L-R: Will Barry, Emma Smith, Adam King, Shane Forbes iPhone snap by Sebastian Scotney

Sebastian writes:

Crazy Coqs hosted and John Billett promoted (and more or less sold out) a concert last night given by the winners of the annual Young Musicians Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. These were the Award-Winners from 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017 respectively: drummer Shane Forbes, vocalist Emma Smith, bassist Adam King and pianist Will Barry.

It was an upbeat and enjoyable occasion, and a great mix of strong songs very well performed. It is probably stating the obvious but the extent to which Emma Smith just instinctively understood the occasion, the room, the audience, and used all her personality, experience and stagecraft to make the whole occasion work from beginning to end were quite remarkable. The trio all rose to the occasion superbly too. There were many highlights, of which one was a rip-roaring rendition of Ella Fitzgerald’s high-energy version of How High the Moon. Emma Smith prefaced it with a perfect summation of what Ella was all about: “the essence of the joy which jazz comes from”. That phrase also summed up the spirit of a hugely enjoyable gig.

SET LIST

The Frim Fram Sauce
Lullaby of Birdland (Shearing)
Moody’s Mood for Love
Wives and Lovers (Bacharach)
Night and Day
How High the Moon (Ella Fitzgerald version)
Chelsea Bridge (dedicated to Tina May)
Ballad of Hollis Brown (Bob Dylan)
Sister Sadie (Horace Silver)