The Blue Note Presents Madeleine Peyroux 4/27-5/2

Vocalist Madeleine Peyroux returns to the Blue Note for a special series of concerts with her band featuring guitarist Jon Herington, keyboardist Gary Versace, bassist Barak Mori, and drummer Darren Beckett. Her latest recording, Bare Bones (2009, Rounder), was called "a remarkable work" by All Music Guide and features 11 original tracks. *Note that 19 year-old vocalist and upright bassist Kate Davis will open for Madeleine Peyroux on Wednesday, April 28 only from 6:30 to 7:30pm at no additional charge as a part of the Blue Note's Emerging Artist Series presented by Brother Thelonious of North Coast Brewing Company.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 27 - Sunday, May 2, 2010; Sets @ 8:00pm & 10:30pm

WITH: Madeleine Peyroux, vocals; Jon Herington, guitar; Gary Versace, keyboards; Barak Mori, bass; Darren Beckett, drums

COST: $45 @ table /$30 @ bar

WHERE: The Blue Note; 131 W 3rd. St, New York, NY 10012

MORE: Doors open at 6pm. Set times are 8pm and 10:30pm nightly.

BIO: Madeleine Peyroux [pronounced like the country Peru] was born in Athens, Georgia, she grew up between Brooklyn, Southern California and Paris, though it was in the City of Light where she found her voice. As a teen she was drawn to street music, and in 1989 she started to perform with a group of buskers. She then joined the Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band, becoming the only female in the group, which toured around Europe for several years.

Madeleine burst onto the recording scene in 1996, with her stunning debut album Dreamland. Madeleine was greeted with a veritable torrent of gushing reviews. Most raved about her smoke-and-whiskey vocals, often comparing her to the late, great Billie Holiday. Others wondered how someone so young could perform classic songs by Holiday, Bessie Smith and Patsy Cline so convincingly as to make them sound like her own. Time magazine pronounced the groundbreaking Dreamland "the most exciting, involving vocal performance by a new singer this year."

Madeleine, then an American who had been living in Paris as a street musician, suddenly found herself on the fast track to fame. Appearances at Lilith Fair and jazz festivals, and opening tours for Sarah McLachlan and Cesaria Evora followed, while Dreamland's sales reached an impressive 200,000 copies worldwide. "It was great," recalls Madeleine. "I got to perform with fantastic musicians. I got to see Nina Simone live. I could've kept running with it, but instead I stepped back and took a breather."

Careless Love on Rounder Records released in Sept. 2004, eight years after the release of Dreamland. Waiting that long to release her sophomore album is admittedly not a typical career move, but then Madeleine is not a typical artist.

Madeleine spent much of the time between Dreamland and Careless Love out of the public eye. But she never stopped singing, returning to her busking roots with street performances and club dates around the world from Los Angeles (to New Orleans to New York City) to Western Europe before being signed by Rounder Records in 2003.

Madeleine's followed up Careless Love with Half the Perfect World, released Sept. 2006, again pairing Madeleine and producer Larry Klein. Half the Perfect World builds on and expands on the direction set with Careless Love, featuring a broad range of songwriters include Madeleine herself.

Her latest release, Bare Bones, is the third album in four years, and is both an extension of the currents of 2004's Careless Love and 2006's Half the Perfect World and a bold step into previously unexplored psychological terrain. Produced, like its two predecessors, by Larry Klein, this fluid and enthralling new work, is Peyroux's most personal yet, hardly surprising considering she had a hand in writing each of the 11 songs, marking the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

OPENING ACT: KATE DAVIS
6:30 - 7:30pm ; Wednesday, April 28, 2010

"How is it that a (19-year-old) can smoke up the corners of jazz clubs with a dark voice that strolls along in a silky alto before soaring to the rafters in clear, true notes that wash over listeners like a breeze at sunset? And more often than not, she does it while flying along on the upright bass, her heavily callused fingers diving and climbing through octaves of musical thoughts that intermingle with her lyrics like smoke. Listen for yourself. In only a couple of measures of sound you'll discover the startling skills that this week won Davis recognition as one of the nation's 141 Presidential Scholars. And she's one of only 20 high school seniors selected for their artistic accomplishments. In the old melancholy Nat King Cole standard, "I'm Gonna Laugh You Out of My Life," Davis' syrupy voice is lush and hypnotic, the simple lines swinging through a string of emotions you can't imagine the teen-ager can understand. Yet, like any gifted singer, she makes it all very intimate, as if each line was somehow written to tell the story of anyone who happens to be listening at the time. In one old standard after another, her voice cascades along the fault lines of love -- first big and full with the brazen confidence of new love, then cracking in all right places at the sudden breakup, before dropping to whispered tones. 'I'm not as old and wise as I sound,' said Davis. 'Everything is obviously not about my own life. I don't know, sometimes through the beauty of the music, the lyrics, the songs have a life of their own.'" - Oregonlive.com

19-year-old Kate Davis is a rising star on the national jazz scene, a vocalist and upright bassist with a tone and maturity far beyond her years. Growing up as a classical violinist, Kate experienced a variety of musical styles since age 5. When relocated to the Pacific Northwest, she was fortunate to be a member of the Portland Youth Philharmonic from which she is an alumnae after terms as principal 2nd violin, and principal bassist.

Life in Oregon enabled two new passions-coffee and jazz. From then on, the upright bass and voice became her primary musical outlets. Nurtured by the supportive music community in Portland Oregon, she was able to satisfy her hunger to learn and perform.

Recently, Kate achieved national recognition for her jazz bass and vocals. She was named an NFAA "youngARTS" Silver winner, is a four time Downbeat Magazine Student Award winner, a two time participant in the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony, and was bassist in the Grammy Jazz Ensemble. Most recently she was selected as a Presidential Scholar of the Arts, which included a White House visit and an opportunity to perform at the Kennedy Center. She began studies at Manhattan School of Music in New York City this fall semester.

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