Liane Carroll

Liane Carroll - Dolly Bird - 1997 - Ronnie Scott's Jazz House

Liane Carroll (born 1964 in London, England) is an English pianist/vocalist. She has worked with many artists ranging from Paul McCartney, Gerry Rafferty to Ladysmith Black Mambazo. She has also performed as the lead vocalist and Wurlitzer keyboardist for the drum and bass band London Elektricity. She is a regular performer at Ronnie Scott's jazz club and the 606 Club in London, and has made several albums. In 2005 she won two awards in the BBC Jazz Awards: Best Vocalist and Best of Jazz. "Dolly Bird" was recorded live at the famous Ronnie Scott's Club, Frith Street, London, England in April 1997. In a feature on Liane in the Jazz Express magazine, John Roberts wrote, "Liane is belting out blues, poppy ballads, raucous jazz piano and lacing it with such inventive scat singing that you can close your eyes and think of Ella." Liane has said "I suppose I'm more jazz and blues, but I hate to be pigeon-holed." "Dolly Bird" is an eclectic mix of songs by Lou Reed, Carole King, Laura Nyro, Tom Waits and others. She also includes a very different version of Walter Becker & Donald Fagen's (Steely Dan) "Do It Again." Listen to her "Slow Down" album

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Life In One Day - Howard Jones
2. Bird Chase Bird - Peter Kirtley, Tom Pickard
3. Do It Again - Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
4. The Briar And The Rose - Tom Waits
5. Yatra Ta - Tania Maria
6. Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
7. Natural Woman - Carole King
8. Fairytale Of New York - Shane McGowan
9. Perfect Day - Lou Reed
10. And When I Die - Laura Nyro

MUSICIANS

Liane Carroll - Vocals, Piano
Peter Kirtley - Guitar, Vocals
Steve Lamb - Bass Guitar
Greg Leppard - Drums

