Having picked up just about every British jazz award going in the last few years including ‘Musician Of The Year’ in 2008 and just last month, 'Album of the Year' at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, Liane Carroll has been hailed by critics and fans alike as one of our very finest jazz singers.
On Saturday, June 9 she returns to The Pheasantry at Pizza Express, King's Road, with Gwilym Simcock, one of the most gifted pianists and imaginative composers on the international scene.
Kingsroad.co.uk spoke to Liane ahead of her performance...
Tell us about your gig coming up at The Pheasantry
Well, I am doing a duo with the absolutely brilliant Gwilym Simcock. Last time we worked together at The Pheasantry, we had such fun with a broad variety of material including standards, originals and even a tango... or two!
Do you have any special memories of King's Road?
The whole road in the early 70's. When I was a young girl, my Nan, Renee and her sister, Auntie Vera would take me from Carshalton to the West End. We'd always have a coffee in Lyon's Corner House on the Strand and then get a taxi to King's Road for window shopping. I never wanted to leave as it was bustling with wonderful people wearing the grooviest clothes and so many amazing shops...
What for you is special about performing at The Pheasantry?
It's a brilliant venue with a fab stage and piano. The wonderful staff are ALWAYS fantastic and fun. And of course, the building itself is steeped in history having been an actual pheasantry and then Eric Clapton's recording studio. Not immediately after... I don't think Eric is THAT old!
What's coming up next?
My trio are about to go to USA and Canada for a couple of weeks where we will be playing the fabulous "Dizzy's" at Jazz @ the Lincoln Centre in New York and then lots of jazz festivals in Canada. I'm also in the final stages of finishing off my follow up CD to Up and Down which will be called Down and Out, a CD of lovely ballads.
If you had to choose five favourite songs, what would they be?
OK, this is always hard because not only do I have about 5,000 favourite songs but the preferences change day to day. SO, as I feel right now, straight off the top of my head they are the following.
1. Where Or When as sung by Frank Sinatra.
2. Falling In Love With Love (Vic Damone's version).
3. Pretending To Care by Todd Rungren (Ian Shaw's version from Famous Rainy Day)... I play it constantly.
4. Sibelius: Symphony No 5 in E Flat major, Op. 82: III (as played by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan).
5. Got To Be There as sung by Chaka Khan.
Tickets for Liane Carroll and Gwilym Simcock are available to book online at Pizza Express Live or by calling 0845 6027 017.
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