Jacqui Dankworth – daughter of Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth – is fast becoming acknowledged as one of the UK’s foremost jazz vocalists. Though, as ‘The Sunday Times’ recently commented, Jacqui is rather more than that. Her incredible versatility makes her one of the finest singers, regardless of category.

Jacqui’s recent performance with her husband – the brilliant Memphis-born pianist and vocalist, Charlie Wood – at Henley-on-Thames’s intimate Kenton theatre very much confirmed Jacqui’s world class credentials. On this occasion Jacqui turned her attention to the most iconic female vocalists of the 20th century – and the singers who defined the ‘Great American Songbook’. These included Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone, Peggy Lee, Roberta Flack plus Cleo Laine! Charlie (Jacqui’s musical director) and Jacqui had arranged and curated a diverse repertoire for the concert which was a celebration of the ‘Jazz Sirens’ whose legacy has defined a classic era of jazz singing. Other standards and Broadway show tunes featured too.

Accompanied by Charlie plus Nic French on drums and Geoff Gascoyne on bass – both accomplished players who have worked with many music icons over the years, Jacqui provided an evening of brilliant, world-class entertainment. Her vocal range, versatility, tone and timing are simply superb – and this was one of those rare evenings when one felt privileged to see such an impressive performance, especially in a small and intimate venue like the Kenton. Jacqui has an easy, natural rapport with her audiences. And her understated, quietly amusing words of introduction to the songs in her set also added to the feeling of class – complementing her powerful singing perfectly.

Whatever genre of music you normally follow, I would strongly recommend seeing Jacqui Dankworth and Charlie Wood while they continue their tour of UK venues.

Nick Dent-Robinson

11th March 2019

http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/9206/Jacqui-Dankworth

It’s a tricky drive to Rhosygilwen from Fishguard (as the Irish would say, you’d better start from Cardigan), but it’s so welcoming once you’re there, and this heartwarming two-hander from Jacqui Dankworth and Craig Ogden was overwhelmingly rewarding.

Dankworth arrested us all at the opening with her moving Waly,Waly, her smoky mezzo-soprano delivering this timeless classic with such purity, Ogden’s guitar as attentive as a baroque continuo harpsichordist.

In fact so many of Ogden’s contributions to the duo evoked the textures of baroque or classical figurations, the mere six strings of his instrument coaxed into an almost infinite range of colours.

His accompaniments were amplified to match Dankworth’s soaring voice, but his guitar was allowed to speak on its own terms in two absorbing solo sets, including a Villa-Lobos Choros I authentic in so many respects, and Gary Ryan’s gimmicky and spectacular Rondo Rodeo.

Jacqui Dankworth brought a huge gamut of vocal techniques (only once tempted into a discreet scat) and breath-control — such magically-shaped conclusions! — to her offerings, which included Crazy, Bridge over Troubled Water, Moon River, and Rodgers and Hart’s It never entered my mind, all delivered with the subtlest of concluding inflections before the voice settled on the final note.

Wonderful performances; but for me, and I suspect for many others, the icing on the cake was the duo’s account of Marvin Hamlisch’s The Way We Were, delivered with the dignity of a heartbroken simplicity, reaching out to all of us in this packed audience.

Christopher Morley

https://www.midlandsmusicreviews.co.uk/single-post/2018/07/24/JACQUI-DANKWORTH-AND-CRAIG-OGDEN-Fishguard-International-Music-Festival

L-R: Paul Booth, Giorgio Serci, Jacqui Dankworth,
Daide Mantovani at Pizza Express (out of shot: Rod Youngs and Satin Singh). Photo supplied by Patchwork

Paul Booth’s Patchwork Project featuring Jacqui Dankworth Pizza Express Jazz Club, 29 August 2018. Review by Sebastian Maniura)

On a rather dull evening in Soho, Paul Booth’s Patchwork Project featuring vocalist Jacqui Dankworth created a warm and welcoming atmosphere with two diverse sets in the basement at Pizza Express. This talented group seamlessly glided through jazz, reggae, Celtic folk and more, making for an integrated and compelling performance. The night consisted of songs from Booth’s Patchwork Project Volume 1, released in 2015, and new material, some of which will doubtless be featured on Volume 2 when it appears… The 2015 album was a move by Booth to “explore what’s out there”. Taking suggestions from colleagues and fans on social media, it became something very different to anything Booth had previously released. The performance possessed the variety and vitality that the album was seeking to capture.

