Saturday 1 June 2013

Todd Gordon presents:

A brand-new jazz festival featuring a wonderful selection of Britain's best singers. 

Taking place in the very stylish and very central Le Monde Hotel in Edinburgh's George Street during the world's biggest arts festival.


Main concerts start at 8.30pm till 10.30pm followed by a late show - After Hours with Todd Gordon & Friends - starting at 11pm till 1am, with a guest instrumentalist each night such as Colin Steele, Konrad Wisniewski, Greg Lawson, Martin Kershaw, Ryan Quigley, Chris Greive and Hamish McGregor - PLUS several very special appearances! 

Book now via the Fringe box office (under "British Vocal Jazz Festival" and "After Hours") or from Ticketmaster; see links below - and scroll down for further information.


Aug 5-6        CAROL KIDD sings Cole Porter, with BRIAN KELLOCK 
Aug 7             IAN SHAW sings Joni Mitchell 
Aug 8             GWYNETH HERBERT - new album launch: Sea Cabinet 
Aug 12          NIKI KING & HER BAND: Duke Ellington Songbook 
Aug 13-14   CLARE TEAL: The Divas and Me! 
Aug 15          KATE DIMBLEBY: The Songs of Dory Previn 
Aug 19-20   CLAIRE MARTIN & JOE STILGOE: The American Songbook and More...
Aug 21          CHRISTINE TOBIN sings Leonard Cohen 
Aug 22          IAN SHAW & GUY BARKER at the Movies 
Aug 25-26   JACQUI DANKWORTH & TODD GORDON: The Frank & Ella Show 

THE BRITISH VOCAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
Live at Le Monde, 16 George Street, Edinburgh
Aug 5-8, 12-15, 19-22, 25-26

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW... 
Doors open at 7pm; performance 8.30pm till 10.30pm
Tickets: Fringe - 0131 226 0000 / Ticketmaster - 08444 999 990
Online: Fringe box office or Ticketmaster


AFTER HOURS with TODD GORDON & FRIENDS
Live at Le Monde, 16 George Street, Edinburgh
Aug 5-8, 12-15, 19-22

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW...
Doors open at 10:45pm; performance 11pm till 1am (bar licensed till 3am)
Tickets: Fringe - 0131 226 0000 / Ticketmaster - 08444 999 990
OnlineFringe box office or Ticketmaster

__________________________________________



WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT THE BRITISH VOCAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

Clare Teal: Great evening. Well done all. Here's to many more!”

Ian Shaw: “This Edinburgh night has THE best late hang.”

Horse: “Fabulous night - thank you for having me!”

Niki King: “Loved it. I can't wait to come back!”

Carol Kidd: Brilliant venue - so stylish, and I am thrilled to kick off this new vocal jazzfest.

Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman: “A late-night adjunct to Le Monde’s British Vocal Jazz Festival earlier in the evening, it [After Hours] sees host, swing singer and general smooth operator Todd Gordon front a crack band … If he can keep up his energy and the standard of collaborators, Gordon has a heady late-night formula bubbling here.” 



THE BVJF CONCERT SERIES:

CAROL KIDD sings Cole Porter 
with Brian Kellock

Mon-Tue, 5-6 Aug, 8.30pm - £20


Scotland's First Lady of Jazz, accompanied by top jazz pianist Brian Kellock, celebrates the supremely gifted songwriter Cole Porter.

Don't miss this relaxed and intimate evening of great music performed by two great artists, with songs such as It's DeLovely, It's Alright with Me, Just One of Those Things and From This Moment On.

"Carol Kidd is the best kept secret of British jazz" - Frank Sinatra
"Her control is thrilling… She is world class" - Dame Cleo Laine
IAN SHAW sings Joni Mitchell

Wed, 7 Aug, 8.30pm - £15


Ian Shaw is regarded by many as Britain’s top male jazz singer. For this new vocal jazz festival, his first show features his superb take on the demanding songs of Joni Mitchell. 

