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Sarah Moule

During the 2020 lockdown Sarah Moule recorded her fifth studio album, Stormy Emotions. It is released on CD 19th March and Download 3rd May on 33JAZZ (33JAZZ285). The ten previously unrecorded songs by American lyricist the late Fran Landesman (Sring Can Really Hang You Up The Most) and British composer Simon Wallace, bring to 45 the number of Landesman/Wallace songs Sarah has introduced over her 5 albums.

Her four previous albums are:

'Songs From The Floating World' (Red Ram Records 2014)

'A Lazy Kind Of Love' (Red Ram Records 2008)

Something's Gotta Give (Linn Records 2004)

It's A Nice Thought (Linn Records, 2002).

Born into a large catholic family on the south coast of England, after university Sarah soon traded the refined atmosphere of Bloomsbury publishers Jonathan Cape for extensive travels in numerous steamy tropical locations. On returning to London in the early 1990s she met jazz singer Claire Martin who introduced her to pianist and composer Simon Wallace who had himself recently returned to London after several years writing for the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and touring with the equally steamy Lindsay Kemp Company.

"As soon as Simon played me the songs he'd been writing with Fran I knew I wanted to sing them. They really touched me, musically and lyrically, as they seemed to be about how we live today and the emotional conflicts we all have to deal with. I immediately started singing them on the gigs I was doing in Soho and haven't stopped since. I've always felt that it's important to include new repertoire in what I'm doing and mix up a wide range of musical influences, as well as taking inspiration from the past, because I want the music I'm doing to be forward looking."

At the same time Sarah began to explore the music of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington along with the late-night lifestyle of the London jazz musician while continuing her vocal studies with English National Opera soloist Kenneth Woollam.

She soon established a solid reputation for herself on the London jazz scene singing regularly at the 606 Club, The Vortex, Pizza Express Jazz Club, The Pizza On The Park and guesting at Ronnie Scott's Club. She has performed with many stalwarts of British jazz including: Ian Shaw, Claire Martin, Iain Ballamy, Tim Whitehead, Tim Garland, Steve Waterman and John Critishinson with whom she toured the Mediterranean with 'A Tribute To Ronnie Scott', performing opposite the legendary bebop duo Jackie & Roy.

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Album Review

Shear Brass: Celebrating Sir George Shearing

Read "Celebrating Sir George Shearing" reviewed by Neil Duggan


The work of the late George Shearing, or Sir George Shearing OBE to give him his full title, is the subject of the debut album from Shear Brass, a band dedicated to playing new arrangements of his music. They are led by Shearing's great nephew, drummer Carl Gorham. The album, Celebrating Sir George Shearing, features eleven tracks, five of which feature vocals. All of the inventive arrangements, by the trumpeter Jason McDermid, have a level of detail usually reserved for ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Songs of Spring and More New Releases for April

Read "Songs of Spring and More New Releases for April" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast presents new releases from from Callum Au & Claire Martin, Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini with a special single of Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most from Sarah Moule and Simon Wallace in honor of the centennial of T.S. Eliot's poem The Wasteland, which was the song's inspiration, plus birthday shoutouts to vocalists Candace Reyes, Kendra Shank, saxophonist Roxy Coss and pianist Lara Downes and among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you ...

7
Album Review

Sarah Moule: Stormy Emotions

Read "Stormy Emotions" reviewed by John Eyles


Stormy Emotions is the fifth release from Sarah Moule to feature songs by the late, great lyricist & poet Fran Landesman (1927-2011), dating back to It's a Nice Thought (Linn, 2002). In total those five albums contain over fifty songs with lyrics by Landesman, many of which were first recorded by Moule. If that seems an unusually high proportion of songs by one lyricist, the explanation is straightforward: from 1993 until 2011, Landesman wrote over 300 songs with renowned pianist, ...

13
Album Review

Sarah Moule: Songs From The Floating World

Read "Songs From The Floating World" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Class will out, as they say. It's certainly true on this album--class bursts out of Songs From The Floating World. From Sarah Moule's sophisticated, cool, vocals and the stylish playing of the cream of British jazzers, through to Simon Wallace's music and arrangements and Fran Landesman's inimitable lyrics, everyone involved with this fine album is a class act. Moule is a leading interpreter of Landesman's songs: her understated approach heightens the impact of the lyrics and ensures that ...

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Recording

Sarah Moule: Stormy Emotions

Sarah Moule: Stormy Emotions

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Back in February 2014, I posted the following: “If many of today's jazz musicians and singers lack anything, it's curiosity. Talent they've got, but a deep interest in the past beyond what they already know seems alien to their approach... What's hurting the music isn't a lack of venues or long solos. It's a lack of imagination and a stubborn refusal to explore the music's history and re-interpret compelling, overlooked standards. For example, the music of Tommy Wolf and his ...

'Long established as one of the best jazz singers in the country' Helen Mayhew JAZZfm, UK Dec 2020

'The song becomes the singers. The singer becomes the song. That happens so rarely' Marlbank Feb 2021

‘Cool, elegant, immaculate’ ★★★★★ Dave Gelly, The Observer 14/9/14

‘A first rate set’ Clive Davis, The Sunday Times Magazine 14/9/14

‘Superb interpretations, wildly romantic – Moule really finds the soul of her instrument on this outstanding collection’ ★★★★ Peter Quinn, Jazzwise October 2014

‘ classic, late-night club jazz…evocative of the floating world of ambiguity and decadence the songs conjure up. A classy and intelligent set.’ ★★★★ Jazz Journal November 2014

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