Ears New York

EARS NEW YORK: TWO SINGERS

Written by Jeff Levenson

Two singers with new releases. One jazz, the other jazzy.....

MADELEINE PEYROUX
The Blue Room
Decca

When Madeleine Peyroux emerged in 1996, she declared herself a spiritual heir to Billie Holiday and Edit Piaf. Her sound was largely derivative, inviting that age-old debate regarding homage versus imitation. Was she an original voice synthesizing her influences, or a highly evolved mimic?

EARS NEW YORK: Live From San Francisco

If one believes that New York and San Francisco are America's great cultural bookends (with all points in between, Reader's Digest - rim shot, please...), then the news from the Left Coast is monumental. Rising up through the fog, alongside the Golden Gate towers and the Golden State beacon that is the City Lights Bookstore, comes news of a spanking new building dedicated to jazz  - the SFJazz Center, a counterweight to New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center. The ribbon-cutting ceremonies took place on January 21.

EARS NEW YORK: SUNKEN CONDOS

Written by Jeff Levenson

Donald Fagen's latest, Sunken Condos, might be his (and Steely Dan's) strongest record since 1982's The Nightfly. It finds Fagen confidently crafting his idiosyncratic take on jazz-rock - harmonic twists, infectious grooves, Beat-inspired narrators chorusing about life on the fringe.

EARS NEW YORK: POSTCARDS FROM EUROPE

RIGAS RITMI JAZZ FESTIVAL - LATVIA

The first thing a visitor to Riga, Latvia notices is the architecture: old-school structures meet the march of modernity. It is a place with deep roots, as much for its role as the largest city in the Baltic States as its seaport location - trade, industry and culture collide sweetly.