Jazz breaking news: Liane Carroll captivates The Pheasantry
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Once hailed as ‘the best-kept secret in British jazz’, Liane Carroll is one of this country’s finest jazz singers, but her way of maintaining such lofty standards is as precariously unpredictable as it is utterly compelling.
Monday night’s set of self-proclaimed ‘miserable songs’ went down a storm with the capacity audience in the Chelsea venue. Clearly enjoying herself on a casually brilliant set, Liane took breaks mid-tune to order drinks from the bar and performed convincing Doris Day impressions with her new electric cigarette, and even attempted to make shadow puppets on the wall. Her single-set tonight was largely taken from her wonderful new album, Ballads, and showcased her fine voice at its best. Highlights included the moving Buddy Holly ballad, ‘It’s Raining In My Heart’, a driving ‘Love For Sale’ and ‘Centrepiece’.
The Hastings-based singer is well known for her eclectic song choices, and played several of her favourites by Tom Waits, including ‘Take Me Home’ and ‘The Briar and The Rose’, as well as Donald Fagen/Steely Dan’s ‘The Goodbye Look’. The high point of the evening, however, was a gloriously soulful rendition of Mary Gauthier’s ‘Mercy Now’, which had the whole venue enthralled and sadly didn’t make the cut onto the album, but is available in a series of accompanying video performances on Youtube (see below). Liane left the audience with her own composition, ‘Dublin Morning’, interspersed with tunes such as Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’, ‘Summertime’, and ‘My Favorite Things’. A magnificent performance from a true artist.
– John Merritt