Tammy Weis has a beautiful mezzo voice. She is a composer and lyricist, and the text is so clear when she sings. The arrangements were excellent. I had Gershwin’s “Summertime” starred in my notes for the arrangement.
The evening was mostly music sung and loved by the great Julie London, with songs from the late 50s and 60s. London was an actor and a pin up girl, but we know her as a singer.
With Tammy were Nigel Price on guitar, Julie Walkington on bass and Matt Fisher on drums.
Watching Nigel accompanying is fascinating. He seems to be in the singer’s mind with his highly varied work. Fun too, He and Matt had a great time improvising together on Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale”. Nigel had fine solos. His solo on Pablo Beltran Ruiz’s “Sway” was particularly lovely. Matt’s solo on Bart Howard’s “Fly Me To The Moon” stood out.
I have always enjoyed Julie’s playing as an accompanist and a soloist. There was a beautiful duet with Julie and Tammy on Ray Henderson’s “Bye Bye Blackbird”.
But even though there was lots of room for the instrumentalists to shine, this was a singer gig. A beautiful voice, a love of the words, timbre changed to suit each song, all good. Good writing, some Tammy’s, some with Tom Cawley. A lovely selection of Julie London related songs. I think my favourite was Sonny Burke’s and Paul Francis Webster’s “Black Coffee”, but there was not a dud in the evening.
Next Friday, Renato d’Aiello will be playing the music of Cedar Walton; Renato d’Aiello Tenor sax, Roberto Rossi Trombone, Mátyás Gayer Piano. Nicola Muresu Bass, Alfonso Vitale Drums. Do Join us.
Take Care,
Dave