London Jazz News

Georgia Mancio/Nigel Price/Julie Walkington Trio, Lauderdale House, 24 April 2014

Georgia Mancio’s imaginative curating of her annual ReVoice! Festival, when she always presents  at least one unfamiliar voice from outside the mainstream and her own excursions into Portuguese and Italian music as well as her original songwriting, have told us for some time now that she is a bold and brave original talent. So it was with some surprise to encounter her at Lauderdale House last week with a concert based almost exclusively, with the exception of  a smidgeon of folk and Brazilian, on reasonably familiar  American songbook material: ‘good music doesn’t actually die’ as she reminded us in one introduction to a song.

Performing with just the incredible guitarist Nigel Price, who could even manage to sneak a cheeky blues lick into We’ll Be Together Again, and the big, firm sound and great time of Julie Walkington’s bass lines , this was an evening of pure magic. It is far too long since I heard her last, and in the interim her voice has taken on an extra resonance and conviction. On A House is Not a Home, not one of my favourite songs by any means, her control at the lower end of her range was spine-tingling, while on brisker pieces, like Black Magic and Pick Yourself Up,  there was just a hint of a wraith-like reference to the great Anita O’Day, without the slightest attempt at simulation. Her intonation was impeccable, her fluidity around the pulse and a feeling of real pleasure derived from her interaction with the other two musicians was just incredibly infectious. A great room for such a show, and the audience showed they were with her every inch of the way.