Victoria Klewin Quartet, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 23/06/2024.

Victoria Klewin – vocals, Alex Veitch – piano, Bill Frampton – double bass, backing vocals, Alex Goodyear – drums, backing vocals

Vocalist and songwriter Victoria Klewin is a popular figure with the Black Mountain Jazz audience after previously visiting the Club in September 2019 for a “Sings Blossom Dearie” themed show that saw her leading a stellar Bristol based quintet featuring guitarist Denny Ilett, keyboard player Dan Moore, bassist Pasquale Votino  and drummer Matt Brown. My account of this successful and enjoyable event can be found here.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/victoria-klewin-sings-blossom-dearie-black-mountain-jazz-melville-centre-ab

In 2020 Klewin returned to Abergavenny and was part of BMJ’s Wall2Wall Virtual Jazz Festival, a series of performances filmed and recorded at an empty Melville Centre and subsequently streamed to the Festival audience.

Klewin was part of the event ‘Remembering Peggy Lee’ which featured the talents of three vocalists popular with BMJ audiences Klewin, Debs Hancock and Becky Biggins in the company of a ‘house trio’ led by drummer Alex Goodyear and featuring pianist Guy Shotton and bassist Nick Kacal.  This ‘Centenary Tribute’ to Lee (born 1920) also incorporated a narration from Ceri Ellis that told the story of Lee’s life and career. My review of this streamed event can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/remembering-peggy-lee-wall2wall-virtual-jazz-festival-2020-abergavenny

Victoria Klewin was born in Buckinghamshire but brought up in Corsham, Wiltshire. She studied music at Dartington College in Devon before re-locating to Bristol, the city she now calls home.

As a jazz vocalist Klewin’s singing has invited comparisons with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee with other acknowledged influences including Betty Carter, Nancy Wilson, Melody Gardot, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

However her ultimate jazz heroine is the New York born singer and pianist Blossom Dearie (1924-2009). Klewin toured widely with her “Sings Blossom Dearie” show, which features Dearie’s own compositions alongside material associated with her written by the likes of Cole Porter, Cy Coleman and Johnny Mercer. Klewin’s homage to Dearie followed in the wake of similarly successful projects paying tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Hoagy Carmichael. Like Dearie Klewin also plays piano, although I’ve yet to see her do so on a gig.

Klewin is a highly versatile vocalist capable of singing in a variety of musical styles including jazz, pop, soul, blues, folk and their various sub genres, and even classical and opera. An accomplished session vocalist she has also worked in musical theatre and advertising. At one time she toured extensively as a backing vocalist with internationally known soul act Hannah Williams and The Affirmations.  Klewin is also an acclaimed musical educator and vocal coach.

Klewin has also performed regularly at Brecon Jazz Club and in March 2020 played a standards based set in the company of a trio led by Cardiff based pianist Jim Barber and featuring bassist Ashley John Long and drummer Ian Poole. She had previously appeared at the same venue with the Dave Cottle Trio. That Klewin / Barber show proved to be the last gig that I saw before lockdown and my review can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/victoria-klewin-with-the-jim-barber-trio-brecon-jazz-club-the-muse-arts-centre-brecon-10-03-2020

Having witnessed Klewin performing standards and presenting her ‘Blossom’ project it was good to see a new side of her talent this evening as she performed two sets that placed the emphasis on her original songwriting. 

In 2016 Klewin released the album “Dance Me To Heaven”, a collection of self penned songs that she recorded with the seven piece band The Truetones. Some of the songs from that album were to be heard this evening alongside items from the 2023 digital only EP “Loverboy”.

As a songwriter Klewin cites the inspiration of such giantesses of the genre as Joni Mitchell and Carole King alongside more contemporary influences like Liane La Havas, Laura Mvula and Rufus Wainwright.

Tonight’s show saw Klewin in the company of regular collaborators Bill Frampton (double bass) and BMJ favourite Alex Goodyear (drums). The quartet was completed by pianist Alex Veitch, Goodyear’s colleague from the trio Yetii. Incredibly it was the first time that Veitch had performed Klewin’s music, but such was the quality of his contribution that one would never have guessed.

Tonight’s performance kicked off with the title track from “Dance Me To Heaven”, a song that Klewin wrote when she was still a teenager. Most of her lyrics deal with human romantic relationships and this account of the joys of first love incorporated a scat vocal episode and instrumental solos from piano and double bass, all subtly propelled by Goodyear’s deft brush work.

Unaccompanied piano introduced “When The Lights Go Down”, a Klewin original from the “Loverboy” EP. This introduced a gentle blues / gospel flavour to a composition that Klewin described as “a country love song”. With a lyric expressing one party’s disappointment at the end of a love affair this was an emotive performance with Klewin’s wistful, yearning vocal complemented by Veitch’s lyrical piano solo and, once again, Goodyear’s sensitive brush work.

