Annette Gregory Trio, The Mash Tun Stage, Ludlow Brewery, Ludlow, Shropshire, 01/07/2023 (Part of Ludlow Fringe Festival)

Annette Gregory – vocals, John McDonald – keyboard, Joe Kessell – double bass

Annette Gregory is a jazz vocalist of Jamaican heritage, originally from Manchester but now based in Worcestershire. Inspired to sing jazz by Ella Fitzgerald she studied jazz vocal performance at the Guildhall School of Music in London.

Gregory became a professional jazz musician fairly late in life after first singing with a community jazz band. A popular presence on the Midlands jazz scene she has recorded a number of EPs and has toured regularly, often presenting themed shows such as “Sings Cool Jazz”, “Celebrating Ella Fitzgerald”, “The Ladies of Jazz” and “Jazz & Me”.

I first saw Gregory perform at the 2017 Brecon Jazz Festival when she appeared with her pianist and musical director John McDonald plus a rhythm section comprised of two students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, bassist Matheus Prado and drummer Zach Breskal. Gregory was so impressed with Prado’s contribution that she later invited him to join her regular quintet. My review of the Brecon show can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/annette-gregory-friends-brecon-jazz-festival-2017-the-muse-arts-centre-brec

Later in 2017 I enjoyed a performance of Gregory’s ‘Celebrating Ella Fitzgerald’ show at Cawley Hall in the village of Eye, near Leominster, Herefordshire. The band on that occasion featured Gregory and McDonald plus Dionne Sambrook on tenor sax, Martyn Lammyman on double bass and Marsh Barton at the drums. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/annette-gregory-celebrating-ella-fitzgerald-cawley-hall-eye-leominster-here

In addition to her singing career Gregory also founded and runs Kidderminster Jazz Club, which began at the Town Hall in October 2019 with a performance by pianist / vocalist Wendy Kirkland and her quintet. The Club continues to present the best of local and national jazz talent, exploring a broad range of jazz genres and is now based at the 45 Live venue in Kidderminster. In December 2019 Gregory performed a ‘Christmas Special’ at the Town Hall venue which is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/annette-gregory-quintet-christmas-special-town-hall-kidderminster-worcs-05-12-2019

Tonight’s performance was part of Ludlow Fringe Festival, a two week celebration of the Arts embracing a variety of disciplines that takes place annually at various venues around the town. It’s a Festival that Gregory has played before and a small but appreciative audience was present at the Brewery to see her perform.

The event was also part of Gregory’s “Believe Tour”, which sees her appearing at numerous venues and festivals around the country in support of her first full length album release “Believe”. In a sense the new album represents something of a follow on from the earlier “Jazz & Me” EP in that it features songs by others that have a particular resonance for the singer, but more importantly it establishes Gregory as a songwriter and includes six original compositions.

The album personnel includes John McDonald on piano, John McKinley on guitar, Joe Kessell on bass, Isaac Cortvriend at the drums and Ian Close on saxophones. McDonald and McKinley have always been the core of the Kidderminster Jazz Club house band, usually a quartet, that has backed illustrious visitors such as saxophonists Simon Spillett and Alan Barnes and the late, great vocalist Tina May.

The Ludlow show featured Gregory’s singing in the intimate situation of a trio with McDonald on keyboard, a Nord Stage 3 largely on an acoustic piano setting, and Kessell on double bass. It was a format that worked particularly well and emphasised the quality of Gregory’s singing and her growing assurance as a jazz vocalist.

The “Believe” shows represent something of an overview of Gregory’s jazz career thus far and the evening commenced with two well known standards, “Almost Like Being Love” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, both of which appear on the new album. These were songs that Gregory used to sing with the aforementioned community band and in this intimate context they demonstrated her talent for jazz phrasing and her ability to make a song her own. McDonald and Kessell provided fluent instrumental solos on both songs. This was my first sighting of Kessell, a graduate of the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire and I was very impressed by his contribution to the success of the evening, particularly in this exposed musical setting.

Two more standards followed with “April In Paris” and “On A Clear Day”, the latter played in something of a bossa style and featuring a warm vocal from Gregory. Once again McDonald and Kessell impressed with their instrumental contributions.

The lockdown period gave Gregory the opportunity to concentrate on songwriting and her efforts were supported by the BBC Introducing scheme at her local radio station BBC Hereford and Worcester, who insisted that she performed with original material. The result was a showcase performance at the How The Light Gets In Festival at Hay-on-Wye on the Herefordshire / Wales border. Out of these sessions came the song “Thinking”, a highly personal composition dedicated to Gregory’s grandchildren and one of the original compositions featured on the “Believe” album.

The trio returned to the standards repertoire with an Ella inspired “All The Things You Are” followed by “Close Enough For Love”, both of which also featured excellent instrumental contributions from McDonald and Kessell.

The first set concluded with the heartfelt “Lonely”, a Gregory original written to commemorate her late mother. Featuring a particularly soulful vocal from the composer the song appears on the “Jazz & Me” EP and has also been released as a single.

