She has been reincarnated -- as a white woman, from France. You absolutely MUST check out Madeleine Peyroux.

Wow...

Hi Peter and Ken

She's wonderful. Here are her two current cd's:

Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
Madeleine Peyroux - Dreamland

Between the Bars on Careless Love is incredible.

Thanks Peter. This is right up my alley. The vocal resemblance to Billie is startling. I'm definitely gonna get one of her two albums, even though I was a little disappointed in the musicians behind her. Listening on my little computer speakers, I was less than impressed with them, but I'm still very interested in checking her out (musically speaking ).

In a similar vein, I've just discovered Susie Arioli. Now her musicians, particularly the guitarist, knock me out. Check out tune #3, "If You Ever Should Leave."

Jack, I checked out Track #3 as you suggested. While it was playing, I came back to the forum. The combination of your avatar spinning, and the low bit rate of the song was a little erie! Talk about being transported back in time! Holy!

Hey, you're right! Prett cool!

Hey! I gotta try that, Shawn.

Arioi...arioli.... Hmmmm. Are you sure you weren't browsing for something else when you came across her?

Living proof you don't have to be old to be a dirty old man. Besides, I can spell better than that. (Sometimes.)

If you like Ms. Holiday, you should get the Miki Howard CD titled "Miki Sings Billie, a Tribute to Billy Holiday" on GIANT Records (a subsidiary of Warner Brothers).

Amazing arrangements, fantastic vocal style. Track one (What a Little Moonlight Can Do) is fantastic, but then again…when you have David Foster producing you, it’s hard not to be hottt!

Enjoy!

Thanks Frank. Just ordered it from SecondSpin.com for $5.99 plus shipping and handling.

Jack,

Glad you found it that fast. I had a hard time tracking my copy down. I finally found it on Amazon.com. Let me know what you think of it.

Will do.

I'm listening right now to the aforementioned Madeleine Peyroux (Dreamland). I'm listening, in "random" mode, to Madeleine along with a Suzy Bogguss CD called "Swing." They both arrived in today's mail.

I'm amazed at how much Madeleine reminds me of Billie, and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks, Peter and Kai, for turning me on to her. But, I've got to admit that the Suzy Bogguss CD is knocking me out. It was produced by Ray Benson who is the big chief of Asleep At The Wheel, He also plays guitar and sings on one song, and I suspect most of the players on this album are from Asleep.

It's a really well recorded album. Very smooth sound. It's not a country album, but a number of the tunes have that country swing kinda feel. I happen to really like that stuff, but I would understand if you don't. Suzy is a pretty accomplished singer with a very nice voice. All in all, it's a pleasant surprise.

All we have to do is convice Kai that those CDs sounds much better on Axiom speakers...


(yes, Kai and I have met. Small world, wouldn't you say? )

@Peter: I've been meaning to PM you and see if I could come listen to your 22's. And it is amazing how we met in a completely unrelated way. Of all the people in the Bay Area...

Her 2 CDs just showed up today. Listening on the M2s with everything switched off. Sounds sweet.

Didn't know my system could play HDCD, every day a new surprise...

Yep, Ajax's avatar spins at EXACTLY the right rate for most of the songs.

OK, sigh... I have to admit. The M2s sound even better with the sub turned on. The HDCD mode does sound a tiny bit more clear than any of the regular decoding modes. Is that the placebos again ?

It somehow seems wrong to be able to switch from HDCD to regular CD at the receiver. Shouldn't it be a different track or something... or is it one recording with a non-standard digital feed and receivers normally only decode the lower res information ?

Enquiring minds want to know.

The HDCD mode uses some extra circuitry to decode more information from the data. The disc uses a special encoding format that is 'transparent' to standard decoders, which treat them as they would any normal disc. An HDCD capable decoder can see this information and get to the extra 4-bits (20 vs. 16) of info.

UPDATE: Got the "Miki sings Billie" CD by Miki Howard. Really liked this one too. The aforementioned Madleine Peyroux sounds like Billie, but isn't singing songs Billie sang. Miki doesn't sound like Billie, but IS singing her (Miki's) versions of songs Billie sang, and she's terrific. It's a well recorded CD, with excellent instrumental tracks, that sounds GREAT on the Axioms. Thanks for turning me on to it, Frank. It's a welcome addition to my collection.

Hey Jack,

Glad you liked it. I am a musician, and am very impressed with the arrangements on this record. Totally first class all the way!

I thought so too, Frank. Good stuff. Thanks again.