Ni Maxine
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall- Music Room. 21 April 2024. Review by Frank Griffith)

Liverpool-based vocalist Ni Maxine and her quintet performed to a capacity crowd on 21 April at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall’s Music Room. The programme – entitled Ode To Billie Holiday – included no fewer than ten songs associated with Lady Day. The remaining two songs penned by Maxine were more contemporary vehicles but characterised strong similarities to Holiday’s message.

Her fine band included pianist, Liam Butler Webb, bassist, Dan Barreto, the guitar of Jack Lewis and Jamal Campbell’s drums. The mellifluous trumpet and flugelhorn of Martin Smith provided a foil-cum-alternate and supporting “voice” to Maxine’s emotive interpretations of this rich and time-honoured collection of song-lore of the 1930s-50s.

The excellent arrangements were done by Liverpool pianist/vocalist, songwriter and arranger Max O’Hara, and many of them have more contemporary beats and feels as well alternative harmonies, which never detract from the original pathos of the songs.

The choices and lengths of the numbers clearly kept the focus on the singer throughout. While there were frequent solos interspersed, none of them exceeded eight bars or so, thus enabling the listener to sustain their eye and ear on the matter at hand. The lyrics and soul of Lady Day prevailed unbroken from start to finish.

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Particular highlights for this listener was Irving Berlin’s 1925 classic, Remember, rebottled with an ”Islandey” two beat feel that underpinned Maxine’s sassy and swaggery delivery effectively. Similarly, Blue Moon, the Rodgers and Hart 1934 classic scored highly which, while quite a departure from the original still conveyed its cheerfully melancholic sentiment in the end.

A particularly poignant experience was Ni’s duet with pianist, Liam Butler Webb of Strange Fruit, a haunting and disturbing allegory composed by Abel Meerpool that was premiered by Holiday at NYC’s Café Society in 1939. At the completion of the song, the house lights dimmed to darkness while the singer stayed in character for a moment before the interval commenced. a fitting tribute to the legacy of Lady Day and her music.

Frank Griffith is a Liverpool based saxophonist and arranger. His weekly radio show, THE JAZZ CAVERN airs on www.purejazzradio.com / http://www.frankgriffith.co.uk