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Jacqui oozes class
PREVIEW: BRODSKY QUERTET WITH JACQUI DANKWORTH
St Luke’s
JACQUI Dankworth comes from quite a heritage.
Her parents are the British jazz great John Dankworth and jazz singer and actress Cleo Laine.
But in her own right she has established herself as one of the best young jazz vocalists currently on the scene.
Her voice has a smoky huskiness reminiscent of Sarah Vaughan, combined with tremendous clarity.
“My parents were ahead of their time and were into all kinds of music, classical, folk and jazz” she tells me, as she works up towards a concert at LSO St Luke’s.
Jazz clearly was ingrained from an early age and Jacqui was listening to singers including Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as more funky jazz such as Weather Report.
“I was a bit of a hippy chick. I used to love The Beatles, and popular music,” she says. Jacqui is appearing at St Luke’s on Tuesday with the Brodsky Quartet, an ensemble she has been working with for the last three years or so and appeared on a recent album.
“I sang on their last album, where other people like Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Sting appeared. I didn’t actually meet them but it was a lot of fun,” she says.
“It’s completely different from working with a jazz ensemble. There is no percussion or double bass and while they have solos, they are generally written out with less improvisation.
“Becoming the fifth voice is quite exposing and nerve-wracking, because it is quite delicate and so different from what I normally do.”
The programme reflects the unusual make up of the performers as they will be exploring music by Bjork and Elvis Costello, as well as the wonderful Kurt Weill, Rodgers, and Rave’s String Quartet in F Major.
Jacqui hasn’t performed at St Luke’s before but follows quite a tradition, with artists as diverse as Sting, James Brown and classical groups appearing.
“It has a great name and I am really looking forward to being there,” she says.
Jacqui prefers performing in smaller, more intimate venues, but once found performing in a drawing room of a neo-colonial hotel in Darjeeling slightly too close to the audience.
“Yes, that was too much, I didn’t like that,” she says.
Currently she is working on a new album, doing big bands numbers.
“It’s quite different to the more intimate music I’ve done before. This is very big and loud.”
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