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Given her musical background – granddaughter of Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, and daughter of Alec Dankworth – it is no surprise that Emily has her forte in music. As a solo singer she has performed at the Barbican, The Stables Theatre and the Vortex jazz club amongst others. “Emily has a lovely, natural quality to her voice that has an alluring purity”
“Emily’s voice is forged from the DNA of Jazz royalty… No surprise that it is Gorgeous, smooth, lush…shall I go on?” Ralph Salmins.
“Emily has a lovely, natural quality to her voice that has an alluring purity, I look forward to seeing where she goes with this musically.” Phil Robson.
“Emily Dankworth… flawless pitch with a lovely lyrical expression in her voice. One to watch!” Tina May
“Emily Dankworth has a beautifully pure, ringing voice, particularly appropriate for the 
traditional love song,”
She began her vocal training with Diana Kiverstein at the age of 7 and later performed in venues such as The Royal Albert Hal! and St. Marks Basilica in Venice. During this period she discovered her talent as a drummer and studied with Dave Webster both in his Big Band and Salsa bond where she became familiar with the Latin rhythms that she loves to express in her music today.Jazznights Emily Dankworth 310313 (25)
She regularly performs with Alec Dankworth’s Spanish Accents (singing in Castellano) and features on his album in which “Emily’s contribution to the album works beautifully on the simply Spanish folk tunes” – Bosho Records. In her career now as a solo singer she has performed at the Barbican, The Stables Theatre, The Vortex Jazz club, The Pizza on the Park, Warwick Arts Centre and Winchester Cathedral and tonight she was at Jazznights.
What a night to the full house that was lucky enough to be there.
Emily sang with the Jazznights Trio who were:
Alec Dankworth – Double Bass
Born in London, the son of John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Alec Dankworth grew up in the villages of Aspley Guise and Wavendon, living at the Old Rectory, Wavendon, where his parents established the Wavendon All-Music Plan (WAP) that includes the Stables Theatre. British Jazz Awards winner Alec Dankworth has worked with artists such as Stephanne 
Grappelli, Abdullah Ibrahim, Van Morrison and The Dave Brubeck Quartet. The Alec Dankworth Trio is his current group.
Alec Dankworth studied bass at Berklee College, Boston. In 1980 he joined the Cleo Laine/John Dankworth quintet, touring the USA, Australia and Europe. His association with Nigel Kennedy has included a duet recording of Duke Ellington’s ‘Black, Brown and Beige’ suite and also a UK tour, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Alec has recorded with Buddy de Franco, John Williams, James Galway and the London Symphony Orchestra. Artists he has performed with include Mose Allison, Guy Barker, Eddie Daniels, Billy Eckstine, Georgie Fame, Stephanne Grappelli, Johnny Griffin, Pete King, Abdullah Ibrahim, Julian Joseph, Marian McPartland, David Murray, Anita O’Day, Dave O’Higgins, Courtney Pine, George Shearing, Tommy Smith, Clark Terry, Lew Tabakin, Stan Tracey, Mel Torme, and the Royal Ballet! He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Sydney Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall. A collaboration with sister Jackie Dankworth has encompassed tours of Hawaii, the Far East and Beirut. Alec co-leads the ‘Alec and John Dankworth Generation Band` which has recorded two CDs to date. Alec joined the Van Morrison group in 1995, touring Europe and America and recording three albums including ‘The Healing Game’. Alec was voted ‘Best Bass player’ in the 1995 and 1997 British Jazz Awards. He was co-artistic director of the ‘Jazz Encounters at Wigmore Hall’ series.
Roger Odell – Drums
Roger was one of the founder members and drummer with the jazz-funk group Shakatak and the forerunner band Tracks. Roger has toured internationally and recorded numerous CDs, which he continues to do on a regular basis to this day. Apart from a great power drummer he is also a prestigious arranger. Musically, his first love was always straight-ahead contemporary jazz, and in the past he has played with many of the great names on the UK scene including Don Rendell, Barbara Thompson, Dick Morrissey, Terry Smith, Joe Harriott and countless others. Roger is the author of three technical articles which appeared in the international magazine Modern Drummer.
