The Blue Room - Madeleine Peyroux

Vocal/jazz: Madeleine Peyroux is an American jazz singer and songwriter who also plays jazz guitar. For The Blue Room, she has teamed up with the producer Larry Klein (he’s worked with the likes of Joni Mitchell and Herbie Hancock in the past) to do what sounds like a very tasteful suite of music.
They’ve also included versions of Randy Newman’s Guilty, Warren Zevon’s Desperado’s Under the Eaves, John Hartford’s Gentle On My Mind, Leonard Cohen’s Bird on a Wire and the really nice Changing All Those Changes by the legend, Buddy Holly.Eschewing the flashy, showiness of contemporary female performers, Peyroux is tastefully understated, which is fine because her clean voice needs little adornment. Guilty, a Randy Newman tune, gets a country tinge, while Bye Bye Love – previously famously covered by the Everly Brothers and written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, gets the complete blues treatment here. The solos are sparse but each note is hit with the right emotion.
The use of the electric piano adds enhances the jazzy feel to the songs. It’s not easy to perform songs of such pedigree with minimal backing, but Peyroux does with the consummate ease of a professional.