Acclaimed jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth to perform at Gaiety
JAZZ singer Jacqui Dankworth will be performing at the Gaiety Theatre later this year.
Daughter of legendary jazz musician and composer Sir John Dankworth and international singing star Dame Cleo Laine, Jacqui will be appearing at the Douglas venue on November 27.
Her latest album, Back To You, has just been released and the Gaiety concert is part of a theatre and festival tour of Europe.
Tickets, priced 20, are on sale from the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal, Douglas, by ringing the ticket hotline on 600555 and online at www.villagaiety.com
While a highly accomplished singer, her first forays onto the stage were as an actress.
For many years Jacqui worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and John Dexter's Company playing a multitude of critically-acclaimed roles. Soon the plays turned into musicals and, before long, Jacqui was playing leading parts in the West End. But the singing bug had hit, and Jacqui left the lights of the London stage to focus on her own recording career.
The first thing Jacqui did was tour with brother Alec Dankworth's quintet, visiting Hawaii, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
Jacqui then appeared as everything but the soldier himself in a staged performance of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale at the Purcell Room, London, and worked with award- winning jazz composer/saxophonist Tim Garland on a song cycle – Songs Of Love And Liberty – alongside singers Norma Winstone and Christine Tobin.
In early 1998 Jacqui was invited to be the guest vocalist on a major world tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Occasionally time allowed her to venture into the studio to record – her first work being a newly commissioned jazz reworking of A. E. Housman poetry, as a guest artist with the New Perspectives Ensemble. The album was voted Record of the Year in The Times.
By 1999 her reputation was spreading and Jacqui was asked to perform new arrangements of Gershwin classics with the BBC Big Band at The Barbican, London, and Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
Her next audio project was with the group Field of Blue, a simple acoustic band performing mostly original compositions. Field Of Blue toured extensively around the UK and Europe playing to packed houses and raising Jacqui's profile as a major singing talent. Field of Blue recorded two albums, an eponymous CD in 1999 and a second, Still, which was released in 2000 on Black Box records, both to wide acclaim.
Reviews were positive once again for the 2001 Black Box release with James Pearson, For All We Know, with the Sunday Times describing Jacqui as 'one of our finest singers regardless of category'.
Jacqui appeared as a featured singer on Gerard Presencer's Linn album, The Optimist, and she recorded a track for the Nick Drake tribute album released on Hannibal Records, as well as performing at the Barbican, London, as part of the Nick Drake Tribute concert.
As a side project, Jacqui formed the three-part harmony group The Passion with Liane Carroll and Sara Colman, and they released an album in 2002 called One Good Reason.
In 2002 she appeared with composer Tunde Jegede in a concert and educational project for Wingfield Arts and, more recently, Jacqui has sung the titles on the film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the theme tune for two series of Coming Alive on BBC Radio 4 and guested on both Gloria Hunniford's Open House on Channel 5 and Esther on BBC2.
In 2003 Jacqui released her first major crossover album, As The Sun Shines Down On Me. This album brought her to the attention of Michael Parkinson and Radio 2 and Jacqui appeared regularly on air throughout the year. With its mixture of contemporary songs, Jacqui's own compositions and some beautifully re-arranged standards, this record set the path on which Jacqui has decided to follow, building up a very loyal fanbase and taking her live show out of the jazz clubs and into major theatres all over the UK and Ireland.
More guest appearances followed and Jacqui was featured on Courtney Pine's album Devotion, which was released to great acclaim. Tied in with the release, Jacqui performed alongside Courtney at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the London Jazz Festival. This new-found attention brought her a guest appearance in the film Shoreditch, starring Joely Richardson and Shane Ritchie. Jacqui sings the classic Billie Holiday number My Man and later sings Body and Soul as a featured track.
Jacqui followed the success of As The Sun Shines Down On Me with the 2004 release Detour Ahead.
Touring around the world and appearing at special concerts with her parents gave Jacqui a break from recording for a couple of years but, in 2008, she announced a new management team, recording contract, and band.
The material from the new album was previewed to rapturous applause in a three night residency at Ronnie Scott's club in Soho, London.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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