Peter Lemer – Keyboards
Peter Lemer is an English jazz musician. He has worked with the Pete Lemer Quintet, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Annette Peacock, Harry Beckett, Gilgamesh, Baker Gurvitz Army, Seventh Wave, Harry Beckett’s Joy Unlimited, Pierre 
Moerlen’s Gong, Mike Oldfield Group, In Cahoots, Miller/Baker/Lemer. He currently works with In Cahoots, Peter Lemer Trio/Quartet, Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia, and the Peter Lemer-Billy Thompson Quartet and Duo. Peter made his recording debut as a leader (Local Colour) in 1996, the band by then including Jon Hiseman, John Surman, George Khan and Tony Reeves. A year in New York followed, which included extensive jamming, gigging and study. Coaches included famed jazz pianists Jaki Byard and Paul Bley and Double Bass guru David Walters. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Music and included Tommy Rajnaand Sven Weber among his classical coaches. In 1969, he worked with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. In the last few years, Lemer has remained a fixture of In Cahoots – he can be heard on Parallel (1996), Out Of The Blue (2001), All That (2003) and Conspiracy Theories (2006), most of which also feature his writing – as well as playing one-off gigs with old friends Steve Cook (bass) and Roger Odell (drums), recording an album with them in Israel
With additional vocals from
Larraine Odell – vocals
Beginning her professional singing career with the group CMU with whom she recorded two 
albums, Larraine performed at numerous venues throughout the UK and Europe, including the Purcell Room, RFH. Boxford Fleece & Ronnie Scott’s.Larraine possesses a unique smouldering tonal quality and a subtle jazz phrasing style that has elicited great praise from two of her own vocal mentors, Mark Murphy and Sheila Jordan. “A sensitive singer who exudes a fine-honed jazz sensibility with every phrase.” She has since appeared at Ronnie Scott’s Club as a member of the group Jimpster, at the Boxford Fleece with pianist Steve Lodder, most of the other jazz clubs in the region, and at the Aldeburgh, Layer Marney and Southwold Jazz Festivals.
Larraine Odell opened the first set with the following:
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1945 It Might As Well Be Spring from the 1945 movie State Fair.
Estate (Summer) is an Italian song written in 1960 by Bruno Martino (music) and Bruno 
Brighetti (lyrics). A minor hit in Italy when released, it eventually became a worldwide jazz standard largely through its interpretation by João Gilberto.
Blue Skies – the popular song that was written by Irving Berlin in 1926.
Isn’t It a Pity? is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, written for the 1933 musical Pardon My English. This was a beautiful slow version of this ballad.
I’ve Got You Under My Skin is a song written by Cole Porter. Written in 1936, the song was introduced in the Eleanor Powell MGM musical, Born to Dance. Frank Sinatra first sang the song on his weekly radio show in 1946.
Emily Dankworth then joined her father and the rest of the Jazznights Trio for the rest of this brilliant first set which included:
Afro Blue the jazz standard composed by Mongo Santamaría in 1959, perhaps best known in its arrangement by John Coltrane.
Black Is the Colour (of My True Love’s Hair) is a traditional folk song first known in the Appalachian Mountains region of the United States in 1915, but most probably originating from Scotland, as attributed to the reference to the Clyde in the song’s lyrics but this was a lovely jazzed up version.
Waters of March (Portuguese: “Águas de Março”) is a Brazilian song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim wrote both the English and Portuguese lyrics. The inspiration for “Águas de Março” comes from Rio de Janeiro’s rainiest month. March is typically marked by 
sudden storms with heavy rains and strong winds that cause flooding in many places around the city. Sung by Emily in both Portuguese and English.
Body and Soul is a very popular jazz standard written in 1930 with lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton; and music by Johnny Green with an introduction by just Emily & Alec Dankworth.
Ben Cox (see the blog of Ben Cox’s gig at Jazznights on the 27th October 2013) the joined Emily for a great version of Hey-nonny-no from Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Act 5 scene 3)
As you will have gathered this was a fantastic eclectic first set of the evening.
Following the interval and the Jazznights raffle of 3 jazz cd’s and a bottle of wine we had the traditional Jazznights sitting in spot which is open to all musicians who have an opportunity to play with the band. Tonight we had the pleasure of Geoff Harriman playing his 
harmonica in a version of All Of Me, this was followed by Kevin Flanagan with a great tenor sax version of Arthur Schwartz’s Alone Together
Emily Dankworth then returned to join the trio to perform an Antonio Carlos Jobim number followed by a a another new number to us regarding the Greek god Narcissus who was attracted to a pool, wherein he saw his reflection and fell in love with it, not realizing it was merely an image. Unable to leave the beauty of his reflection. (Narcissus died. Narcissus is the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation with oneself.)
My Romance (1935)from Rodgers & Hart sung and played in a 3/4 time.
Fruit Tree is from a a box set by English singer/songwriter Nick Drake.
Red Top, a jazz classic penned by Kansas Citian Ben Kynard and recorded by Gene Ammons and others. This version was based on the King Pleasure and Betty Carter’s famous vocalese version of Red Top.
Ben Cox the joined Emily again for a stunning medley which included Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Field’s 1928 I Can’t Give You Anything but Love and Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke’s 1936 Pennies From Heaven.
A brilliant Brazilian samba concluded this quite incredible, diversified and wonderful Jazznights gig.
ROSALIE GENAY (vocals) will be at Jazznights on Sunday 16th Mar 2014.
Rosalie is an exciting jazz vocalist with physical and musical roots in The Netherlands and a hint of a French heritage. In 2001 she moved to Sydney to continue her vocal studies at The Australian Institute of Music before settling in London for the past ten years. She was a semi-finalist in The Dutch International Vocal Competition in 2011.
Book early for this gig.
Reservations on 01787 237653 or email info@jazz-nights.com
Admission £10.
Music p.m.8pm-10.30pm. Sitting-in spots from local musicians
For further information, future gigs and location go to www.jazz-nights.com
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