Sue Richardson; “Too Cool, The Life and Music of Chet Baker”, Birchmeadow Centre, Broseley, Shropshire, 24/04/2015.

This performance was the third event promoted by the local arts association Art Alive that I’ve had the pleasure of covering in recent weeks. Arts Alive promote events across a variety of disciplines and genres in the counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire with their slogan “professional shows at affordable prices in informal spaces” neatly encapsulating their approach.

Trumpeter, vocalist and composer Sue Richardson released the album “Too Cool” in 2013, a very personal tribute to the life, music and influence of Chet Baker which combined Richardson’s Baker inspired originals with a selection of Baker’s own tunes plus the Rodgers & Hart jazz standard “My Funny Valentine”, a song that Baker made his very own and which will always be associated with him. The album was originally released to tie in with the 25th anniversary of Baker’s death and Richardson, with the help of actress and theatre director Sylvia Sims has since put together a narrative chronicling Baker’s troubled life which combines with the music to create an effective stage show that has been presented at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London in addition to smaller, more rural venues. “Too Cool” represents Richardson’s fourth album following “Out of a Song” (2004), “Emergence” (2007) and Fanfare” (2011). All the albums can be found on Splash Point Music, the label Richardson runs with her husband and piano player Neal Richardson.

The current “Too Cool” tour (which includes a return visit to Ronnie’s on May 17th 2015) incorporated two performances under the Arts Alive banner at Broseley and at Kingsland, near Leominster, Herefordshire. The Kingsland show would have been much closer for me but a prior commitment to cover a performance by the trio Quercus at Wolverhampton the same evening put paid to that - ironically the Quercus show had been rescheduled following the postponement, due to illness, of the original scheduled date.

And so I found myself at the Birchmeadow Centre, a welcoming events and activity centre run by Broseley Town Council. The “Birch” promotes live music on a regular basis, usually from the worlds of folk and blues, a glance at their website http://www.birchmeadow.org.uk will reveal the high quality of the acts that have already appeared there or who they have coming up. I gather that tonight’s event represented their first foray into jazz and it was a little disappointing that more people didn’t turn up to see this highly accomplished performance from Sue Richardson and her very classy band of experienced jazz professionals. It was the first Arts Alive Event that I’ve attended that wasn’t sold out, however with the audience seated cabaret style in the recently refurbished concert room there was still enough of an atmosphere to make this an enjoyable gig.

Joining Richardson were husband Neal on piano (a Yamaha electric keyboard), Gavin Barras on double bass and Eryl Roberts at the drums. This core quartet was frequently augmented by the excellent Karen Sharp on baritone saxophone. The Richardsons plus Sharp all appear on the album   alongside George Trebar on bass and Rod Youngs at the drums. Neal later told me that the South Coast based Richardsons always use the Manchester based team of Barras and Roberts for any gigs they have “north of Watford Gap”. The Mancunians form an effective and experienced rhythm pairing. Barras is familiar from his work with Matthew Halsall, Nat Birchall, Arun Ghosh and HAQ. The versatile Roberts has played with guitarist Gary Boyle among many others.

Introduced by Birchmeadow’s Peter Smith the performance began with Sue Richardson telling us something of Baker’s early life above the subtle backing of piano, bass and drums. Baker was born in rural Oklahoma in 1929. His father Chesney was a jazz enthusiast, a guitar player and dope smoker who introduced young “Chetty” to the music at a very early age. Chesney wanted his son to play trombone in the manner of his jazz hero Jack Teagarden but Chet held out for a trumpet, influenced at first by the playing of Bix Beiderbecke and later by the sound of Harry James. At first Baker wanted to imitate James’ “big, bold, brassy”  style and Sue and the band played for a short while in this vein until Sue narrated the story of the loss of one of Baker’s front teeth in a childhood accident and how he had to adapt his playing accordingly. We then heard a more prolonged passage in the familiar Baker style with Sue’s cool tone and lyrical phrasing leading off a set of solos that introduced each band member to the crowd, Neal following her on piano and succeeded in turn by Barras on double bass and Roberts with a series of crisp drum breaks. I think this was probably the instrumental “Too Cool” which opens the album of the same name.