Set two commenced with “The Very Thought Of You”, which saw McDonald injecting a little humour into the proceedings with a quote laden solo.

Gregory’s blues inflected arrangement of “Stormy Weather” appears in full band form on the “Jazz and Me”  EP.

There’s also a full band version of the Gregory / McDonald composition “Mad About You” on the “Believe” album. As Gregory explained this was their attempt to write an old style swing tune with a lyric representing “a celebration of love”. The recorded version features a sinuous soprano sax solo from Ian Close but the song worked equally well in this pared down trio format with co-composer McDonald soloing on piano.

“Too Marvellous For Words” marked a return to the standards repertoire and this was followed by “Never Will I Marry”, a song chosen as a celebration of female independence. It appears on Gregory’s “Ladies Of Jazz” EP, an offshoot of the touring show of the same name that celebrated such artists as Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone, June Christy and Chris Connor.

From the new album “Goodbye My Love” is a song co-written by Gregory and guitarist John McKinley. Apparently McKinley is unwell at present and has been unable to perform on the tour. Gregory is still keen to acknowledge his contribution to the album and sang the song accompanied by a soundtrack of McKinley’s guitar playing cued in by the sound engineer. It worked surprisingly well. Here at The Jazzmann we wish John all the best.

“In The Wee Small Hours” represented a brief but emotive return to the standards repertoire.

McDonald changed his settings to an electric piano sound for the only time for the title track of the “Believe” album. For this song Gregory’s writing was influenced by the music of Gregory Porter and her vocals were appropriately soulful. The lyrics are a paean to the power of self belief - “I can do this” - and were written as a response to the setbacks that Gregory has overcome in her jazz career. A week after Glastonbury it’s not such a leap of faith to imagine these defiantly positive lyrics being sung in unison by a crowd of thousands.

The show ended with Gregory paying homage to her Jamaican heritage with a sparse voice and double bass only arrangement of the Bob Marley tune “Waiting In Vain”, a song that appears on the “Jazz & Me” EP.

Despite the relatively small attendance I thoroughly enjoyed this performance from Gregory and the trio. The pared down instrumental configuration placed more emphasis on her qualities as a vocalist and she more than rose to the challenge. From a technical point of view she gets better every time I see her. I believe that a drummer had originally been scheduled to appear but if anything the songs gained from being presented in a more intimate format

Both the show and the new album also demonstrate her growing maturity as a songwriter, and one who can communicate simply and directly with an audience. Gregory’s love of music, and jazz in particular is expressed both via her singing and songwriting and also her commitment to Kidderminster Jazz Club, which has survived the Covid crisis and also a change of location. It can’t be easy to balance these two areas of her musical life, but she’s doing a terrific job.

The “Believe” album, recorded with the support of the Help Musicians foundation, contains full band versions of many of the songs heard tonight, beginning with “Almost Like Being Love”, which swings along at a fast clip and incorporates an instrumental solos from Close on tenor sax.

Next up is a version of the Crusaders / Randy Crawford hit “Street Life”, which works very effectively and features Close on soprano.

Kessell’s bass introduces “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and is prominent in the arrangement throughout, with Cortvriend deploying brushes. Gregory gives a sensuous vocal performance and Close returns to the tenor.

The first of the original songs is “Mad About You”, which has already been alluded to above. 

Next up is “Goodbye My Love”, Gregory’s collaboration with John McKinley, a brief but effective voice and guitar duet.

Cortvriend’s drums usher in the band version of “Believe”, with McDonald again adopting an electric keyboard sound.

“I Wonder” is another Gregory original and combines contemporary hip hop / r& b influenced sounds with more conventional swinging jazz episodes. Gregory’s confessional lyrics are complemented by an intriguing arrangement in which Kessell’s bass again plays a prominent role.

As a “love letter” to Gregory’s seven grandchildren the recorded version of “Thinking” is also direct and sincere with McDonald the only instrumentalist. It’s another song capable of a wide appeal and has also been issued as a single.

The final original song is “Seek”, which is ushered in by Cortvriend’s subtle drum introduction and the low register sounds of Kessell’s bass. McDonald adds electric piano and Close soprano sax. It’s an atmospheric piece, with Gregory’s lyrics and soulful vocals delivering the same kind of positive message as the earlier “Believe”.

The album concludes with Gregory’s arrangement of “How Could I Leave”, an old reggae song written by the late Dennis Brown (1957-99), the man dubbed “The Crown Prince of Reggae”. Brown was a pioneer of the ‘Lover’s Rock’ sub genre and this was a song listened to by the young Gregory. Her affectionate rendition of the tune features a sparse arrangement featuring just her voice and Cortvriend’s sympathetic and highly musical drum accompaniment. It’s highly effective.

Gregory’s first full length recording is an impressive piece of work and deserves to do well. She impresses both with her own songwriting and her imaginative interpretations of the songs of others. In addition this is also the best vocal performance that she has recorded to date. The album has already attracted the attention of local radio programmers, plus Tom Robinson at BBC Radio 6, and will hopefully also make more inroads on the national scene as Gregory tours the country.

For more information please visit https://annettegregory.info/home

 

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