Rachel Sutton W Special Guests / Alice Zawadzki

One of the very first jazz singers to perform here at the Club on a Sunday Lunch time, Rachel Sutton has very much made this gig her own. Trained at The Welsh College of Music and Drama her background in theatre adds that extra dimension to her performance. With a rich tone and sense of swing that is both moving and exciting, Rachel performs classics from The American Songbook along with her own arrangements of more modern popular songs plus the occasional original. Her winning onstage persona will charm any audience. Her band today features the exceptional pianist Roland Perrin along with bass player Curtis Ruiz and drummer Paul Robinson (Nina Simone). And following on from Rachel will be an artist I first heard when she was still at the Royal Academy of Music, the truly remarkable Alice Zawadzki. That was back in 2011 and since then she has grown in to a musician in the vanguard of the post-modern contemporary jazz scene, with a list of accomplishments that are long and impressive. The recipient of scholarships from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Jerwood Foundation and Scottish Arts Council among others she was selected to participate in jazz promoter Serious’ “Take Five” Edition X artist development programme and her first record, “China Lane”, was released to considerable acclaim. Her songs are self-described as about “mischief, whimsy, magic, inebriation, loss, exodus, prejudice and above all, love”, while her sound is earthy, organic and satisfying on a visceral level, sophisticated and complex yet accessible to the uninitiated. Today she will be performing in a duo with another fast rising young star on the UK jazz scene, the terrific guitarist Rob Luft. She tells me the material they will be performing for this show "Draws on the golden age of Mediterranean song, from Portuguese Fado to Neapolitan love songs, fusing it all with contemporary sources and rhythms from Jazz to Latin". A uniquely expressive performer and a gifted storyteller, Alice is a breakthrough artist of the highest caliber.

"Sutton….immaculate vocals and bursting-with-life stage presence...a must see" Cabaret Scenes; “Alice Zawadzki…. Uncategorisable, beautiful – a real force to be reckoned with” Jamie Cullum, BBC Radio 2