Happy Birthday Sophie!
I'm going to take you out for your birthday to see some music but I wasn't sure of your schedule so this is my solution!
I've pulled together a shortlist of things I think you'll like. Just let me know and I can book whichever one you fancy...
Love
Tom
I'm going to take you out for your birthday to see some music but I wasn't sure of your schedule so this is my solution!
I've pulled together a shortlist of things I think you'll like. Just let me know and I can book whichever one you fancy...
Love
Tom
x
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
In 1959, saxophonist Ronnie Scott opened the door to a small basement
club in London’s west end where local musicians could jam. Today, in its
new home in buzzing Soho, Ronnie Scott’s is one of the world’s most famous jazz
clubs attracting full to bursting audiences practically every night.
Since the early days of Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie and Miles Davis, the
club continues to present the biggest names in jazz including Wynton Marsalis,
Cassandra Wilson and Kurt Elling, all of whom shun the concert halls in
favour of the intimate and welcoming environs of the club. Ronnie Scott’s is
also a club firmly on the cutting edge; the first place to catch
hotly-tipped rising stars, visionary artists and the next big thing.
I've never been here
before but it is supposed to be fantastic! I got a Jazz-savvy friend to
recommend some good nights to me so here are the options!
1. Natalie Williams
Sunday 15th September
Hosted by the
wonderfully charismatic and talented soul singer Natalie Williams and her band,
Soul Family Sunday offers the chance to catch some of the best R&B, soul
and jazz musicians in the UK up close and personal.
2. Beats and Pieces
Sunday 29th September
With
high profile national and international awards to their name (Best UK Newcomer
at the 2013 Jazz FM Awards & European Young Artists’ Jazz Award at 2011
Burghausen International Jazz Festival, Germany) and consistent audience and
critical acclaim for their performances across the UK and Europe, the Beats
& Pieces Big Band are fast becoming one of the country's most talked about
jazz groups. Led by composer and conductor Ben Cottrell, their music draws on a
wide range of influences from Ellington to Loose Tubes to Radiohead to redefine
the role of the big band for a new generation.
And my friend
actually knows these guys so should be a good one!
The Union Chapel Islington
The
Grade I-listed gothic masterpiece, completed in 1877, is still used as a
working church and help centre for London's homeless. Noble purposes, to be
sure, but equally uplifting is the effect the environment has on performances –
and performers. Put simply, bands raise their game when they're playing the
Union Chapel – it'd be sacrilege not to – and the spellbinding surroundings and
acoustics mean it still beats the crap out of the most modern, purpose-built
venue the twenty-first century has to offer.
3. Agnes Obel
Monday
21st October
Haunting,
intricately harmonised, piano-led songs from the Danish singer-songwriter, in
support of her second album, 'Aventine', released shortly before this October
show. As well as the stripped-back – often beautiful – sound of just Obel and
her piano, there's also a sly, folkish twang to some songs and a hint of Joanna
Newsom's exploratory melodies in others.
Bush Hall
The
small (capacity around 350) but beautifully formed Bush Hall has a fantastic
chequered history, having been one of three venues built by publisher WC
Humdall around 1904 as gifts for his three daughters, surviving not only
various incarnations as a music/dance hall in the roaring '20s, soup kitchen,
bingo hall, music rehearsal space and snooker club, but also bombardment during
The Blitz. The exterior is unprepossessing, but inside the restored Edwardian
plaster work impresses, as do the two-tier Austrian lead crystal chandeliers.
The music programme covers folk, blues, country, Americana and alt.rock artists,
both local and overseas.
4. Kelly Joe Phelps
Tuesday
17th September
One of the greatest
finds on the American folk/blues scene in the last twenty years, and perhaps
the finest slide guitarist alive today. Kelly Joe Phelps' acoustic country
blues have an achingly beautiful melancholy at the emotional core of his music.
5. Melanie Pain
Wednesday
25th September
Delivering
confessional folk-pop chansons in English and French with the coy, breathy
vocals of an ingénue, Mélanie Pain has the sort of oeuvre and style that
inspire descriptions like “sugar and spice”, “naughty but nice”. As one of the
main voices of Nouvelle Vague since their first album in 2004, she seduced
audiences with sassy sweetness on originals and covers like This is Not a Love
Song, Teenage Kicks and Dance with Me.
