Jacqui Dankworth at the Mick Jagger Centre
Charismatic, mesmerising, riveting, magical – I simply cannot find enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe the recent Jacqui Dankworth concert held at the Mick Jagger Centre. The audience quickly became captivated by Jacqui’s singing, her incredible professionalism and the world-class musicians supporting her – Chris Allard (guitar), Alec Dankworth (bass) and Ray Dodds on drums.
Jacqui has an amazing talent – a voice to die for, with a great range, producing sounds full of colour and superb dynamics – accompanied by enormous charm and stage presence. Surrounded by excellent musicians, there was so much to enjoy and admire; great jazz standards including Mood Indigo and Blue Moon coupled with more recent material composed by Jacqui such as Back to You, Beppo and also One Friend, a song she performed on a Paul O’Grady television show. She also paid tribute to her father, the legendary Johnny Dankworth, who died earlier this year, by singing two of his numbers – one of which she had co-written with him.
Despite her pedigree, although extremely well known in Jazz circles, Jacqui and her band are less familiar to wider audiences, but they are stars in my book, streets ahead of those lesser mortals made instantly famous by reality TV shows. There really is no substitute for hard work, years spent learning from experience and constant gigging no matter how big or small the audience. They are truly magnificent musicians. Eat your hearts out, pop star wannabees! Jacqui and her friends genuinely represent the very best of British musical talent with a real passion for and dedication to their art. At the end of the concert, this exceptionally gifted quartet was given a well-deserved rapturous ovation and they responded by treating us to Sittin’ on top of the World.
I would like to thank Jacqui and Alec Dankworth, Chris Allard, Ray Dodds and the fantastic team at the Mick Jagger Centre for a wonderful night out.
Tags: Alec Dankworth, Blue Moon, Chris Allard, Jacqui Dankworth, mick jagger centre, mood Indigo, Ray Dodds