Clayson Sings Chanson

CLAYSON SINGS CHANSON has been on the road since the beginning of 2011 to tie-in with the most recent edition of Alan Clayson's Jacques Brel biography, La Vie Boheme. A general résumé of Clayson's career may be read on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Clayson and in the STORIES OF MY LIFE section of alanclayson.com.

The show starts with an explanatory talk (ten minutes) concerning the development of chanson - perhaps the most mature and sophisticated form of popular song - and its impact, but the overall effect is intended to be at least as entertaining as it is educational. Response has been most encouraging - in that attendance has been impressive for weekday evenings, notably at Bristol's Thunderbolt, the Frome Festival, the Cellars-at-Eastney and Birmingham's Kitchen Garden Café. Consequences of a performance at the Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading were a short-notice support to John Cooper Clarke (and a booking for Berkshire's French Society).

Although much of the repertoire is from Brel's portfolio, Clayson and a keyboard player deliver items by other chansonniers, Gallic and English, and venture into curious but connected realms. These include an arrangement of Verlaine's 'Un Grand Sommeil Noir'; Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich's 'Last Night In Soho' - sung absolutely straight - and, by contrast, 'Sweeney Todd The Barber' - which he used to do with Clayson and the Argonauts, but hadn't unveiled in public for a quarter of a century. Crucially, the majority of the lyrics are in English.

'His delivery and performance style has led to a deserved cult status' (Time Out).

‘Definitely more than a performance - an experience!’ (New York Village Voice)