohen cover, so I’m going to slide it over into the same category as Maxwell’s cover of Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work, ie. much better than the original :)

I also was introduced (through SAA, reciprocating for Peyroux!) to Stacey Kent, who is apparently the biggest, most important jazz singer of the moment (trust me not to have heard her…). The first thing I found by her was A Fine Romance, which I hated, and after hearing which I actually sent a very disappointed email to SAA complaining about the lack of weight in her voice. Whoa, was I wrong. Her rendition of They Can’t Take That Away From Me is pure understated brilliance. She’s doing little more than speaking the lyrics, but there’s a pensive mystique to her voice that’s very intelligent and appealing. The song is about 29 seconds longer than the Ella Fitzgerald-Louis Armstrong duet, most of which is cruft (can I say that about music?), but still infinitely better than Armstrong’s jarring trumpet and trademark ‘babadadoodidoodidoo’ entry :)

Her I’ve Got A Crush On You is equally good, BTW. Again, her tone is contemplative, and perhaps introspective, which is such a vital element of good jazz. When Kent sings, she’s more involved in the conversation she’s having with her lover than she is in getting a reaction from the audience…which just sparks a stronger reaction from me! I lovvve it :)