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Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns – Impulse!

by Audiophile Audition | Jan 20, 2017 | Jazz CD Reviews

Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns – Impulse!/Verve B0025437-02 33:33**** An album that has an interesting texture and a solid groove. (Madeleine Peyroux – vocals, acoustic guitar, guileless; John Herrington – electric guitar, vocals; Barak Mori – upright bass, vocals) “Short but sweet” might be the appropriate description of the latest Madeleine Peyroux release entitled Secular Hymns. Clocking in at just over 33 minutes, the album is brief even by old LP standards. That is not to say the music does not fill and fulfill the time available. It does in a funky bluesy way. Recorded in a live setting at the parish church of  Saint Mary the Virgin in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, UK,  Peyroux and her cohorts guitarist John Herrington and bassist Barak Mori deliver a mostly acoustic set of cover tunes from blues, gospel and Americana. Mature of voice, but still with a vague hint of Billie Holiday lurking, Peyroux conveys the right blend of empathy and warmth as the launches into “Got You On My Mind”. With the requisite tango beat established by the arco bass of Barak Mori, the band sashays into Tom Waits’ “Tango Till They’re Sore” with Peyroux’s vocal reading both engaging and thoughtful. Allen […]