Episode 17 with Madeleine Peyroux (International Recording Artist, songwriter)
My guest today is singer/songwriter/guitarist and my friend, Madeleine Peyroux. Known for her sultry, retro vocal style and phrasing, Madeleine is an internationally known jazz and blues artist having headlined some of the biggest jazz festivals around the world -from Europe to Japan- and all points in between. (As an on and off member of her band for the past 10 years, I got to play at a ton of them with her- Hollywood Bowl, Hammersmith Apollo in London, The Beacon in NYC, North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands and the list goes on………lots of great memories-
Her biography is well known but I’ll briefly recap here- born in Athens, GA, then moved to NYC as a teenager, then to Paris where she began life as a street musician and spent most of her formative years developing her craft on the streets, even living homeless for a while. Fast forward to today 8 solo records later and still going strong, world tours, several soundtracks (and even a Docker’s commercial) which brings us to this fine August day in NYC. For me as a guitarist, having the great experience of working with Madeleine and touring all over the world means we’ve shared a lot of stages and traveled many miles together. Which also means stories- and laughs- and lots of them!
On a nice hot day in August I took the subway over to her apt in Brooklyn. We chatted for a brief moment and then just turned the mics on and let it roll. What you hear is what you get- windows open for fresh air so you’ll hear the kids playing in the park across the street!
In this interview we talk about the use of space in music- (how less is more), early influences, busking on the streets of Paris, guitars, writing songs with Bill Wyman, Walter Becker, crazy true stories from the road and much more!
Ok, follow me walking up the stairs and into Madi's apt. I sit down and she picks up her beloved Martin guitar and we spend a minute trying to figure out what to play. Eventually we figure it out….Hope you enjoy!
Recorded Brooklyn, NY Aug 2017