Harold Sanditen makes his second CD as a live recording. He writes…

When I made my first CD in September 2010, I found it a very stressful experience. Granted, I did the entire CD from recording to mixing in 10 days, so that alone is a monumental feat, which, naively, I didn’t fully realise at the time. Friends who’d made CDs told me it was going to be terrific fun, but I found singing to no one just didn’t work for me. On top of that, when you make a CD in a studio, you can add musical instruments later in the process, and you have the ability to tweak or change every note in striving for perfection, which began to feel unnatural. I liken this to the question of whether or not to have plastic surgery. Sure, you might look better afterward, but it could all go pear-shaped, and in the pursuit of a perfect face or physique, the quirks that give you true sex appeal are overlooked. On top of that, sometimes, you just don’t know when to stop…..so you can end up with a product that just isn’t really you!

So, it was an easy choice when I decided to make my second CD, to do it as a live recording. I have to admit I absolutely love the magic that comes from performing live. Audiences feed singers, so you almost always get something in a live performance that you simply cannot replicate in a studio. I’ve added all the instruments to the live show so that nothing will be added after the recording. I’ll have a jazz quintet playing for me, who play some 9 instruments between them – piano, bass, drums, tenor sax, clarinet, flute, trumpet, flugelhorn and violin.

SHADES OF BLUE is an evening of jazz, Latin and blues. I sing some blues, wear blue, tell blue jokes and have fun with the variety of meanings the word “blue” has taken on. The CD will be the 15 songs in the show, plus several “bonus tracks” which are favourite’s of mine that didn’t make it onto my first CD. Here’s the line-up: Harold Sanditen (vocals), Michael Roulston (piano and back-up vocals), Dave Olney (bass), Bob Sydor (woodwinds), Steve Bentley-Klein (brass/strings), Paul Merser (drums).

I think most people consider me to be a cabaret singer, but I want to be seen as someone who straddles the world between cabaret and jazz, and this is primarily a jazz show and a jazz CD. And boy, am I jazzed!

SHADES OF BLUE will be recorded live at The Pheasantry, 152-154 King’s Road, London SW3 4UT, on Friday, 2nd and Saturday, 3rd November. Doors open at 7 pm, show at 8.30 pm. All tickets purchased will get a free download when the CD is released. Tickets £15 in advance, and £20 on the door.

Bookings: At the Pheasantry’s Site or call 08456 027 017 (option 8). More information form Harold’s site.