Liane Carroll and Anna-Mae Silver

This Sunday 29th sees the culmination of a long story. Vocalist Rachel Sutton explains here the background story of a collection of songs by Anna Mae Silver that now form a CD, and her involvement. The CD will be launched this Sunday at 229 The Venue. Liane Carroll, Lance Ellington, Jane Milligan and Rachel herself will be perfoming the songs. Rachel writes:

When I met Anna Mae Silver, little did I know that we would end up collaborating on her album, ‘In My Wildest Dreams’, a collection of songs she started writing 45 years ago after a chance encounter with Jon Hendricks inspired her as a composer. She was astonished and delighted when Hendricks loved her work and asked if he could write the lyrics to some of her pieces.

Jump forward to 2008: I was embarking on a singing career and Anna Mae’s interest in my voice, together with her passion and knowledge of jazz were inspiring and encouraging. Our meeting rekindled her ambition to produce a recording of her most treasured songs, and I was hugely flattered when she asked me to write some of the lyrics and to sing some of the material. She also asked her good friend, Lesley Duke, to write lyrics for three of the songs. Anna Mae’s work is both moving and uplifting – a real joy to sing and a wonderful canvas for lyrical creation. I felt a deep connection to Anna Mae’s music and so it was easy for me to put words to the stories I heard her playing.

After many months of work, musical director, pianist and composer John G Smith, member of the influential band Roadside Picnic, came on board and made sublime arrangements for the recording. Liane Carroll is a singer whose extraordinary voice and emotive presence Anna Mae has always greatly admired. A meeting was arranged and Liane was excited by the music and keen to be involved. We also needed a male voice and the wonderful Lance Ellington, well known for his work on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, is featured on the album, along with the beautifully tender voice of Jane Milligan, Spike’s daughter and a successful musical theatre actress.

I am delighted to be joining these fantastic singers on stage for the launch.

‘In My Wildest Dreams’ will be launched at  229 The Venue, 229 Great Portland Street, Sunday 29th November at 7:45pm. (WEBSITE/BOOKINGS)

The band includes:

John G Smith (piano)
John Parricelli (guitar)
Pat White (flugelhorn/trumpet)
Steve Pearce (bass)
Paul Robinson (drums)
Mike Williams (sax)
Jeremy Shoham (sax)
Susie Candlin (violin)
Virgilijus Vitkus (accordion)