Louise Gibbs

Though a century-old, jazz singing is still a mystery to many singers and teachers. This interactive study day with masterclass, (22 September 2019) run by the British Voice Association (www.britishvoiceassociation.org) and led by expert jazz singers, teachers, and voice researchers, offers a practical and pedagogical overview of jazz voice and vocal style. You can learn about signature jazz voice timbres, their technical and expressive management, electronic manipulation, and similarities and differences to classical and pop singing. The event aims to demystify the role of improvisation in jazz vocal performance, and to help you find your inner jazz.

Presenters: Louise Gibbs, Pete Churchill, Line Hilton, Anton Browne, Sara Colman & Sarah Wright-Owens

For further information get in touch with louise – louise@jazzmine.co.uk .

There’ll be plenty of straight-ahead heat and steam when I join ace drummer Paul Smith and his Jazz Collective at their regular gig at Huddersfield train station’s Head of Steam pub. Paul is one of those sensitive listening drummers that singers want to play with – joyful, swinging.  Proper ale too!  The band: Munch Manship (tenor sax), Andrzej Baranek (keys), Paul Chamberlain (bass), Paul Smith (drums & cymbals)

A CAMRA pub with good local ales. £3/5 music cover.       www.theheadofsteam.co.uk

Louise is back again, 2 September (not July), at Ronnie Scott’s upstairs bar as Renato D’Aiello’s special guest. Saxophonist Renato and his band have a regular Monday night fixture at Ronnie’s featuring a top UK/European singer.

Renato and Louise have been playing music together (see photo from 1996). For their July date, they will feature the music of hard-bop pianist and composer, Horace Silver: with his: Song for My Father, Tokyo Blues, Pretty Eyes, Peace, amongst a few others. In true jazz fashion we won’t know what song’s coming next or who might be sitting in. But you can be sure to hear exciting music made in the moment!

Get your table early! Note the 8pm start! There’s now booking for Ronnie’s upstairs and the price of £8 is a steal. You can turn up any time after 7.30pm. https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/ronniesbar/reservation-form

NOW SOLD OUT!

Just in case you missed out the previous date or you wanted more…Recreating the intimacy of a New York jazz supper club I’ll be accompanying myself on piano to sing the songs made famous by the great Billie Holiday, Ella, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee. Along with the music, you’ll find out why Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale” caused such a scandal, the inspiration to Dorothy Parker’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, and why the “Meaning of the Blues” really matters. And Salvo’s specialist dinners “are to die for, darling!”

Chapel FM presents an evening dedicated to women and words. This live broadcast event runs in two parts. You are welcome to join us in the studio audience for one or both parts. It’s a FREE event:

TALKING ABOUT THE VOICE. 6.30-7.45pm.
Five women talk about the physical and metaphorical voice: losing it, finding it, using it. With Becky Cherriman (writer/performer), Louise Gibbs (singer), Khadijah Ibrahim (poet/theatre maker), Jane Oakshott (performance coach), Maggi Stratford (voice coach). Chaired by Peg Alexander.

WORDY WOMEN. 8.00 – 9.30pm.
A panoply of female poets perform their work upstairs in Chapel FM’s atmospheric radio theatre, hosted by Khadijah Ibrahim; featuring Helen Burke, Becky Cherriman, Jane Kite, and Gaia Holmes.

Venue: Chapel FM
Performance Location: Radio Theatre, Leeds LS14 6JB

Recreating the intimacy of a New York jazz supper club I’ll be accompanying myself on piano to sing the songs made famous by the great Billie Holiday, Ella, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee. Along with the music, you’ll find out why Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale” caused such a scandal, the inspiration to Dorothy Parker’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, and why the “Meaning of the Blues” really matters. And Salvo’s specialist dinners “are to die for, darling!”

BOTH THE  3 March and 24 March EVENTS ARE SOLD OUT! . Cancellations: Tel: 0113 275 5017  or giulia@salvos.co.uk

I’ll be joining ace drummer Woody Woods and his band of merry men for Sunday lunch and two lunchtime sets at Peggy’s Skylight. There’s a jazz jam from 5.30pm so drop by to join in or listen.

“In Search of the Authentic Jazz Voice” is the title of my presentation to the Second IJVC in Helsinki in October, held at the Sibelius Academy. Here’s the abstract:

Jazz accommodates diverse and distinct voices. Besides the ‘Greats’, think of Johnny Hartman, Carmen McRae, Andy Bey, Abbey Lincoln, Mel Tormé, Anita O’Day, Mark Murphy or Blossom Dearie. Our study of distinct jazz voices and approaches to story telling, rhythmic gesture, expression, and improvising, signals our membership of the jazz tradition. Yet we want to sound distinctly and authentically ourselves. So how to reconcile being authentic to tradition as we search for personal authenticity in the creative present? This presentation evaluates jazz voices in terms of vocal tone, production, style and personal expression, demonstrating how the evaluation system can help performers and teachers to model distinct voices and better hear and understand what is distinctive about one’s own voice.

I’ll be in excellent company with vocalist-educators Deborah Brown and Damon Meader who are Keynote Speakers for IJVC2.http://sites.uniarts.fi/web/ijvc2017

Louise Gibbs joins the energetic and ever-groovy Woody Woods (drums) and his house band for a set before the regular Sunday jazz jam. This is fun and relaxed gig in one of the most intriguing venues in the country, the Malt Cross, a restored Victorian music hall. We invite you to listen to songs: old, new, and blue, and to gaze at the stars (the real ones) through the ceiling atrium windows. Good food and drink too!

Sunday afternoon jazz at The Lion Inn in Nottingham has been a dedicated fixture for over 30 years, much appreciated for its talented roster of guests and listening audience. Louise Gibbs has received her invitation and will be roaring sweetly with the house band at The Lion for Mothers Day, 26 March.