Baker joined the army as a bandsman and although he was neither an academic nor a reader of music the army provided him with great opportunities for playing and he became highly adept at learning music by ear. After leaving the services he moved to Los Angeles, famously playing with Charlie Parker before joining baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan in the latter’s famous “piano-less quartet”, a highly radical experiment at that time. The Mulligan group garnered enormous public and critical acclaim and Baker became a star almost overnight, something helped by his youthful good looks and cool public image. At this point Sue called Karen Sharp to the stage to be Mulligan to her Baker on the catchy and enduring “Bernie’s Tune”, one of the hits from the first Mulligan/Baker album. The interaction between the two instruments was superb with Sue’s high pitched trumpet contrasting perfectly with the buzz of Sharp’s baritone. Both women delivered wonderfully fluent solos as well as trading short phrases with each other in thrilling fashion. The piece was also notable for a closing series of brushed drum breaks from the excellent Roberts.

When Mulligan was jailed for heroin use Baker went solo and quickly established a huge following in Europe resulting in him settling in Italy for a time. A heroin user himself he was also subsequently jailed for attempting to smuggle drugs across the Austrian border and spent time in an Italian prison. It was during this period that he wrote a number of pieces which were subsequently recorded on an album with arrangements by the celebrated film composer Ennio Morricone that incorporated suitably wide-screen strings and choirs, all a little bit over the top. Baker was never a particularly prolific writer and Sue Richardson has taken some of these songs, many of which have Italian titles and words, and adapted them for small group performance, including the penning of new English lyrics.  The first illustration of the music from the period was “Chetty’s Lullaby”, a tune written for Baker’s young son that featured the velvet whisper of Sue’s flugelhorn plus an English lyric translated from the original by fellow vocalist Georgia Mancio, Italian born but London based. The piece was also notable for the first of several excellent double bass solos from Gavin Barras, beautifully constructed affairs of totally unaccompanied bass that embraced both melody and rhythm with no support from the drums or comping from the piano. Impressive. 

Sue Richardson did not gloss over Baker’s troubled personality and dissolute lifestyle. He was married three times and resorted to petty crime such as burglary and petrol siphoning to feed his lifelong drug habit. In an uneven recording career he cut many inferior albums in order to cover his drugs bills. For all this the charismatic Baker seemed to hold an uncanny fascination for women, a subject addressed in Sue Richardson’s song “Adored” with lyrics by Annette Keen that actually include the “too cool” line that gave both the album and show their titles. Solos here came from Sharp on baritone sax and Sue Richardson on trumpet, including a quote from “My Funny Valentine” to complement the mention of the song in the lyrics.

The antipathy between Miles Davis and Baker was well documented. Davis was dismissive of this “white boy” who didn’t write his own music and who, in Davis’ eyes, was content to recycle the same old licks. Baker, on the other hand actively admired Davis, the relentless musical explorer, and their playing styles were actually very similar with an emphasis on melody and emotional impact rather than sheer virtuosity. It was therefore a pleasingly mischievous touch from Richardson to include the Davis tune “Four” in her Baker themed set, a terrific version that began with Neal Richardson at the piano with bass and drums being added incrementally and with the rich blend of horns featuring Sharp and Sue Richardson. Solos were shared around the group with features from all five members. 

The Sue Richardson tune “On A Moonbeam” was developed from a melodic fragment played by Baker in the French made documentary film “Let’s Get Lost”. Her performance on the trumpet was the perfect encapsulation of Baker’s patented “gauzy” playing style.

The first set closed with “Anticipated Blues”, a tune accredited to Baker but arguably appropriated by him from other sources. The thrilling unison horn lines of Sue Richardson and Karen Sharp led to exciting solos from both followed by further solos from Neal Richardson and Barras plus a well constructed drum feature from Eryl Roberts.

If set one had been a narrative of Baker’s life illustrated by appropriate musical episodes then set two was more of a collection of songs with a particular emphasis on Baker’s “Italian” compositions. Again the performance began in quartet mode with husband Neal’s piano accompanying Sue’s voice on the opening phases of Jimmy Van Heusen’s “It Could Happen To You” with subsequent instrumental solos from Sue on trumpet and Neal on piano. Neal Richardson is a fine solo performer in his own right, a pianist/vocalist whose own original songs embrace jazz, blues and pop and who played an entertaining lunchtime show with his quartet at the Pizza Express Jazz Club during the 2014 EFG London Jazz Festival, a performance witnessed by yours truly.

