Yesterday’s adventure involved going into deepest darkest Brooklyn aka Bed Stuy. I went with friends to see Madeleine Peyroux at LunÀtico. For reasons that I don’t understand I’ve never been there before. How have I not heard live music at one of the City’s premiere small venues? It’s even named after me, unless they were thinking of some other lunatic. I went with out-of-town friends and met them at Bravi Ragazzi, an Italian restaurant nearby. I had flash-fried pizza; it was fantastic, much better than the fried pizza they used to sell across the street from Rockwood Music Hall. If I ever write about going out and don’t mention what I had for dinner you’ll know that means I’m being held hostage, call the FBI.
We had some transit timing issues so we didn’t get out of the restaurant as early as we had planned. The show as general admission with no reserved tickets. It started at 7:00 and the original plan was to get there at 6:30, we didn’t arrive until 6:45. That was not a disaster, we got the last three seats in the house. LunÀtico was not what I expected, I imagined someplace similar to Barbès. They are both somewhat avant garde music venues in Brooklyn owned by musicians. LunÀtico is newer I thought it would be larger and more modern but the same basic plan, a bar with a performance space in the back. The Owl Music Parlor also has that setup. That’s not what LunÀtico is at all. It’s a long narrow classic bar with the music at the far end from the door. To see the performers’ area, there was no stage, we had to look across the length of the bar. My friend thought it sat about 80 people, I think considerably smaller. Imagine seeing a world class artist like Madeleine Peyroux in a space the size of a typical neighborhood bar. I’ve seen her at 400 seat theaters and City Winery. I’ve also seen her at tiny Barbès and Rockwood Stage 1. If she doesn’t have to travel she’s willing to be play the small intimate venues with an appreciative audience. She was accompanied by a guitarist and drummer. Does that make it a jazz trio? She doesn’t just sing but also plays rhythm guitar if that makes a difference.
I’ve been assuming you know who Madeleine Peyroux is, perhaps that’s not true. You’ve herd of Norah Jones, right? She sold 10 million albums. When she came out my reaction was, “She’s great, just a step below Madeleine Peyroux.” In 1996 she came out of nowhere with the album Dreamland. Though clearly jazz she lived in the folk world. She covers artists like Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams. People often compare her singing voice to Billie Holiday, and like Billie can break your heart without breaking a sweat. She lived in Paris when she was young, she was discovered as a teenaged high school dropout busking on the rues of Paris and has many songs in French. On that first album she covered Piaf’s La Vie En Rose, and that’s always the first comparison that comes to my mind. When you’re best comps are Piaf and Billie, you’re a helluva singer. Make me choose and I’d call her the greatest singer.
She no longer engages in any showmanship, something more akin to the folk than jazz world. She’s the only vocalist/guitarist I know who performs sitting down. People are there to hear her sing and that’s what they are going to get. It’s more than enough. You don’t need light shows and staging to entertain when you have a voice for the ages and the musicianship and soul to use it perfectly. She takes me to another world every time I hear her. She does entertaining banter, “A jazz musician doesn’t play a song the same way once.” She had some charming interactions with Ruby, a 10-year-old girl sitting down front. That reminds me of something else I liked; the audience was far more diverse than I’m used to. The crowd was neither aging hippies like me or hipsters in their 20s and 30s. The crowd had plenty of young people, Ruby wasn’t even the only child. To people older than me. Unlike most folk shows the audience wasn’t all white. You could tell you weren’t in a suburban coffeehouse.
There was one great piece of showmanship, but it wasn’t by her, it was by the bartender. Two people ordered drinks that needed to be shaken. He took a shaker in each hand and shook them in perfect time to the music; he was his own rhythm section. That elicited applause from the audience and praise from Madeleine.
After the show I had to walk to the subway. I knew how to go, there was just one turn, but unfortunately, I walked on the cross-street, not the one I needed. When I got to Throop, I realized that had headed West not South. It wasn’t that big a deal, I ended up one subway stop closer, though it meant taking the local instead of the express. I like taking a walk in the night air after a show so that was fine. Much better than the walk from the restaurant, it was raining then, and I did not bring an umbrella and was wearing a t-shirt. I was cold when we got to the venue.
Now I have to take Donut Walk™ and record Gord’s Gold. Make sure to listen on Thursday; I’ll be playing a song by Madeleine Peyroux.
Wise Madness 