Live at Ronnie Scotts Line-up: CAROL GRIMES vocals; ANNIE WHITEHEAD trombone; STEVE LODDER piano/keys; ALISON RAYNER bass; ROD YOUNGS drums
CAROL GRIMES ‘THE SINGERS TALE’
“Should be regarded as a National treasure.” Blues in Britain
“Carol Grimes, the forthright and defiantly independent jazz, blues and world-music singer, still emits the same fierce glow that has been with her since her R&B beginnings.” John Fordham.
Carol Grimes is one of the finest singers in British music. Her deeply personal project, ‘The Singer’s Tale’, is an autobiographical show combining theatre, music and a grooving band! The show weaves its stories, sometimes shady, mad and bad, but with music and song at their heart. Street Busker to Ronnie Scotts, from Notting Hill to Nashville and Memphis to San Francisco from Hackney to Texas and Eastern Europe but always returning to London. This raw, in your face, sublime performer takes you with her on a musical journey through her extraordinary life.
CAROL GRIMES A much-loved performer infusing folk, blues and jazz, came to the notice of the public when she joined the band Delivery in 1969 and recorded one album before departing for a solo career. Her debut solo album, Warm Blood (1974), was recorded with members of Area Code 615 and the Average White Band. She recorded her second album in Memphis, Tennessee, with the Brecker Brothers, Donald “Duck” Dunn, and The Memphis Horns. She founded the band Eyes Wide Open in 1984. Her career expanded into teaching and working in musical theatre. In the 1990s, she worked with the choir The Shout. As you can see below, in Carol’s own words, she has been, and continues to be so much more:
“My name is Carol Grimes. I have been singing for my supper since the late 1960s. I began as a young, nervous Busker and fell in love with singing. Over time I became a Singer-Songwriter, Performance Poet, Voice Movement Therapist and Musical Director, founding the Sing for Joy Choirs in London, for people with neurological and other conditions and directed them for many years. I have recorded in the UK, USA, Sweden, The Isle of Jura and Poland. I became angry, seeing injustice, poverty and cruelty all around me and became an activist. The first Musician to step up for Rock against Racism, Sexism, Reclaim the night, singing for the striking Miners, the fire service, the Brunswick Women and refugee centres. In my life, I performed both in the UK and Internationally with my own Music with wonderful musicians and for Contemporary composers such as Orlando Gough, who directed The Shout, a contemporary opera, theatre company touring internationally with them for 12 years. From Japan to South Africa Canada and the USA and beyond, including performing at the Albert Hall in the Proms as a soloist – Blimey! I had my first book ‘The Singers Tale,’ published in 2018 and many songs and poems published, recorded and performed over the years. I love writing as much as I love music. For more information, click on my Blog. The Singers Tale https://wordpress.com/posts/carolgrimes.com also on Amazon Carol Grimes The Singers Tale, where there are some lovely reviews. Thank you.”
ANNIE WHITEHEAD
Whitehead’s playing is….. “A powerful mixture of African grooves, blustery free jazz, almost Ellingtonian expressionism at times and bursts of driving blues”
(John Fordham THE GUARDIAN) “At the heart of Whitehead’s music there is a joy that is just irresistible” (John Eyles JAZZ RAG)
A versatile and eclectic musician, Annie Whitehead’s distinctive trombone sound has graced countless sessions and bands throughout her major involvement with the UK and world music scene. Early in her career, she worked with Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath, John Stevens – playing alongside Dudu Pukwana, Evan Parker and Bobby Bradford, the Paul Dunmall Octet (featuring Keith Tippett and Tony Levin), Elton Dean’s Newsense (alongside legendary trombonists Roswell Rudd and Paul Rutherford) and the Jazz Jamaica Big Band. Internationally she worked with McCoy Tyner, Carla Bley, Abdullah Ibrahim, Louis Moholo and James Blood Ulmer.
Session and pop credits include Joan Armatrading, Chris Rea, Bill Wyman, Maxi Priest, Jerry Dammers, Elvis Costello, Eddi Reader and Paul Weller. With the horn section The Kick Horns, she has done session work with Rufus Wainwright, The Spice Girls, Blur, Tom Jones, Boyzone, The Beautiful South, Jamiroquai, Dr John and Eric Clapton and many others. She recorded and toured extensively with Fun Boy Three, Joe Jackson, The Charlie Watts Big Band, Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart, and was a founder member of Working Week.
Together with Robert Wyatt, she arranged a number of his songs and led a band which has featured Julie Tippets, Sarah Jane Morris, and Jennifer Maidman on vocals, Steve Lodder, Brian Hopper, Mark Lockheart and Didier Malherbe, performing many concerts in London and Europe
Her first album as leader was ‘Mix Up’ released in 1984. In 1996 she released ‘Naked’, followed in 1999 by ‘Home’. Then came ‘The Gathering’, featuring her current live band: Jennifer Maidman, producer and guitarist – Steve Lodder on keyboards, Dudley Phillips on bass, and Liam Genockey on drums. Most recently she played on Jennifer Maidman’s debut album ‘Dreamland’, recorded in Woodstock NY, which also features David Torn on guitar and drummer Jerry Marotta.
STEVE LODDER Highly regarded sideman for many International and London musicians including Andy Sheppard, Naná Vasconcelos, George Russell’s “Living Time” orchestra, Sarah Jane Morris, John Harle, Carla Bley, Mônica Vasconcelos. He has also been musical associate with Paul McCartney on the ‘Standing Stone’ and ‘Ecce cor meum’ projects, and musical arranger for the Zappatistas. Originally a Cambridge organ scholar he has played church organ on albums with Mark Ramsden and Asaf Sirkis and has written several books, one on Stevie Wonder, one on the Hammond organ, and The Keyboard Bible. [with Janette Mason]
‘Lodder is both an improviser of originality and a musical thinker of erudition and depth’ The Guardian
ALISON RAYNER Bassist and composer, Alison Rayner has been playing jazz and other contemporary styles since the mid-70s. She spent five years in the 80s with critically acclaimed Latin-jazz group The Guest Stars, touring all major international jazz venues and festivals across seventeen countries and recording three albums.
She currently leads ARQ, widely celebrated from six years of extensive UK and European touring and critical acclaim for their first two albums ‘August’ (2014) and ‘A Magic Life’ (2016), receiving national and international radio play and four and five-star reviews in jazz and national press.
ARQ’s third album Short Stories (released Oct 2019 on Blow the Fuse Records) is now receiving extensive radio play and press acclaim, with one of the pieces receiving an Ivor Novello Award. The ‘Short Stories’ album and tour is supported by ACE and PRS Foundation Women Make Music.
…concise, fluent and eminently melodic statements – big toned, highly melodic bass’
‘Rayner’s late blooming into a composer of some stature is one of the most satisfying stories of British jazz in recent years.’ thejazzman.com ‘Purposeful, full-toned and melodic.’ The Observer
ROD YOUNGS Music OMH magazine describes the London based drummer as “supremely subtle and melodic…dynamic and powerful”. Rod Youngs is one of the most expressive and adept musicians in the music arena today. His journey in music began in his youth and has blossomed into a distinguished career that has spanned over two decades.
A native of Washington, he has performed/recorded with a formidable array of artists
including, Hugh Masekela, Jon Hendricks, Gil Scott-Heron, Lee, Konitz, Abdullah Ibrahim, BBC Concert Orchestra, Mica Paris, Courtney Pine, Denys Baptiste, Natalie Cole, Bennie Maupin,
Craig Handy, Juliet Roberts, Ronnie Laws, Jazz Jamaica All Stars, and David Murray.