Emily Saunders with the Dave Cottle Trio, Brecon Jazz Club Bar, Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, 19/05/2015.

Emily Saunders is a London based vocalist with two acclaimed albums of original songs to her credit. Raised in a classically inclined musical family Saunders played piano and sang from an early age but her love of improvisation drew her towards the world of jazz and she subsequently studied Jazz Voice at London’s Trinity Conservatoire.

Saunders’ range of jazz influences is broad, ranging from early exposure to Oscar Peterson, Fats Waller, and Charlie Parker through to vocalists such as Nina Simone, Betty Carter, and Flora Purim. Rock, reggae, Latin, soul and ambient have all been grist to the mill but Saunders has always been drawn to the music of Brazil and particularly that of Hermeto Pascoal. Both of her solo albums “Cotton Skies” (2011) and the more recent “Outsiders Insiders” (2015) draw heavily on Brazilian music forms with Saunders adding her own perceptive English language lyrics.  She is accompanied on these albums by some of the leading musicians on the London jazz scene including trumpeter Byron Wallen, trombonist Trevor Mires, keyboard player Bruno Heinen, bassist Dave Whitford and drummer Jon Scott.

Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon of Brecon Jazz Club saw Saunders performing with her band in Manchester (presumably at the city’s jazz festival) and were so impressed that they were determined to bring her to Brecon. After meeting with the singer it was agreed that she would come to Wales to perform with a trio of locally based musicians led by pianist Dave Cottle, the mastermind behind the Swansea Jazzland club and the forthcoming Swansea International Jazz Festival. Joining Cottle were Alun Vaughan on six string electric bass and Paul Smith at the drums. This line up will also accompany Saunders on her appearance at Swansea Jazzland on May 20th 2015.

The Cottle trio are an experienced unit with a particular affinity for accompanying adventurous singers, I remember Cottle and Vaughan being part of the group that backed Sarah Ellen Hughes at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny back in 2011. Vaughan has also performed in Abergavenny with saxophonist Martha Skilton and as part of the house band at the inaugural Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in 2013 which included a set with jazz/blues vocalist Zoe Schwarz.

As well as being an accomplished writer and performer of original material Saunders is also an excellent interpreter of jazz and bebop standards with a great fondness for tunes from the “Great American Songbook”. As she had only met her bandmates some three hours before the focus was inevitably upon this common musical language as Saunders and the trio delivered two enjoyable sets comprising almost exclusively of standard material. With the singer taking a particularly adventurous approach to the chosen songs the trio responded with some excellent playing and there were some terrific instrumental solos to complement Saunders’ highly imaginative vocalising.

“All The Things You Are” seemed to represent a safe choice with which to begin the set but Saunders’ adventurous approach to the lyrics plus her daring wordless improvisations helped to breathe new life into this oldest of chestnuts. Cottle, at his Yamaha electric keyboard, and Vaughan on the bass responded with excellent solos of their own.

“Beautiful Love” offered another excellent example of Saunders using her voice as an instrument with Cottle and Vaughan again replying in kind.

There were further vocal gymnastics on the following piece, a song that I didn’t actually recognise but may well have been called “The Hard Way”. The piece was also notable for Cottle’s use of the classic “electric piano” sound, previously he’d deployed an acoustic piano setting, and for Vaughan’s stunningly agile high register electric bass.

Vaughan also excelled on Saunders’ innovative treatment of “God Bless The Child” which saw the singer bending and stretching the melody lines and branching out into scat territory. Vaughan’s solo again saw him utilising his instrument’s upper register to create an almost guitar like sound, something exemplified by his bending of the strings. It had been some time since I had last seen him play and I’d forgotten just how accomplished an electric bass soloist he is.

“How High The Moon” marked a return to swinging, up tempo territory with Saunders’ joyous vocalising matched by the solos of Cottle and Vaughan, the latter cheekily squeezing a quote from “All Of Me” into his solo.

“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” featured some lively scatting from Saunders and a rollicking solo from Cottle that included a passage of stride piano that served to confirm his extensive knowledge of a whole panoply of jazz piano styles.