Playing flute, piano, tenor and soprano saxophones, Booth’s technical ability was striking. Songs such as Miles from Nowhere and Wye Aye saw him alternating between multiple different instruments, taking fast, intricate solos on sax and flute, then jumping onto the piano to accompany the rest of the band. He introduced the songs in an amiable manner, often explaining the background to his own compositions. Confident but unassuming, Booth made the audience relax into the evening and feel at home. Jacqui Dankworth’s voice was powerful and expressive. In There Was a Time and The Windmills of Your Mind, Dankworth explored the emotional range of the songs which, in turn, showed off her own expansive vocal ability. Guitarist Giorgio Serci, who often accompanied  Dankworth during the calmer moments in the set, used both an electric and acoustic guitar to exhibit his full tonal palette. Alternating between dramatic flamenco inspired introductions and steaming blues inflected solos, Serci encapsulated each style in which he played. Similarly, Dankworth kept her own authentic sound, always respecting and honouring the style she was singing in but never pandering to, or caricaturing, it.

Laying it down at the back of the stage on kit, Rod Youngs was supremely tight and seriously funky whilst Satin Singh added texture on percussion, never overcrowding the songs. His simple yet effective patterns on tunes like Twitterbug Waltz and Bo Joegave space for Davide Mantovani’s ferocious runs and fills on bass, whilst keeping the groove consistent and effortless. In the more restrained songs, such as The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Red Rock, Youngs’ brush work was light and sensitive, keeping the groove sizzling below the surface. Playing both fretted and fretless bass, Mantovani locked in with Youngs perfectly on numbers like Pipe Dream. The round, warm, elastic tone of Mantovani’s fretless playing on There was a Time and Lemanja lent a lovely smooth rounded bottom end to the sound.

Drawing on multiple styles and influences without appearing contrived or rootless is a difficult thing to pull off. However, the band of sensitive and inspired musicians made sure that every twist and turn the music took hit the mark, feeling authentic and true. The uplifting final number, a cover of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry, exhibited all that worked so well about the band. The joy with which they played together, the technical brilliance of the soloists and the power that such a sparse groove can have, easily made one forget the drab weather outside.

Line-Up:

Paul Booth – Soprano and Tenor Saxophones, Flute and Piano
Jacqui Dankworth – Vocals
Giorgio Serci – Guitar
Rod Youngs – Drums
Davide Mantovani – Bass
Satin Singh – Percussion

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2018/08/review-paul-booths-patchwork-project.html?m=1

As evidenced by their opening track Two To Tango, the theme of jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth and her pianist, arranger, singer-songwriter and “not half bad husband” Charlie Wood’s excellent UK tour which rolled into Falkirk Town Hall on Thursday night is the art of collaboration.

And joining them onstage to celebrate great musical partnerships of the golden age of jazz and blues, the first half of which drew largely from their 2016 album Just You, Just Me, was the Brazilian-born but Scottish-based Mario Caribe on double bass and “probably the best drummer in the country” Tom Gordon.

Both of whom complimented the billed artists with an array of dazzling solos which left the “small, but perfectly formed” audience of Falkirk bairns (well, silver-haired citizens) in the spirit of the Simon and Garfunkel-penned closing number Feelin’ Groovy.

Dankworth’s crystal clear and pitch perfect voice unfurled like a roll of fine silk; effortless in delivery, meticulous in technique, which shone brightest in a sotto voce rendition of the bossa nova classic Corcovado aka Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars.

If she is the flickering flame which dances in the dark and catches the eye, Wood is more the glowing embers which warm the heart and stir the soul with a conversational and understated style, always one or two steps off the beat. His Randy Newman-cum-Ray Charles delivery at its best in the Sam & Dave soul ballad When Something Is Wrong With My Baby.

But the pinnacle of the evening, by a long shot, was their Romani-inspired interpretation of Michel Legrand’s The Windmills of Your Mind which began in the haunting manner in which it is traditionally delivered before shooting off in all directions like a box of fireworks through a series of hand clapping and tongue clacking gyrations, culminating in a hair-raising howl to the moon.

Their next port of call is The McMillan Theatre in Somerset on the 17 November followed by Lichfield Guildhall two days later. So if you are in either area and have yet to catch their tour, to quote from the opening track of their second set, hop aboard their “desert caravan” for a night as radiant as the “stars above that shine so bright”.

Peter Callaghan, 16th November 2017

MUSIC REVIEW: Jacqui Dankworth & Charlie Wood

Charlie Wood will be giving a sneak preview of his upcoming CD “New Souvenirs” (co produced by Jacqui) on the 6th October, 2014 at The Crazy Coqs, Piccadilly.  Tickets are limited so book now to avoid disappointment!

For more information and to book tickets

The Irish Times profiles Jacqui Dankworth and Charlie Wood.

Read the full article

“Her gentle shimmy and generous eye contact caused at least the male members of the audience to loosen their collars and settle their quivering wine glasses more firmly on the table.”
— Matthew Wright, The Arts Desk

Read the full review

“… she is a superb balladeer and a great assest to the UK’s jazz landscape.”
— Jazz UK, October 2013

“Live to Love” will be released on September 30th. Buy now at Amazon.com

Jacqui’s interview and performance on BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms Show is available to listen here (Forward to 2hr 33m 45s).

Read the full article

Watch Jacqui perform A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square