Standing On the Rooftop

Though Madeleine Peyroux is considered a jazz singer, she can sing anything she puts her voice to. She interprets four covers here that show her unusual gift for song. The Beatles’ “Martha My Dear” is welcomed into the sitting room for an art-song reading. Bob Dylan’s “I Threw It All Away” is given a sharp bluesy edge. Robert Johnson’s “Love In Vain” is turned from the Delta blues into an ethereal and formless track that hides a pump organ underneath the spacey effects. Poet W.H. Auden has a poem set to music by guitarist Marc Ribot (“Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love”) that reflects an atmosphere of easeful rest. The remainder of the album follows suit. There’s an elegance to these songs. “The Kind You Can’t Afford” adds a slinky funk. “The Things I’ve Seen Today” moves on with thick electric guitars holding down the background. “Fickle Dove,” the sudden bossa-nova of “Don’t Pick a Fight With a Poet,” “Meet Me In Rio” and “The Way of All Things” all create their own jazz language that isn’t traditional but a mix of old and new.