The first standard of the evening was “Besame Mucho”, written in 1932 by the Mexican  songwriter  Consuelo Velázquez. A genuinely Latin-esque arrangement saw Goodyear switching to sticks and Veitch soloing expansively as Klewin delivered a vivacious vocal performance.

Lyrically inspired by the teachings of Osho the words of the as yet unrecorded original “Bloom” advocated tolerance and openness in romantic relationships, condemning controlling behaviour. Klewin’s assured vocals, allied to a hypnotic rhythm and expansive solos from Veitch and Frampton made for a compelling performance. This was concluded by a stunning feature from Goodyear that made extensive use of hand drumming techniques, a reflection of his growing interest in world music rhythms. Arguably the most unusual and exotic number in the set it was also one of the best received.

The standard “But Beautiful” was performed as a ballad, opening with a voice and piano duet, with double bass and brushed drums subsequently added. This was a beautiful performance with Klewin’s wistful vocal and Veitch’s lyrical piano solo sensitively supported by bass and drums.

A second standard, “Teach Me Tonight”, offered a complete contrast. Described by Klewin as being “bluesy, flirtatious and naughty”  this was the song that she performed as an encore at that Blossom Dearie show at BMJ back in 2019. Tonight’s version featured a suitably sultry vocal from Klewin alongside instrumental solos from Veitch and Frampton.

The first set concluded with the title track from the “Loverboy” EP, a recording made when Klewin was suffering from a broken leg.  With a lyric described by Klewin as being “tongue in cheek” this was a playful performance ushered in by Frampton at the bass and incorporating a solo from Veitch at the piano and a suitably quirky and energetic brushed drum feature from Goodyear.

Set two commenced with the Klewin original “Not All That Glitters”, a song from the “Dance Me To Heaven” album. With a lyric warning against excessive materialism in the romantic sphere this was a song with something of the feel of a standard about it and which incorporated a scat vocal episode from Klewin and instrumental solos from Veitch and Frampton.

From the “Loverboy” EP “I Won’t Go Gentle” saw Klewin taking a phrase from Dylan Thomas and using it as the basis for an emotive and convincing romantic ballad. Written from the point of view of the party who doesn’t want a failed relationship to end this was an affecting song that saw Klewin’s vocal performance enhanced by an arrangement that included the sounds of piano, bowed bass and drums.

Also sourced from the EP “No Bounds” was altogether different in feel, a happy, positive, celebration of love and a song with a vibrant Latin-esque arrangement that brought the best out of featured soloist Alex Veitch.

Klewin had promised us more Blossom Dearie and this was delivered in the form of ‘”Deed I Do”, a song written in 1926 and subsequently performed by Dearie and a whole host of other jazz artists. Klewin’s playful vocal was augmented by an inventive arrangement that saw both Veitch and Frampton dropping out at various times, but with the pianist also acting as the featured soloist.

The focus remained on the standards repertoire with the ballad “Crazy He Calls Me”, which featured a melodic double bass solo from Frampton, underscored by Goodyear’s delicate brush work.

The as yet unrecorded “Surf or Surrender” was a Klewin original that addressed the mental health issues that she suffered during lockdown, a traumatic time for all musicians. Introduced by a passage of unaccompanied piano this was Klewin at her most reflective, her lyrics drawing on shipwreck imagery, with the bleak humour of the line “marooned in the blues” a particularly memorable moment. Veitch was the featured instrumental soloist, while Frampton added backing vocals and also took up the bow at the close.

The performance concluded with “Straight and Narrow”, another Klewin original from the lockdown period and a song that has since been the subject of numerous re-mixes. Released as a single the piece embraces a soul / gospel feel and boasts a rousing chorus that Klewin encouraged the audience to join in with. With Frampton and Goodyear both adding backing vocals, and with Veitch the featured instrumental soloist, this was an excellent way to end the evening as Klewin sent an appreciative audience home feeling very happy.

With this being Veitch’s first gig with the band Klewin had warned us that there would be no encore – “I don’t want to throw anything else at him” she explained. A shame, as an encore was thoroughly deserved, but totally understandable given the circumstances.

This was the first time that I had seen Klewin performing her own material and I was impressed by the quality of her writing. Some of the subject matter may be a little generic but in the main these are songs written in the ‘Great American Songbook’ tradition, but with more contemporary pop and soul influences also featuring strongly. The more recent songs suggest that Klewin is continuing to mature as a songwriter and it was good to hear this side of her talent.

As a vocalist Klewin is technically accomplished and highly versatile and she received excellent support from a terrific band. Frampton and Goodyear, the latter a real favourite with BMJ audiences, work with her on a regular basis but Veitch was also superb, slotting into Klewin’s sound-world seamlessly and also delivering some brilliant solos.

My thanks to Alex Goodyear, Alex Veitch and Victoria for speaking with me after the show. Victoria told me that she has enough songs to record a second album, the only issue now being the actual financing of the recording. On the evidence of tonight’s performance let’s hope that she will soon be able to document her new material on disc.

All in all another excellent night at Black Mountain Jazz.

 

 

blog comments powered by Disqus