Jacqui Dankworth kicks off new season of JAZZ at ICIA

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ICIA Arts Theatre at the University of Bath presents its new season of jazz events, featuring visits from three high profile musicians and their bands: the Jacqui Dankworth Trio Sat 18 Feb, Gilad Atzmon Quartet Sat 11 March and Colin Steele Quintet Sat 25 March, all 7.30pm. Jacqui Dankworth, daughter of the legendary Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, is now regarded as one of Britain’s finest jazz singers in her own right. Backed up by an impeccable Trio, this intimate ICIA gig is a chance to get close to music royalty. Jacqui comes to Bath having just finished a triumphant week at Ronnie Scott’s London Jazz Club - The Observer described the experience with glowing words “There came a moment in Jacqui Dankworth's set when, had I not been sitting about three feet away from the action, I would have suspected some kind of electronic trickery because the arrangement was so complex, the timing so nifty and Ms Dankworth's vocal control so exquisite”.

It is Jacqui’s spontaneous and flexible approach that sets Jacqui apart from her contemporaries - she imposes a breathtakingly personal style on her rich heritage. Jacqui's phrasing, note bending and ability to create rhythmic tension by ducking and diving around the beat are the very essence of jazz singing. This adventurous exploration of her vocal range stands her apart and reveals a remarkable creative energy. As well as developing her own material, Jacqui moves easily between smoky blues, swing, reinvented standards, Latin pop, folk music and semi-classical.

Jacqui Dankworth is a remarkable artist of the highest calibre. She has toured with the Brodsky Quartet and recorded with them on their latest CD, alongside such guests as Sting, Elvis Costello, Bjork, Ian Shaw and Sir Paul McCartney. She featured on Courtney Pine’s album Devotion and sang alongside him at the Royal Festival Hall, as part of the London Jazz Festival. Reaction to her second album Detour Ahead was even more enthusiastic than for her first, including glowing reviews worldwide and a high rating by Mojo.

Though there is jazz in her blood, Jacqui is very much her own creative force. Her first successes in the world of The Arts were not as the versatile vocalist - but as an actress in a series of highly acclaimed roles on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Jacqui soon migrated to the West End, where leading roles in musicals beckoned. Having proved herself an accomplished actress, singer, performer and entertainer, she found herself pulled inexorably towards her greatest passion: music.

After a tour of Hawaii and the Far East with brother Alec Dankworth's quintet, she worked with award-winning jazz composer and saxophonist Tim Garland on his song cycle Songs Of Love And Liberty, alongside Norma Winstone and Christine Tobin. Opportunities flowed in, and in early 1998 she embarked on a major world tour as guest vocalist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, bringing her vocal talents to an ever-wider audience. She also collaborated on a newly-commissioned jazz setting of A E Housman’s poetry, voted by The Times as Record of the Year.

By 1999, her reputation was spreading and Jacqui was asked to perform new arrangements of Gershwin’s classics with the BBC Big Band at the Barbican, London and Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Next came Field of Blue: a simple acoustic band performing mostly original compositions, which recorded two albums, receiving high praise and rave reviews.

Reviewers also praised the 2001 Black Box release with James Pearson, For All We Know. The Sunday Times described Jacqui as ‘one of our finest singers regardless of category’. Jacqui then formed the three-part harmony group The Passion and in 2003 this unique group released an album of contemporary and original work called One Good Reason. Her diversity of interest has taken her to new realms, she sang the theme tune for the BBC Radio 4 series Coming Alive and her vocals featured on the soundtracks of two British movies. More recently she sang with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Stephen Sondheim Special, alongside Brian Kennedy and Maria Ewing. She also sang at Alastair Cook’s Thanksgiving Service. Jacqui is currently presenting a series of UK gigs alongside working on her new album.

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