I want to apologize for not posting for awhile but football season is right around the corner. That means fantasy football and that means fantasy football drafts so I've focused my attention there instead of here. I hope you can forgive me for wanting to crush my opponents :-) I promise to make it up to you starting with this song.
Now when I first heard this song there was no way anyone could have convinced me that this wasn't the incomparable Billie Holiday singing. Granted the sound quality was too good and would have given it away that it wasn't Lady Day but I'll be damned if the woman singing didn't sound uncannily just like her. I don't know if the lady singing studied the vocal stylings of Billie Holiday and eventually mastered the distinctive style and sound of Billie or if she was just born with this voice. It doesn't really matter how this artist wound up sounding like one of the greatest female vocalists in the last century I guess, just know that she does.
Her name is Madeleine Peyroux and she was born in Athens, Georgia but spent a significant amount of her childhood in Paris once her parents divorced. She pursued music and started singing when she was around fifteen. She's cited Billie, Bessy Smith, Edith Piaf, Johnny Mercer, Patsy Cline and even Charlie Chaplin as having direct influence on her music.
The song, "Dance me" is a playful tune with a groovy swagger about it. It doesn't transport you to a particular time or place but it can make you bop your head and snap your fingers if you give it the chance. It can grow on you. The piano plays well with the bassline and Madeleine's vocals lie on top of them exquisitely. Her first album "Dreamland" got her dubbed "the 21st century Billie Holiday.
Take a listen and tell me if you think that's hyperbole....
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