Ian had an unusual way into jazz via the alternative cabaret circuit, where he worked alongside Julian Clary and Rory Bremner. But he's best-known for his inventive and stylish jazz singing, having worked with many world-class musicians on both sides of the Atlantic, and had a role specially created for him in Jerry Springer - The Opera in 2002.


"With or without competition, the qualities of Shaw's singing are first rate." - Los Angeles Times
"Exciting, edgy, provocative - Ian Shaw's approach to vocal jazz is all these things." 
- The Observer

Ian's website



GWYNETH HERBERT & HER BAND: 
Scottish launch of her new album, Sea Cabinet
with brief opening set by FIONA BEVAN
Thurs, 8 Aug, 8.30pm - £15



Acclaimed singer songwriter Gwyneth Herbert has just released her new album, Sea Cabinet.
Every day, a woman walks the beach alone. She collects each discarded or washed up object she finds and takes it home, cataloguing it with the care and rigour of a scientist. These objects are placed in the Sea Cabinet, and each one sings with the memory of a secret sea-set story – the victory of a Fishguard cobbler’s wife, a jaded seaside hotel, a sunken chapel, the shifting sands of wartime Alderney, the dangerous allure of the King’s Shilling, the loves and the losses, the stars and the whores, the drink and the drowning and the drip, drip, drip…
Sea Cabinet is the latest project from musical adventurer Gwyneth Herbert – a beautiful, intricate exploration of the sea in all its magic, majesty and mystery, a unique multi-sensory, multi-layered song-cycle written and ripened on the Aldeburgh coast, drawing from the area’s rich history and traditions alongside stormy morning walks, midnight dips and rum-soaked lock-ins.
Working with musicians from her own world-class band, Gwyneth presents an imaginative fusion of music, film, art and storytelling that explores stories from inshore and out.

With short opening set by the acclaimed singer/songwriter, Fiona Bevan who co-wrote the One Direction hit, Little Things, with Ed Sheeran.
"A remarkably gifted talent" ***** - The Guardian
"Consistently engaging… Super-talented" **** - Daily Telegraph

Gwyneth's website


NIKI KING & HER BAND: Duke Ellington Songbook
Mon, 12 Aug, 8.30pm - £15

Perrier Award Winning Jazz Vocalist Niki King has performed in many of the world’s leading jazz venues from The Blue Note, New York and Tokyo to Ronnie Scott’s and The Jazz CafĂ©, London. 

King brings her brand new show to the first British Vocal Jazz Festival performing the songs of one of the greatest ever jazz musicians and composers, Duke Ellington. 

Her incredible band features award-winning and leading UK and international players plus some very special guest performances. 

I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good), Do Nothing 'Til You Hear from Me, Solitude, Sophisticated Lady, It Don’t Mean a Thing… Just a few of the timeless classics to feature in this exciting and highly-anticipated new show, celebrating the music and songs of the late, great Duke Ellington.  

"Niki King is the outstanding Scottish female vocalist of our times" - The List 
***** - EdFest Mag       
***** - The Scotsman  

Niki's website


CLARE TEAL: The Divas and Me!
Tue-Wed, 13-14 Aug, 8.30pm - £17.50

The popular Clare Teal and her pianist/musical director, Grant Windsor, have released a brand-new album entitled, And So It Goes, which includes several songs from Clare's brand-new show: The Divas and Me!
For this new Festival, Britain's very own Queen of Swing celebrates the music of her heroines, the leading lights of the jazz and big band world Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Doris Day and many of their illustrious contemporaries.  

The multi-award-winning singer and BBC Radio 2 broadcaster demonstrates also the influence these characters have had on her own acclaimed catalogue of work. Known for her knowledge and love of the Great American Songbook and, more recently, The Great British Songbook.  

With wit and warmth Clare tells outrageous anecdotes of their extraordinary lives and points to the future of Diva-dom with a few relevant originals and more modern day covers. Accompanied by the gifted Grant Windsor on piano, this is a not-to-be-missed evening of "feel good" music, inspired by the greats and played by the best.