A bossa style arrangement of “Just Friends” represented a first excursion into the world of Brazilian music with the gentle trilling of Cottle’s electric piano sharing the instrumental solo space with Vaughan’s electric bass.

“Lover Man” received a very adventurous interpretation from Saunders as she again stretched the vocal lines to almost breaking point with Cottle again taking the instrumental honours.

The first set closed with a spirited version of Charlie Parker’s “Anthropology”, a scat vocal showcase for Saunders whose opening salvo threw down the gauntlet to the instrumentalists. Cottle replied with an expansive, quote laden piano solo followed by Vaughan at the bass. Saunders wound things up with spirited scat/drum exchange between herself and the excellent Smith who had offered superb support to both the singer and his fellow instrumentalists throughout the set.

A slightly shorter second set began in similar fashion with another scat set piece, this time a version of Thelonious Monk’s blues “Straight No Chaser” which had been requested by an audience member during the interval. Cottle had switched his keyboard to an organ setting which represented a nice variation on the group sound that we had heard this far. He led off the solos followed by both Vaughan and Smith, the drummer again relishing his moment in the limelight.

“But Not For Me” has always been fertile ground for both vocal and instrumental improvisers and Saunders, Cottle and Vaughan all impressed here with lively solo features.

“It Could Happen To You” is a song that was historically associated with the late Chet Baker. The trio tackled it at a relatively fast tempo with Cottle coaxing an almost guitar like sound from his keyboard, I also seem to remember him doing this at Abergavenny. Vaughan was also featured and the song ended with another vocal/drum exchange between Saunders and Smith.

The playful “Squeeze Me, Don’t Tease Me” saw Saunders at her most flirtatious with Vaughan’s liquid electric bass leading the solos followed by Cottle at the piano, both of them accompanied by Smith’s seductive brushed drum grooves.

For me the highlight of the evening was “Trane’s Naima” which saw Saunders adding her own words to John Coltrane’s famous melody to create a dramatic ballad that also brought out the best of the trio, particularly the burly figure of Vaughan. He may look like John Hartson but with his lovely, liquid electric bass tone he sounds like Steve Swallow, a compliment indeed.

Some audience members preferred Saunders’ version of “Nature Boy” which featured more audacious vocalising as Saunders’ singing again stretched the fabric of the song with instrumental solos coming from Cottle on percussive sounding electric piano and Vaughan on bass, the latter expertly shadowed by Smith. Saunders delighted in telling us that the song, a massive hit for Nat King Cole, was in essence autobiographical, the lyrics referring to the proto-hippie lifestyle of its writer eden ahbez. 

Saunders own composition “Dream” concluded the set. This song from the “Cotton Skies” album re-introduced her Brazilian stylings and featured the twinkling sound of Cottle’s keyboard
alongside Saunders’ airy delivery of the lyric and her exotic scatting.

In front of another reassuringly large Brecon Jazz Club audience Lynne Gornall had little difficulty in persuading the band to return for an encore, this being the evergreen “Autumn Leaves”. Saunders treatment of the song was again audacious, almost radical with extended lines and adventurous scatting. Cottle’s solo embraced classical flourishes including a snatch of Greig. He was followed by Vaughan before Smith rounded the evening off with a series of entertaining drum breaks.

The Brecon audience, which included a number of aspiring vocalists, thoroughly enjoyed this evening which saw Saunders and her newly acquired friends taking familiar material but addressing it in an adventurous and thoroughly entertaining manner. Saunders proved her credentials as a seriously good jazz vocalist with her adventurous phrasing and scatting and her approach helped to bring the best out of her three extremely capable colleagues. This was as good a gig as could be expected from the familiar scenario of guest vocalist and pick up band at a provincial jazz club and the success of the evening was a tribute to all four participants.

Saunders’ two albums inevitably sound very different but her love of standards and the adventurous singing of them shone through at this gig as did her extensive knowledge of the jazz repertoire.   

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