Maria Muldaur—A Woman Alone With the Blues ... Remembering Peggy Lee
(Telarc CD-83568)
Editor
Along with the many other hats I wear — JazzWeek editor, jazz DJ, web developer, hockey writer and broadcaster — I also moonlight doing live sound at a local club. Last week I had the treat of working with Maria Muldaur, who was in town with her trio, the Red Hot Bluesiana Band. Looking and sounding about twenty years younger than her age — which I politely won't mention; you can look it up — she blew the doors off the packed room during two blistering sets.
Muldaur takes a more subdued, but every bit as enticing an approach on her new album, A Woman Alone With the Blues ... Remembering Peggy Lee. Muldaur first discovered Peggy Lee hearing her hit "Fever." One day, Maria played the B-side, "I'm a Woman, W-O-M-A-N." She played it over and over, wrote down the lyrics, and not long after, recorded it with the Kweskin Jug Band. In 1975, she re-recorded it, and it became her second-biggest hit.
Muldaur brings Lee's sultry, sexy style to this album, which despite the Telarc Blues imprint, is most decidedly a jazz release. In addition to "Fever", Maria has selected a dozen other tunes recorded by Lee, including many Lee co-wrote.
At the end of the night, we cranked A Woman Alone With the Blues through the sound system so Maria could get a listen to the finished product, which had just arrived for her that day. It sounded great in the club; it'll sound great on your station. 
