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Liane Carroll in concert

Liane Carroll in concert at St Mary in the Castle

Liane Carroll – there’s no-one like her!

Review of new album launch Ballads on Saturday April 13 in Hastings

Each time Liane performs, it’s a memorable experience, heart warming and somehow magical. The concert to launch her new album ‘Ballads‘ at St Mary-in-the-Castle was no exception writes Angie Phillip.

Even before the concert started, you knew it was a Liane event. In the imposing venue with huge vaulted dome rising skywards and a stage full of top class musicians, there was an atmosphere of warmth, friendliness and intimacy, a huge packed gathering of friends and fans: Hastings musicians of all genres, friends, neighbours and taxi drivers as well as jazz aficionados from far and wide had turned out on a rainy April night to listen to and celebrate Liane, beloved daughter of Hastings town.

I sat next to her next door neighbour who said she had heard Liane sneezing and coughing the night before and had worried about her. The next door neighbour, a classical music devotee, loves and admires Liane as do her family, friends and seemingly the whole town.  I recently got a cab where the conversation turned to musicians and the driver couldn’t stop talking about her – “she’s so nice… always jokes….. is just like us, she’s one of us”. And of course she is and she isn’t. A talent like Liane’s is stunning, world class, her performance a privilege to hear but yes, she is also one of us, she’s the sort of person we all long to go down the pub with for a chat and a joke and some comfort.

Liane Carroll in concert

Liane Carroll with some of the amazing musicians who accompanied her

The musicians who played with Liane were not only famous ones like James McMillan (trumpet), Steve Pearce (bass), Mark Jaimes (guitar), Mark Edwards (piano) and a host of others but also local music college students (strings) – an example yet again of Liane’s commitment to Hastings and her care and nurture of other musicians. Roger Carey, superb bass player and Liane’s husband, was present for the beginning of the concert to support his wife but was playing elsewhere later. You will still be able to hear Roger on Ballads album tracks 2, 5 and 8. It was their wedding anniversary.

James McMillan deserves special mention. He doubled as conductor and trumpet player. James always plays superbly but his performance together with Liane’s on You’ve changed was sublime. One after the other, people got to their feet until the whole hall erupted into a standing ovation. The person standing next to me, a singer himself but not a jazz singer, was heard to keep muttering “…master class.. superb… master class….”.

The songs on Liane’s new album range from old favourites like Mad about the Boy and Will you still love me tomorrow to Calgary Bay which was written especially for her. An old jazz standard is no longer an old jazz standard when sung by Liane – it’s a new one, it’s like hearing it for the first time. Before Liane sang Goodbye, she said it was the saddest song and when she sang she touched a well of sorrow that we all know. We were moved.

Liane Carroll in concert

Liane singing from the heart!

Liane had a cold and a bad throat, but it didn’t matter. What she can do with her voice from smokey lows through cries, highs and perfect notes that sound and shimmer is a mystery that we don’t think about while she is singing. While Liane sings from some deep place that we all know, we listen and become part of the music, it’s no longer hers, it’s our music.

For me, some of the essence of Liane is in Here’s to life the first song on her new album. Her voice thrills and brings courage and comfort. If she can cope with life’s sorrows and still carry on with a smile, somehow so can we.

 

Here is her wish in the words of the song Here’s to Life (words and music © Artie Butler) :

No complaints and no regrets
I still believe in chasing dreams and placing bets
For I have learnt that all you give is all you get
So give it all you’ve got

So here’s to life and all the joy it brings
Yes, here’s to life and dreamers and their dreams
May all your storms be weathered
And all that’s good get better
Here’s to life, here’s to love
Here’s to you.

James McMillan said it “There’s no-one like her”.

————————————————————-
You can buy tracks from Liane’s latest album Ballads on Amazon :
http://tinyurl.com/c2gdsog
 or
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/ballads/id611375796

Forthcoming events:

Liane Carroll ‘Ballads‘ Album Launch weekend at The Pizza Express Jazz Club, 10 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 3RW, Telephone: 0845 6027 017

April 25 Thursday: ‘Ballads’ Album Launch Liane Carroll – piano, vocals, Gwilym Simcock – piano, Roger Carey – Bass

April 26 Friday: ‘Ballads’ Album Launch – Liane Carroll, String Ensemble, Mark Hodgson – bass, Mark Edwards – piano, James McMillan – trumpet/flugelhorn

April 27 Saturday: ‘Ballads’ Album Launch Liane Carroll, Ben Castle – sax, James McMillan – trumpet/flugelhorn, Roger Carey – bass, Mark Fletcher – drums

April 28 Sunday: ‘Ballads’ Album Launch Liane Carroll, John Etheridge – guitar, Roger Carey – bass, Mark Fletcher – drums

April 29 Monday: ‘Ballads’ Album Launch Liane Carroll, Mark Edwards – piano, Christian Garrick – violin, Roger Carey – bass

Liane’s website: www.lianecarroll.com

Twitter: #lianecarroll

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/btw2zc7

All photos supplied by James McMillan

 

 

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Posted 20:09 Monday, Apr 15, 2013 In: Music & Sound

Also in: Music & Sound

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