The film “Let’s Get Lost” was made in France by the fashion photographer Bruce Webber who went on to make the Calvin Klein ads. Sue Richardson played and sang the title song with real emotion, her singing and trumpeting complemented well by Barras’ highly melodic double bass solo and Roberts’ sensitively brushed drum accompaniment.

The first of Baker’s “Italian songs” was the ballad “So Che Ti Perdero” - English translation “I Know That I will Lose You”. Richardson re-workings of Baker’s Italian pieces have attempted to give them more of a “jazz standards” feel. This instrumental performance featured a bossa nova style arrangement featuring Richardson’s feathery, Baker-esque trumpeting and sensitive group accompaniment including Roberts’ delicately brushed drums. The album version also includes the guitar playing of Andy Drudy and the recording also includes a vocal version of the tune as a bonus track.

A second Italian piece “Motivo Su Raggio Di Luna”  (or “Motif On A Moon Beam”) featured Richardson’s voice and her own English lyrics. The ballad arrangement had a suitable after hours feel and the piece also marked the return of Karen Sharp who shared the soloing duties with Sue Richardson on trumpet, Neal on piano and Barras at the bass.

The next in the series was “Il Mio Domani” (“All My Tomorrows”), another ballad that originally featured lyrics written by an Italian poet. Richardson’s arrangement includes an English lyric, again translated by Georgia Mancio. These were sung expressively by Richardson who also added fragile, lyrical trumpet.

Following this sequence of ballads the quintet livened things up again with an arrangement of George Gershwin’s “But Not For Me”, a tune recorded by Baker himself. Richardson transposed Baker’s trumpet intro and subsequent solo and the performance also included her assured vocals. Further instrumental solos came from the impressive Sharp on baritone and Neal Richardson at the piano.

The Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn composed “Time After Time” seemed mark a return to ballad mode with its gentle piano/vocal introduction but a dramatic shift in tempo suddenly introduced a surge of energy that had at least one audience member clapping along as Sharp’s baritone rasped into life for an astonishingly fluent and agile solo. Sharp impressed hugely throughout the evening in her “Gerry Mulligan” role and she’s also a highly accomplished tenor saxophonist who spent three years with the Humphrey Lyttleton band.

At last it was time for the inevitable “My Funny Valentine”, a Rodgers & Hart song written in the 1920s that was rediscovered by the Mulligan band in the 1950s and subsequently made his own by Baker who recorded it as both a trumpeter and a vocalist. Richardson’s slowed down ballad arrangement was particularly effective in its use of space. Her emotive singing evoked a similar air of vulnerability to that created by Baker in his vocal performances. Although not technically a “good” singer Baker’s plaintive, world weary delivery was highly effective and he recorded a number of mainly vocal albums that enjoyed a good deal of commercial success. Tonight’s version also included Richardson’s mournful sounding trumpet, well supported by Barras’ rich bass undertow and Roberts’ tasteful brushed drum accompaniment. Neal Richardson’s piano solo embraced a variety of classical flourishes and the piece ended with Sue’s solo trumpet cadenza.

Despite “Valentine” being Baker’s most popular number it would have ended the show on too poignant a note so the quintet took us out with a brassily exuberant arrangement of “Almost Like Being In Love” with Sue’s vocals sharing the limelight with Sharp’s ebullient baritone sax and Neal Richardson’s piano. The performance was rousing enough for the crowd to call the band back for an encore of “I’m Old Fashioned”, another lively rendition that featured solos for baritone sax, trumpet, piano and bass.

Although the audience size was modest -“small but perfectly formed” as Sue put it -the evening could still be considered a success and CD sales were relatively brisk. Overall I was very impressed with Sue Richardson as both a singer and as an instrumentalist. She has always combined both disciplines but should she ever be required to specialise in either one or the other she would make a terrific job of it. She is undoubtedly a highly talented all round performer who presents her shows with wit, intelligence and charm.
Her band were also highly impressive both individually and collectively and I was particularly impressed with Karen Sharp as a baritone soloist and also loved the instrumental interplay between her and Sue Richardson in their roles as Gerry and Chet.

The album “Too Cool” is also a classy and impressive piece of work that sheds fresh light on the Chet Baker legacy and repays repeated listening.         

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