BIO

Liane Carroll was born in London and raised in Hastings, where she currently lives with her husband, bassist Roger Carey. She started playing the piano at the age of three, under the tutorage of concert pianist Phyllis Catling, but soon developed a deep passion for everything jazz, soul and beyond. Both of her parents were singers and, following their divorce when Liane was six, she stayed with her mother and sister at her grand-parents’ house, where she was lovingly encouraged to carry on making as much of a racket as possible. In Hastings, at the age of 15, she started to appear with various bands both as a singer, pianist and composer. In 1998 she joined Trevor Watts’ ‘Moire Music’ featuring Liam Genockey, Nana Tsiboe and Simon Picard, where they would embark on several world tours. After leaving the band, she appeared with many varied line-ups, including the Dave Holdsworth band, featuring bassist Roger Carey, and drummer Dave Trigwell. In 1990, she formed her own trio, married Roger Carey, now the resident bass player in the band, and continued to work with many visiting outfits, including two recordings and a tour with Gerry Rafferty, two tours with US guitar legend Jerry Donahue, and many European tours with the legendary Long John Baldry. At the same time, she met and started working and touring with guitarist/songwriter Peter Kirtley and joined the band alongside Steve Lamb (bass) and Greg Leppard (drums). As a unit, they would later record a charity song, ‘Little Children’ (written by Kirtley) for the children of Brazil, with Sir Paul McCartney. Since 1993, Liane has appeared as a headline act at the legendary Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club, where she has also recorded two live CD’s for their Jazz House label. She continues to be a regular at the celebrated 606 Club, in Chelsea. In 2001, as well as keeping busy with her trio and solo work, she joined the live Drum & Bass outfit, ‘London Elektricity.’ They would later tour New Zealand, Brazil (where they headlined to 50,000 people) and Glastonbury Festival, 2005. While the fast-burning soul/dance music was a slight departure from Liane’s own work with her trio, it would prove an incredibly exciting time in her career, involving the release of two CD’s and DVD’s (check discography). 2003 saw the launch of her first solo album, ‘Billy No Mates,’ a haunting and intimate collection of standards and originals, for the Independent label, Splash Point Records. The album was her biggest selling to date and, as well as being critically acclaimed, went on to win her two BBC Jazz Awards in 2005. She is the only musician ever to have picked up two of these awards in the same year. In 2005, she released ‘Standard Issue,’ with Splash Point, this time at Abbey Road studios, famous for its luscious piano sound. The album featured her trio, as well as special guests; Ian Shaw, a long-time friend and collaborator, and Bobby Wellins, perhaps our most beloved tenor saxophonist. It would also prove a hit with the critics and in 2006, enabled her to pick up the Marston Pedigree Jazz Award. She would later become the subject of an hour long television programme for the BBC, which featured a performance by Liane and her trio at the Brecon Jazz Festival. In 2007, she continued a busy touring schedule with her trio as well as performing solo at the piano at many of the UK's more intimate settings. In May she picked up the award for 'Best female jazz vocalist' at the first ever Ronnie Scotts Jazz Awards, and in June her trio make a head-line appearance at Glastonbury Festival, which went out live to over 300,000 listeners on BBC Radio 3. Her eagerly awaited second solo album, 'Slow Down,' was released in September the same year with Splashpoint Records, and launched to a sell-out audience at the 606 Club in London. It has since received superb reviews and was in December picked by the Sunday Times as one of their top five jazz albums of the year. A track from the album was also featured by Mojo Magazine in their 'Mojo's Top 10' Playlist selection. In February 2008, Liane released her first DVD 'Liane Carroll Trio LIVE,' which featured a performance from the Brecon Jazz Festival originally broadcast as a documentary on BBC4. Liane went on to pick up the 2008 Parliamentary Jazz Award for 'Musician Of The Year.' Later that year Liane formed an exciting new collaboration with the acclaimed Scottish jazz pianist Brian Kellock, and in November the pair toured throughout Scotland, at which The Herald declared, "This may well be British jazz's greatest double act." During the tour Liane and Brian recorded a live album at the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen. "Live At The Lampie" (Splash Point Records) was released on May 11th 2009 and launched at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho to rave reviews. Later that year, Liane and her trio went Stateside for the first time and performed to rapturous audiences at Dizzy's Jazz Club at the Lincoln Center, and the Rochester Jazz Festival, before jetting off again to Ireland for a mini-tour of four venues in Belfast. Liane and the trio continue a busy touring schedule through 2010 and will be releasing a new album in the first quarter of 2011. The Liane Carroll Trio currently comprises: Liane Carroll (Vocals/Piano), Roger Carey (Electric Bass) and Mark Fletcher (Drums). Liane has been fortunate and privileged to have worked with many wonderful musicians, including: Roger Carey, Mark Fletcher, Ian Shaw, Greg Leppard, Steve Lamb, Peter Kirtley, Liam Genockey, Colin Gibson, Kenny Craddock, Nana Tsiboe, Alan Hull, Dave Mattacks, Sara Colman, Jacqui Dankworth, Tony Colman, The Jungle Drummer, Andy Waterworth, Landslide, MC Wrec, Stamina MC, Alec Dankworth, Guy Barker, Gerard Presencer, Norma Winstone, John Etheridge, Gary Husband, Tim Garland, Tim Whitehead, John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Trevor Watts, Dick Pearce, Bobby Wellins, John Parricelli, Veryan Weston, Phil Minton, Cleveland Watkiss, Phil Carmen, Martin Drew, Dave Trigwell, Marc Parnell, Bob Weston, Jerry Donahue, Clive Bunker, Simon Picard, Elton Dean, Jim Dvorak, Hugh Barns, Mel Collins, Gerry Rafferty, Long John Baldry, Hugh Murphy, Dave Holdsworth, Joe Lee Wilson, Julian Siegel, Liam Noble, Simon Purcell, Dave Wickens, Donna Terenzi, Jim Watson, Harvey Brough, Steve Watts, Winston Clifford, Paul Clarvis, Jim Mullen, Dick Morrissey, Neil Wilkinson, Rupert Cobb, Andy Williams, and many more… COPYRIGHT 2007 © LIANE CARROLL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED http://www.lianecarroll.com/biography.html

Exmagma

Exmagma - Goldball - 1974 - Urus Records

Exmagma was a jazzy Krautrock trio and Goldball was its second record, released in 1975 in France to the confusion of fans of the French band Magma. Exmagma sounds something like Canterbury groups like Soft Machine, but with a more psychedelic slant, with lots of flanging and other effects on the instruments. Though not quite as avant-garde as the earlier eponymous debut, Goldball can hardly be called commercial or compromising. Though the music is less eccentric and unpredictable, they make up for it with tighter playing, and there are plenty of tweaked guitar and keyboard solos, funky drum and bass grooves, and lots of creative improvisation. "Marylin Kennedy" opens up the proceedings with a propulsive jazz-funk rhythm and swirls of keyboard tones. "Dada" tones down the energy just a little bit, as it locks into a repetitive riff for a couple minutes, before it gets hyper toward the end. "Jam Factory for People Insane" adds some whacked-out vocals, though most of the song is still instrumental. "Greetings to the Moroccan Farmers" is an amorphous free-form piece with piano tinkles, odd bits of drum clatter, and even the sound of a cow at one point, and it comes closest to the avant-gardism of their earlier effort. With most of the tracks being quite short, and only two over six minutes long, the group never gets into any excessively long jams, which may or may not be a good thing. Otherwise, the record is an interesting Krautrock mix of jazz and psychedelic rock. © Rolf Semprebon © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/goldball-r36969/review