"A voice that you cannot help but fall in love with" - MOBO
"Very assured and witty stage presence to go with some deft and swinging vocals" 
The Telegraph  

Clare's website



KATE DIMBLEBY: 
Beware of Young Girls - The Songs of Dory Previn
Thurs, 15 Aug, 8.30pm - £15

"A shimmering vocal versatility… She has the musical talent and jewel-eyed confidence to guarantee an audience a good time." Evening Standard
Selling out the Festival Hall, a national radio regular and with several albums to her credit, Kate Dimbleby - accompanied by pianist/singer Naadia Sheriff - presents the Scottish debut of her hit show, Beware of Young Girls: The Songs of Dory Previn. 

Described by The Times as ‘One of the most versatile singers on the jazz/blues circuit, opening up her own Third Way - part-cabaret, part pop concert’, Kate is a natural born performer. Drawn to music from a young age, she grew up in a family where performing was the norm. Her father is the broadcaster David Dimbleby and her mother was a trained classical singer.
"I think I’m in love… It was said about Fred and Ginger: 'she gave him sex and he gave her class'".  Well, Kate Dimbleby has both already, and it's a killer combination." - The Scotsman

"Exhilarating new entertainment, a cocktail of blues, jazz, country, singer-songwriter pop and the sort of earthy, post-feminist humour that makes the Desperate Housewives look like members of the Salvation Army. Dimbleby is an assured and charismatic vocalist who can make the leap from a full-decibel tribute to Bessie Smith to an intimate confessional from the Dory Previn songbook.”  - The Times 


Kate's website


CLAIRE MARTIN & JOE STILGOE: 
The American Songbook and More...

Mon-Tue, 19-20 Aug, 8.30pm - £17.50



Claire Martin and Joe Stilgoe combine their wealth of musical talent with this brand new duo collaboration.
Both award-winning vocalists in their own right, this pairing brings together their love of the Great American Songbook and showcases Joe’s brilliant song writing talent. Expect brand new originals alongside stylish re-workings of much loved and lesser known classics from writers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart, Harold Arlen and Noel Coward.


“Claire Martin ranks among the four of five finest female jazz vocalists on the planet” - Jazz Times (USA)
“Joe Stilgoe writes the songs, sings them, plays them and creates the
arrangements – all with a panache that leaves the rest of us bug-eyed”

The Observer
“These two are the real deal. Simply knock out!” 
- Sir Richard Rodney Bennett
CHRISTINE TOBIN: 
A Thousand Kisses Deep - Christine sings Cohen

Wed, 21 Aug, 8.30pm - £15


A rare opportunity to hear Christine Tobin perform songs primarily by Leonard Cohen - widely considered one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century. 

One of the foremost UK Jazz singers for more than 20 years, award-winning Christine Tobin just gets better and better. With nine albums, numerous gigs and a number of high profile interviews to her name she is without question one of the leading lights of the European Jazz scene, a fact underscored by her BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist. 

Acknowledged both here and on the international scene as one of the finest interpreters of his work, as the Guardian's John L. Walters wrote, "Christine is inspiring on her own material. But she is in a class of her own singing Leonard Cohen." Her 24-carat voice and captivating arrangements are spellbinding, ploughing the depths and expressing the poetry of his lyrics with unalloyed soulfulness. 

As a world-class vocalist she works with a world-class band featuring regular collaborators award-winning guitarist Phil Robson and double bassist Dave Whitford. Lose yourself in the stories of these great songs brought to life by this world class Trio. 

“One of the country’s finest musicians” - Time Out
“Peerless” - Jazzwise
“A jewel of the London jazz scene, streets ahead of the pack” - The Guardian

Christine's website



IAN SHAW & GUY BARKER at the Movies
Thurs, 22 Aug, 8.30pm - £15

Following his Joni Mitchell show, Ian Shaw makes a return visit to the British Vocal Jazz Festival. This time, he's with Mercury Award-winning trumpeter, composer and broadcaster, Guy Barker, and a heady cocktail of music from some of the greatest movies of all time. 

