NEWBURY WEEKLY

Sarah Moule at Blue Hours, New Greenham Arts, 19th April 2007
By Nick Redwood

I doubt if there’ll be a better Blue Hours than the one a packed New Greenham Arts enjoyed last Friday. It was Sarah Moule’s second visit and she again, with her accompanist husband, Simon Wallace, played a mesmerising set. Moule is a curiously anonymous artist at first sight. Strong build, pleasant features, red top on a black skirt, there’s not a hint of show-biz chic about her. Then she sings and what was once ordinary becomes utterly extraordinary. Out flows this wonderfully clear and natural voice – a relaxed, mellifluous sound, intelligent in its understatement. Think Madeleine Peyroux, without the Billie Holliday affectation. Moule has made a canny move in specialising in the work of the veteran poet and icon of the Beat Era, Fran Landesman, who has collaborated with Wallace in writing some fine songs. Her perfect enunciation elegantly frames the lyrics and there were some beauties in Friday’s set. ‘The Last Smoker’ was, perhaps, the most subtle. Not, as you’d expect from the title, a propaganda piece for Blair’s health police but a lament for a fuggier, more seductive world. As for Wallace on piano, the term accompanist doesn’t really fit him as a job title. He shared the music with Moule, trotting off on solos like a musical show pony, then returning to the songs as if invigorated by the exercise. It was a jig-saw of talents and something quite special.

The new season of jazz gigs at Carswell Golf and Country Cub got off to a great start with a fine performance by Sarah Moule, who treated a good audience to her accomplished vocals – silky, smooth and versatile, and had a wonderful band behind her. Bass player Paul Morgan was a revelation, for both his playing and facial expressions. He was joined by Simon Wallace on piano and Paul Robinson on drums. An outstanding evening’s entertainment of cool and exciting jazz.

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