TWIN FALLS -- Jazz artist Deidre Rodman left Idaho for New York in search of her musical voice.

Turns out, it was in Idaho the whole time.

Rodman, a Twin Falls native and current New York City resident, released a jazz CD this week titled "Twin Falls." The album chronicles Rodman's childhood in southern Idaho and the relationship she never had with her folk singer mother who gave Rodman up for adoption at birth.

"I ended up here in New York for the music," Rodman said in a telephone interview. "But I had a lot, I found out, to say about growing up in Idaho."

Rodman has received rave reviews from rock legend Elvis Costello, with whom she recently toured, Magic Valley jazz guru Brent Jensen and jazz critics from The Washington Post and the New York edition of Time Out magazine.

"I think she's one of the most original jazz voices out there. Her music has elements of folk music, the avant-garde, bop and traditional jazz," Jensen said.

"Twin Falls" is Rodman's third album released on the Sunnyside label. It was cut live in a New Jersey studio in just four hours. Six of the 17 tracks are completely improvised, and 13 are Rodman originals.

The album pairs pianist Rodman, 34, with Steve Swallow, a 65-year-old electric bass journeyman who's played with Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie.

"This album is simpler, more melodic than things I've done before," Rodman said. "There's a lot of counterpoint with the bass. It's moody."

"Twin Falls" is also more introspective than past projects, Rodman said. Born in Twin Falls, she was adopted by a Boise family at birth. She's never met her biological mother, and the only knowledge Rodman has about her comes from a single sheet of background information provided by the adoption service.

Rodman does know her mother was musical -- a folk singer and violin player.

"When I was recording, I kept wondering, 'What would my mother's music sound like?'" Rodman said. "This was sort of a way for me to send my music out into the universe to her."

In "Twin Falls," Rodman paints an accurate soundscape of an Idaho childhood. The first track, "Sunday Drive," is a bopping tune reminiscent of afternoon cruises through the Idaho desert. In fact, Rodman said her memories of family drives between Boise and Twin Falls inspired her to compose the song.

Rodman said she wrote the album from a child's perspective. "It's like two children hanging out," she said of her sonic interactions with Swallow. "There's a lot of humor in this record."

Now a big-city woman, Rodman still returns to Idaho once or twice a year to see family and reconnect with her roots. "You know, I think I'll always be a half-city, half-country kind of girl."

After earning music degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of North Texas, Rodman made her living gigging on cruise ships. Since landing in the Big Apple, she's toured with rock legends Costello and Debbie Harry, appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Live with Regis and Kelly," and co-founded the Alphabet Lounge Big Band and lounge-pop group the Lascivious Biddies.

Even with these successes, Rodman's ode to Idaho ranks high among her accomplishments, she said. "I wouldn't change a thing about it."

Times-News features writer Matt Christensen can be reached at 735-3243 or matt.christensen@lee.net.