From the Hoagy Carmichael years through 'film noir' and sixties thrill to Randy Newman's Toy Story, this hugely entertaining duo will transport you to Hollywood, swinging London and 'Cinecitta' and back again. 




"Simply a great musical night out. Virtuoso playing and Shaw's playful vocals will melt the hardest winter" - The Telegraph
“Irrepressibly brilliant” - Time Out




JACQUI DANKWORTH & TODD GORDON: 
The Frank & Ella Show

Sun-Mon, 25-26 Aug, 8.30pm - £17.50


Two of Britain’s leading jazz vocalists present a stylish, sophisticated and entertaining homage to Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

The programme features timeless songs such as Manhattan, Lady Is a Tramp, Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye, The Summer Wind, Night and Day, How High the Moon and Mack the Knife

Todd Gordon has become renowned as one of the world’s greatest singers in the classic Sinatra mould, while the fantastic Jacqui Dankworth is one of a very select few able to live up to Ella’s exacting standards.



"The new King of Swing"
- The Independent

"The most flexible and expressive voice of her generation" - The Observer

"One of the classiest acts in British jazz singing" - The Guardian

"Todd Gordon stands as the guardian of all that is good in the music I love. I only wish there were more like him." 
- Sir Michael Parkinson





Jacqui's website

Todd's website


All of the above plus the late-night show:
AFTER HOURS with TODD GORDON & FRIENDS 
Live at Le Monde












Mon-Thurs, 5-8 / 12-15 / 19-22 Aug, 11pm - £10

Colin Steele
London has Ronnie Scott's, Manhattan has The Carlyle and Edinburgh has Le Monde - the place for a luxurious late-night hang.

With a relaxed mix of American Songbook, jazz, blues, swing and more, Todd and the trio* - David Patrick, Mario Caribe and Tom Gordon - are joined each evening by a featured soloist drawn from the cream of Scottish jazz talent including Colin Steele (trumpet), Greg Lawson (violin), Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor sax), Hamish McGregor (clarinet), Chris Greive (trombone), Martin Kershaw (alto sax) and Ryan Quigley (trumpet).

All this, plus surprise guest performances. Scroll down for programme.

Konrad Wisniewski













Martin Kershaw













Greg Lawson












Chris Greive












Hamish McGregor













Ryan Quigley













THE TRIO

David Patrick













Tom Gordon













Mario Caribe














AFTER HOURS with TODD GORDON & FRIENDS
August 5-8, 12-15, 19-22  
featuring Scotland's top musicians 

Aug 5 Konrad Wisniewski - sax
Aug 6 Greg Lawson - violin
Aug 7 Colin Steele - trumpet
Aug 8 Martin Kershaw - sax
Aug 12 Chris Greive - trombone
Aug 13 Hamish McGregor - clarinet
Aug 14 Chris Greive - trombone
Aug 15 Colin Steele - trumpet 
Aug 19 Ryan Quigley - trumpet
Aug 20 Hamish McGregor - clarinet
Aug 21 Ryan Quigley - trumpet
Aug 22 Martin Kershaw - sax

...Plus special surprise guests


www.britishvocaljazzfestival.com
www.lemondehotel.co.uk
www.toddgordon.com


BRITISH VOCAL JAZZ FESTIVAL 
Live at Le Monde, 16 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PF
Doors open at 7pm; performance 8.30pm till 10.30pm
Tickets: Fringe - 0131 226 0000 / Ticketmaster - 08444 999 990

AFTER HOURS with TODD GORDON & FRIENDS
Live at Le Monde, 16 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PF
Doors open at 10:45pm; performance 11pm till 1am (bar licensed till 3am)
Tickets: Fringe - 0131 226 0000 / Ticketmaster - 08444 999 990


Created by Todd Gordon

Organised by Audacious Music Ltd



in association with Le Monde Hotel 








Supported by Creative Scotland







Media Sponsor








Supported by Heineken

* Trio line-up varies on a few of the nights
Details correct at time of publication but may be subject to change.