Classical and Jazz: Preview - Singer Elisa Caleb at The Forge, Camden Town
Published: 19 May, 2011
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
YOUNG self-taught jazz songstress Elisa Caleb (above) is singing a couple of times at local venues over the next few days.
She’s singing at The Forge arts venue in Camden Town tomorrow (Friday) and then for free at lunchtime at Searcys in the St Pancras Grand Hotel on Sunday.
Her singing isn’t classic jazz so much as a blend of gospel, folk and jazz, reflecting her upbringing in the Barbados church community.
She got the jazz bug after she came to London as a teenager, eventually becoming a singer by accident while studying theology.
One evening at a jazz gig, she was called to fill in for a singer who had failed to turn up.
She had sung gospel in church and she’d learnt jazz classics by heart listening to records – so, nerves jingling, she just got up and sang. But the audience kept calling for more – and she’s not stopped singing since.