Jacqui Dankworth @ Maddermarket, Norwich
The second half appears to kick off with a new-found synergy
It is sometimes easy to forget that Jacqui Dankworth came to music relatively recently, having started as an actress and worked with, amongst others, the Royal Shakespeare Company. Five albums later she is one of this country's best loved female jazz vocalists, and a regular performer in Norfolk. It is no surprise, therefore, to see a packed house at the Maddermarket Theatre, even on a fine summer evening.
She is accompanied on piano by her husband, the brilliant Charlie Wood, along with Oli Hayhurst on bass, and Mike Smith on drums. In a first half performance that draws heavily on great songwriters like Gershwin, Cole Porter and Jacques Brel it soon becomes obvious that there is a dynamic tension between Dankworth, whose vocal gymnastics sometimes benefit from subtle and sensitive accompaniment, and the flair and virtuosity of Wood's playing. A first attempt at a duet sounds unbalanced, and a vocal re-working of her father John Dankworth's theme to Tomorrow's World comes across unnecessarily novelty-like, leaving us to ponder in the interval where the equilibrium should lie.
But, like a football team returning after an inspirational address from their manager, the second half appears to kick off with a new-found synergy. After a mirror-ball enhanced rendition of Enrico Pieranunzi's I Took your Hand, we are wowed by Wood's foot-stamping flamenco arrangement of Windmills of Your Mind that allows Dankworth's voice free reign and ultimately draws cheers from the audience. This is followed by a spontaneous rendition of Wood's own blues number Never Gonna Stop New Orleans, and from that moment on the evening becomes a twin headliner featuring two tremendously gifted musicians enjoying themselves as equals on stage. Bonnie Rait's I Can't Make You Love Me basks in sensitivity, whilst Sweet Devotion amply illustrates Dankworth's own songwriting credentials. Closing with Donny Hathaway's Someday We'll All Be Free is an inspiring finale, sending us out into the Norfolk night on a high.
Perhaps, in the next round, husband and wife should both be played up front right from the start.
7/10