Exmagma was a briefly lived hippy oriented Krautrock trio with a jazzy space rock sound. Although the band's discography has yet to be reissued on CD, they are certainly deserving of such treatment. Exmagma was formed in Stuutgart, Germany, by Andy Goldner (guitars, bass, sax, vocals), Thomas Balluff (keyboards, trumpet, flute, vocals), and jazz drummer Fred Braceful, formerly of Et Cetera. The group released an eponymous debut album in 1973 influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Soft Machine, and Miles Davis featuring brief but complex pieces. The equally eccentric Goldball followed in 1974. © Geoff Orens © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/exmagma-p17380

Another one of those very strange, undeservedly obscure, hippy-dippy German space-jazz groups. They recorded one excellent record for the French "Urus" label and disappeared. The group consisted of Andy Goldner (guitars, bass, sax, percussion, voice), Thomas Balluff (keyboards, trumpet, flute, voice) and Fred Braceful (drums, percussion, trumpet, voice), who are depicted on the album cover as having extremely long legs. Detroit native Braceful is a jazz drummer of some significance, and has appeared on recordings by Wolfgang Dauner, Michael Hornstein, and many others. The music on Goldball is very jazzy, but extended improvisations are largely eschewed in favor of brief (2 to 5 minutes long) multi-sectioned pieces with unexpected and abrupt changes in tempo, feel, time signature. A few cuts have a very trippy space-rock feel. The vocals (one track) are strictly tongue-in-cheek, and are delivered in accented English, so they have an almost Bonzo-ish air of silliness. Totally original and still refreshing two decades after its release. © Dave Wayne © http://www.gepr.net/em.html#EXMAGMA

A good trippy space/psychedelic/jazz Krautrock album sounding like a cross between Can and the whimsical Robert Wyatt. Try and listen to the band's s/t album

TRACKS

1. Marilyn F. Kennedy - Goldner, Balluff, Braceful (2:27)
2. Dada - Goldner (3:35)
3. Adventures With Long S.tea 25 Two Seconds Before Sunrise - Goldner (2:50)
4. Groove - Goldner, Balluff, Braceful (4:50)
5. Tango Wolperaiso - Goldner, Balluff, Braceful (2:33)
6. Jam Factory For People Insane - Goldner (4:02)
7. Habits - Goldner (5:55)
8. Dance Of The Crabs - Goldner (0:50)
9. Greetings To The Maroccan Farmers - Goldner, Balluff, Braceful (6:35)
10. Last But One Train To Amsterdam - Goldner (0:55)

N.B: On the 2003 CD issue the tracks are slightly rearranged; Track 3 is "Adventures With Long S.tea", Track 4 is "25 Two Seconds Before Sunrise", and Track 5 is "Groove - Tango Wolperaiso"

BAND

Andy Goldner - fretless electric bass, electric guitar, alto sax, tape recorder
Thomas Balluff - organ, electric piano, clavinett-c effects
Fred Braceful - sonor drums, percussion extraordinaire

Clare Free

Clare Free - Be Who You Are - 2010 - Funky Mama Records

Clare Free is a Brit who has been playing guitar since she was 12 years old. She is a prolific songwriter and has worked with numerous top-flight musicians including Dino Baptiste who introduced her to Dana Gillespie with whom she worked on tours in India and at the Mustique blues festival (in the Caribbean). She cites her influences as a mix of blues, rock and country and this CD is a good example of all those elements although more blues/rock/pop than straight blues. Impressively, all ten tracks on the album are self-penned. The opener, ‘Let Me Down Easy’ is a countrified piece with an opening guitar part that sounds like the best of Nashville. Next up is ‘I Won’t Lie’ which IMHO is the bluesiest track on the CD, this has a nice rhythmic hook and features a guitar solo reminding me a lot of Jeff Beck. The lady has some nice chops! Some of the tracks are barely bluesy at all. ‘Fool To Pride’ is a poppy song, but with what I suspect may be a self-revelatory lyric “Angry, I cut you, made you bleed. My razor tongue got free”. Some nice axe work here too but not enough of it. Another nice blueser is “She’s An Evil Woman” with a melody which is just on the edge of my consciousness (one day I’ll remember what it reminds me of). ‘Whenever You Need Me’ is kind of rather soppy 1960s pop-song and is best forgotten. Admirably supported by Hannah Cope (bass and backing vocals), Rhys Firey (Kbds) and Pete Hedley (Dms) this outing shows off Clare’s song writing and guitar playing skills to a Tee. A nice addition to the growing group of ‘girls with guitars’ like Joanne Shaw Taylor and Dani Wilde all of whom are enlivening the UK blues rock scene. [© Ian McKenzie © Blues Blast Magazine (June 2010) editor of Blues In The South (www.bluesinthesouth.com) ] - http://www.illinoisblues.com/Archive/BluesBlasts/2010/BluesBlast6_9_10.htm

