Jazz singer Jill Grant will be writing a fizzy, funny diary-blog for Open Writing. Here's the first page. Watch out for All This Jazz.
Jill began singing very early in life - her parents told her she was singing melody lines before she could speak. At seven she discovered jazz when she heard Count Basie’s “One O'clock Jump”. “It leapt out and grabbed me,” she said. From that moment on, she was hooked. Jill listened to anything and everything all through her childhood and teens - from Jelly Roll Morton to Ornette Coleman, and while at art college she began singing in jazz clubs in Birmingham where she was a student. Since then she has formed her own trio and quartet.
Her regular musicians include Alan Berry and Richard Madgwick (piano), Ernie Cranenburgh (guitar), Stan Robinson and Dave Quincy (saxophones) and Mick Durell (bass).
She has worked at the Watermill, Dorking, the 100 Club, Shepherd's Restaurant, Belgravia, The Green, East Dulwich, the Forester's Arms, Forest Hill, the Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly and HMS Belfast and regularly at Pissarro’s, Hastings.
Musicians she has worked with recently include Janusz Carmello, John Burch, Simon Woolf, Kenny Shaw, Jim Richardson, George Oag, Roger Curphy, Roland Lacey, Geoff Castle and Mike Cotton. She has recorded her debut CD "Who Needs Spring?" This has been most favourably reviewed by jazz critic Alun Morgan, and played on Jazz FM.
Some comments about Jill's singing: “A fantastic CD” – Art Themen; "Jazz can mean different things to different people but there is unanimous agreement that Jill's singing has all of the necessary jazz elements." - Alun Morgan; "Jill has a unique style" - Pete Cater; "A talented singer" - Derek Nash; "Jill has recorded a super CD" - Lee Gibson; "Jill's pitch is stunning" - John Mumford; "Jill is a good singer, who has chosen a strong programme of material to record" - Alan Barnes.
Continue reading "Introducing Jazzy Jill" »
