Last night, jazz virtuoso Madeleine Peyroux shared her enormous talent with an appreciative crowd that held onto her every note. Peyroux’ witty comedic chops were also on display between and even during songs to the crowd’s delight. Her talented back-up band and singers, stand-up bassist Barak Mori from Tel-Aviv and electric guitar player Jon Herington from New Jersey joined her on stage. They all performed with gusto.
She launched into “Take These Chains” which had a beautiful Hawaiian sound enhanced by the electrical guitar. After the song she asked the audience, “Are they serving alcohol? I’m always doing drinking songs!” Her next song was of course a drinking song… “Between the Bars.”
The beauty of Peyroux is her effortless singing. Listening to her is being transported to the 1940s. You can hear some Billie Holiday in her singing style and inflection, as she holds the notes and slides up and down the scales.
Peyroux joked how all of her songs are sad and how the next one, “Guilty,” would be perkier, “I only sing songs about love, blues, and drinking and this next song has all three.” “Guilty” is a tongue-in- cheek song and included one of the funniest lines, “I get my cocaine from a friend.”
Peyroux is a versatile artist: she can play several instruments like guitar and the ukulele and she can sing in several languages, including English, Portuguese and French. She clearly loves to perform and enjoys engaging the audience. During the gorgeous Portuguese song “Agua de Beber” all members of the band sang along and elicited lots of cheers.
The guitarist also received loud applause during his solo of “If the Sea was Whiskey.”
The audience clearly loved the humor infused between and during the songs.
Another moving piece was “Everything I do Gonna Funky” in tribute to the late musician Alan Toussaint. It was another great night at the Barns at Wolf Trap, and Madeleine Peyroux made it a night to remember.
Set List (taken from the stage):
- Take These Chains
- Between the Bars
- Tango Til They’re Sore
- Guilty
- If the Sea was Whiskey
- Hello Babe
- Fun Out of Life
- Everything I do Gonna Funky
- Don’t Cry Baby
- Trampin’
- La Javanaise
- I’m Alright
- Got You on my Mind
- More Time
- Jai Deux Amours
- Agua de Beber
- Dance Me
- Keep Me in Your Heart
Encore:
- This is Heaven to Me
Running Time: 90 minutes, with no intermission.
Madeline Peyroux performed for one-night-only on November 17, 2015 at The Barns at Wolf Trap – 1635 Trap Road, in Vienna, VA. For future events at Wolf Trap, visit their calendar of performances and events.
