Rokia Traoré returns to New York City for her first show in the city in years, for a performance of songs from her recent release, Tchamantché, at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village. It's the first of two shows she'll give in the area as part of her two-week US tour, which comes to a close this Saturday, Valentine's Day, in a celebration of Black History Month with South African singer/songwriter Vusi Mahlasela at the Brooklyn Center's Whitman Theatre.

Rokia's tour, produced with the support of CulturesFrance, brought her to Chicago's Old Town School of Music this past Sunday for what Chicago Tribune reviewer Joshua Klein describes as a "riveting" performance, one that ultimately "reduced the already riveted audience to a reverential silence" at her "breathtaking version" of "The Man I Love."

That she would choose to offer her own interpretation of such a treasured classic, made famous by Billie Holiday, proves to be "just another facet of a fascinatingly complex singer," says Klein. "Traoré's a singer-songwriter in the modern sense who embraces but also stretches centuries-old traditions."

Noting her seamless shifts from "deceptively hushed" vocals to powerhouse band leader, Rokia, he says "proved herself a secret dynamo" at Sunday's show and also proved that she "clearly enjoys what she does." And in whatever mode, Klein concludes, "the incredible Traoré was in command of stage, song and crowd alike."

Read the complete concert review at chicagotribune.com. For tickets to tonight's show, visit lepoissonrouge.com, and for the remainder of this week's tour dates, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.