Sarah Ellen Hughes at the Hideaway Jazz Club
SpainIt’s been a busy week, but I’m delighted I now have time to sit back and tell you about a wonderful gig I went to recently, at an equally wonderful new venue that I didn’t even know existed.
Sarah was at the Hideaway on Thursday 16th February to launch her fabulous second album, The Story So Far. I’m a big fan of Sarah, and you can read the interview I did with her last year. She has a beautifully clear, soulful voice, and a talent for astonishing, fresh renditions of jazz standards, as well as interpreting a mixture of music from rock to Portuguese ballads to original compositions, ensuring that her gig repertoire is varied and exciting.
Starting off with a playful version of “My Favourite Things”, the first set was an eclectic, appealing mixture of tracks from the raw “Darning the Dream”, dedicated to Sarah’s mother, to the quirky vocal version of Chick Corea’s “Spain” with Sector 7. The band was pianist Rick Simpson, bassist Tom Farmer, drummer Joshua Blackmore and guitarist Chris Allard. I loved Sarah’s interpretation of Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale”, which had an inspired heart from Sting’s “Tomorrow will see”. Similarly, Burt Bacharach’s “(They Long to Be) Close to you” was sweetly sung.
“Take me Away” is Sarah’s lyrical ‘escapism song’, which was followed by “Busy Bee”, an original penned in the same lively spirit as “Workin’ Too Hard”. For Pat Methany’s “Tell Me Where you’re Going”, Chris switched to acoustic guitar and enchanted the audience with his accompaniment to Sarah, creating a dramatic gospel-esque effect. “But not for me” was a great vocal showpiece for Sector 7, highlighting the group’s harmonies and solo improvisation. Sarah is fantastic at expressing herself through vocal improvisation, using her voice as an instrument to play around the chords. But it was her rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” which really blew us away: a soulful, devastating version, which I urge you to head on over to Sarah’s website and sample for yourself…
A nod to Cupid
So amongst the flood of Valentine’s love and debates on twitter, quite a few folk were discussing their favourite literary men. In the office, Mr Darcy won, of course. Who is your favourite fictional love?
To celebrate this day, whether you love it or hate it, I thought I’d share my favourite love poem for you. I’d love to hear yours; drop me a line below and let me know…
John Donne’s The Good-Morrow
I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean’d till then ?
But suck’d on country pleasures, childishly ?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den ?
‘Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.
And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear ;
For love all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;
Let us possess one world ; each hath one, and is one.
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest ;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west ?
Whatever dies, was not mix’d equally ;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.
Banana Bread
This recipe is taken from Miss Dahl’s voluptious delights and as Sophie describes, it’s ‘unadulterated manna’. Moist, morish and with a hint of a ‘well, it’s got fruit in, so it’s vaguely healthy’ mantra, it’s the perfect comfort food for snowy evenings.
You need:
75g soft butter
4 ripe bananas, mashed up
200g soft brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
1 pinch of salt
170g of flour (I used half plain/half self-raising)
Start off by preheating the oven to 180′C/160′C fan/Gas 4 and grease a bread tin.
Pour the mashed bananas into a big mixing bowl. Mix in the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Add the bicarbonate/baking soda and salt, mixing in the flour last. Pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for 1 hour, and enjoy with a cup of steaming tea.
January pick ‘n’ mix
Things I love already in 2012:
The Spaghetti Western Orchestra
~ particularly when the Queen Elizabeth Hall reverberated with the audience’s shouts of ‘Aiaiaiaiee-wa-wa-wa’
~ the six shortlisted nominees which I was lucky to be given for Christmas. Watch this space to see if I agree with the winner…
The Fabulous Baker Brothers~ particularly the look of this tasty rabbit pie…
Cranium
~ a highlight of the family Christmas holiday
The Great Gatsby
~ anticipation for this year’s sumptious remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 1920′s novel
