Madeleine Peyroux.
Canberra Theatre Centre and The Music House. The Playhouse. Canberra Theatre Centre. June 12th. 2018
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins.
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| Madeleine Peyroux. Photo by Shervin Lainez |
A rapturous round of applause
greeted American jazz singer and guitarist as she made her smiling entrance ono
the Playhouse stage. It was obvious that many in the audience were devoted
followers of her songs and music. I did not know of Peyroux and my love of
cabaret drew me to her one night stand in Canberra during a very busy and
hectic tour. She had arrived after performances at the Adelaide Cabaret
Festival and was bound for Sydney’s Vivid Festival. A glance at her itinerary
and I was astounded to see that her concerts would take her from the United
States to Australia and Spain over the next few months.
Seated at a microphone at the
front of the stage, Peyroux opened with an entrancing French song of amour, which soared through the air on
a silken voice from lover’s walks along the Seine to the smoky rooms of the
French cabaret of Montmartre. Captivating in its allure, I am instantly
transported to the city of love. Her band enters, a motley crew, brilliant musicians,
cool, relaxed, the wizards of jazz and masters of the improvised art of
jazz. There is no programme, nor any
indication of how long Aaron on guitar, Graham on drums, Paul on bass or Andy
on keyboard have been together, but their synchronicity is seamless, their
sound the unique rhythm of the soul.
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| Madeleine Peyroux. Photo; Shervin Lainez |
In a repertoire of covers and her
own songs , sweeping us along through Peyroux’s journey from her birthplace in
the South to her life in Brooklyn and her teenage years in Paris, from gospel
to soul and the earnest wisdom and haunting poetry of Leonard Cohen , we are
seduced by the talent of a thoroughly original chanteuse. Her rendition of Cohen’s Dance Me To The End Of Love, could have had me dancing with her
voice to the end of all time. Lessons in love, its pain and its joy can be
found in her renditions of Careless Love.
“And now for something cheerful” she says as she introduces her version of
legendary Blues singer,Billie Holiday’s Getting Some Fun Out of
Life. Irony wraps itself around the lyrics of songs that are anthems to
life’s longings and bitter woes.
Throughout the evening. Peyroux
plays the seductive sorceress of song, harking to the legacy of greats like
Eartha Kitt and Lena Horne, Billie Holiday and Leonard Cohen and an original of
our time, Madeleine Peyroux. Sitting simply before ger audience and surrounded
by her attuned and equally seductive band members, Peyroux offers an unforgettable
evening of love and life. Her politics are well known in her admission that she
peed with fear when Trump on the Presidency and defeated her favoured candidate
Bernie Sanders. She dedicates a song to the Me Too movement and her forthcoming
album, Anthem, is dedicated to the memory of her inspirational song writing
mentor, Leonard Cohen.
The applause at the end of the
concert erupts spontaneously, luring Peyroux and her band members back onto the
stage for their encore. “I suppose it is expected”, Peyroux says with her
smiling wry humour. It may be tradition in the world of cabaret, but there is
no obligation on Peyroux’s part. She is a generous artist with affection for
her audience, and closes the uninterrupted evening of sheer enjoyment with her
own La Javanaise from The Shape of Water. It is the cherry on
the top of a night’s first class evening of song and music from one of the best.
The standing ovation lasted long after Peyroux and her band had left the stage.
I, for one, will be among the first to buy Anthem”
when it is released in August.
NATIONAL TOUR
DATES:
QPAC Thursday
7th June
Adelaide Cabaret
Festival Friday 8th
& Saturday 9th June
Melbourne
Jazz Sunday
10th June
Canberra
Theatre Centre Tuesday 12th
June
Vivid Jazz Wednesday
13th June
