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Portrait Of A Woman: Heather Cairncross and David Newton, St Nicholas Church, Arundel, Aug 28

By Barrie Jerram

4th September 2009

"Heather Cairncross made a tremendous impression when I first saw her one woman jazz musical at the Brighton Festival a couple of years ago.

She is one of the few singers who successfully makes the crossover from the world of classical music, where she has a high reputation, to jazz.

Renowned jazz pianist and composer David Newton was encouraged by Cairncross to add words to her Portrait Of A Woman song cycle after hearing it in its orchestral form.

The result was a pleasing mixture of songs with jazz trio accompaniment augmented with the classical talent of the Arundel Ensemble.

The songs were about relationships, mainly expressed through female eyes with occasionally a man's perspective. Styles ranged from haunting ballads, laments, lyrical outpourings to those with a breezy jauntiness.

Newton's skilful piano accompaniment often brought to mind the sound of a sophisticated nightclub, and every song was exquisitely delivered.

'Words Alone Can Never Say' allowed Cairncross to release the soaring power of her voice. Particularly captivating was 'Grace', a sweet song expressing the nervousness and exhilaration of new-found love. The excitement of the swinging blues of Hot Stuff, Latin tempo of For The First Time and the encore number, Both Sides Now, made one wish for more of the same."

This year Heather makes a welcome return to the Arundel Festival with a fascinating new project.

With music and lyrics by David Newton and string arrangements by Dee Palmer, Portrait of a Woman is song cycle blending jazz with classical music where each song is a chapter in the book of a real life love story.

David Newton has been voted Best Pianist at the British Jazz Awards eight times and arranger Dee Palmer has worked with some of the world's great artists from Jethro Tull to the London Symphony Orchestra. With the addition of bassist Chris Hill, who has recently joined Jamie Cullum's band, the "phenomenal artistry" (Daily Telegraph) of percussionist Owen Gunnell and the Arundel Ensemble, this promises to be a truly great night.

"…her clarity, extraordinary range and distinctive style seemed to me like a sort of combination of Cleo Laine, Ella Fitzgerald and Edith Piaf. Wonderful!"

For information on buying tickets please visit www.arundelmusic.co.uk Or telephone 01903 882268

We look forward to seeing you there!




La Vie en Rose won a BAFTA
for Original Score by Christopher Gunning
Heather featured on the soundtrack with four other singers.


Gira con Gershwin!

On the 29th August 2007, Heather appeared at the Arundel Festival in an exciting new jazz programme taking the timeless songs of George Gershwin on a tour of South America.

The concert featured breathtaking new arrangements specially written for the Arundel Festival by her pianist Joss Peach and bass player Steve Thompson . They enriched your favourite Gershwin melodies with exciting Latin colours and rhythms.

Completing this dynamic line up were the considerable talents of Ben Reynolds on Drums and the sublime Joe Auckland on Trumpet.

Here's what the critics said:

"Standards from the Gershwin songbook, all very familiar but performed in a refreshing new style, resulted in an outstanding concert for the festival music programme.
The town's historic parish church seemed an unlikely venue but, as it turned out, proved surprisingly satisfactory and acoustically ideal for the Latin rhythms fused with Jazz improvisation.
Gira can Gershwin took the audience on a chairbound (in a pew, actually) tour of South America, with a masterly jazz quintet - a vocalist and four musicians - performing George and Ira classics.
For example, Nice Work If You Can Get It was interpreted to a calypso rhythm, But Not For Me became an Argentinian Tango and I've Got A Crush On You was styled after a Brazilian Samba.
The result was an unusual, stimulating and invigorating evening that followed the year's music theme of journey around Europe and the Americas.
Leading the group was Worthing born, Shoreham based vocalist Heather Cairncross, a former member of the Swingle Singers, whose wonderful clarity, extraordinary range and distinctive style seemed to me like a sort of combination of Cleo Laine, Ella Fitzgerald and Edith Piaf. Wonderful!
No less accomplished were the musicians, often individually engaged in a duet with the voice, notably for The Man I Love with guitarist and bass player Steve Thompson (who comes from Watersfield near Arundel) and for Embraceable You performed by Heather in tandem with amazingly dexterous pianist joss Peach.
Someone To Watch Over Me provided one of several great trumpet breaks for Joe Auckland while Midhurst drummer and percussionist Ben Reynolds was given ample opportunity to demonstrate his considerable skills in some solo passages.
The programme include no fewer than four songs from the Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess and ended with Our Love Is Here To Stay, the final song composed by George by George before his death from a brain tumour.
Arundel Festival music committee chairman Nick Plumley revealed that it was the first concert of the week to attract an audience of more than 100.
And Heather Cairncross declared "It's lovely to see so many people and I'm delighted they seem to have enjoyed themselves so much."

Brian Shewry
Littlehampton Gazette 6/9/07


 


BBC Southern Counties Radio Christmas Broadcast

On the 16th December Heather appeared as the guest soloist for the BBC Southern Counties Radio Carol Service at Chichester Cathedral. The concert will be recorded and broadast on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The retiring collection was
donated to the extraordinary work of the Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice. Click on their logo to visit their website and find out more about this inspiring place.

The very talented songwriter Mark Allen wrote a special song for the occasion which I recorded with equally talented guitarist Richard Durrant.

It is available for MP3 download at only 94 pence and all proceeds go to the Chestnut Tree House.

Click here to download Across the Miles - You're Never Alone

Here is a video of the recording session on Google Video:

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