I have been listening to a couple of tracks from this CD for a while as they were available on a single CD earlier in the year and I was fortunate enough to catch Clare and her band live at a recent gig (see review in this edition). So it was with interest that I sat down to listen to the other eight tracks on this album, having recently heard a live rendition. All the songs are written by Clare and are usually about some form of human relationships, containing thoughts and feelings we’ve all had at sometime in our lives, or at least know somebody who has, and are summarised in the titles. The album starts off with the lively “Let Me Down Easy”, which has a very catchy riff and chorus and will have you humming the song for days afterwards. “I Won’t Lie” has an SRV feel to it and tells the story of not being an alibi for a deceiving friend. It’s a funky beat that accompanies “My Everything”. The band is: Clare Free, guitars and vocals, Hannah Cope, bass and backing vocals, Rhys Friery, keyboards and Pete Hedley, drums. “We Were Seventeen” reminisces when life was so simple and is delivered as a real rocker with wailing organ. “Please Don’t Say You Love Me” once again self explanatory when it comes to the story in the lyrics. This album isn’t all Blues but instead contains songs that were drawn from a wide range of rock, folk and country influences as well as the Blues. The album flows and makes for easy listening time and time again. Clare puts in some slick and precise guitar solos and is handsomely backed by the very professional band. This CD is a great collection of tracks, comes with all the lyrics in a well designed twelve page booklet, and is technically very well produced. I know the band can reproduce these songs live and this album is definitely one for the collection. Oh and make sure you play track ten all the way to the end for a little surprise. Rating 9/10 © Paul Styles © Blues in Britain Magazine (July 2010)

Great musicianship, but some of the songs could be more original. This album needs more rocking songs like "I Won't Lie" and "Time Of Our Lives". A good mix of blues, soul blues, R&B, and Country rock. More "easy listening" than rock, but it's an enjoyable album, and Clare is an artist to watch out for in the future

TRACKS

1. Let Me Down Easy
2. I Won't Lie
3. Fool To Pride
4. My Everything
5. Is This Love I Feel?
6. We Were Seventeen
7. She's An Evil Woman
8. Please Don't Say You Love Me
9. Whenever You Need Me
10. Time Of Our Lives
11. Bonus Track (Untitled)

All songs composed by Clare Free

MUSICIANS

Clare Free - Guitar, Vocals
Hannah Cope - Bass, Backing Vocals
Rhys Friery - Keyboards
Pete Headley - Drums

AUTOBIO

I'm a guitarist, singer and songwriter. I took up piano when I was 12 and wrote my first song within one year. My piano teacher didn't approve of my tendency to re-write classical pieces and improvise music in the style of some of the best known classics but despite my tutor’s lack of enthusiasm I wrote and improvised music at every opportunity. As a teenager I played a variety of instruments including flute, saxophone and piano until I took up guitar when I was 17. My first guitar, which cost just £25, was falling apart, but it opened a great many more song writing doors than piano. Now I could write songs that sounded like the rock music that I was such an avid fan of. I started to play in college bands, none of which were very good but they offered experience that was to be useful a few years down the road. Soon I began going to blues jams and rapidly became a very good blues player. Within two years I had become a regular at some of the best blues jams in the country and had formed a blues band called Misdemeanor (I played alongside Matt Schofield and Constance Redgrave/Maurice McElroy of the Spikedrivers in this band.) The band saw some success and I was invited to do a number of radio and magazine interviews. Misdemeanor split in 1999 when I was offered a recording contract for my own work. I was lucky enough to play at the 100 Club, London with Joan Baby in 1999. By this time I was living with Dino Baptiste who played keyboards with Dana Gillespie. Dana invited me to join her on a 10 date tour of Mumbi in India, then later I went with Dana to play for three weeks at the Mustique Blues Festival in the Carribean. In this playground for the rich and famous, I had the opportunity to jam with the world famous violin player Nigel Kennedy and Rolf Harris. Both in India, and in the Caribbean, some of the shows were broadcast live on television. I also was invited to join Larry Garner on the main stage at the Lugano Blues Festival in Switzerland in front of around 7,000 people. All the while I was writing and recording my own blues and rock material and gigging with my own band. In 2001 I joined a 9 piece soul band called 99lbs which was a tribute to the music of Anne Peebles. I played with this band until the birth of my son in 2004. My passion for singing and song writing has led me in recent years to write two full albums of music for children. I was forced to take a couple of years off from live playing due to illness but I'm now fully recovered and more determined than ever to make great music. During my time off, I went back to my own writing roots and writing songs that were draw not just on blues but also on a wide range of rock, folk and country influences. An album of my new material, which is a mix of blues, rock and country, and is being recorded during autumn 2009 and is due for release in early 2010. Copyright © 2009, [Clare Free]. All rights reserved. http://www.clarefree.co.uk/biography/