Sarah Jane Morris

Tonight as part of the Glasgow Jazz Festival, we saw Sarah Jane Morris perform a fabulous set in the Recital Rooms of the City Halls.

Sarah Jane Morris may not be a household name, but she straddles rock, blues, jazz and soul with a goosebump-raising four octave range that resonates from her feet to the tips of her flame-red her.

She may be better known for her association with the Communards in the mid-80s. Her albums feature her own compositions as well as covers of songs by the likes of Sting, Nick Drake, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground, Sly & the Family Stone and Rickie Lee Jones. She definitely has a way of breathing new life into familiar songs.

Tonight Sarah was joined by Tony Remy on guitar. Tony is one of the world's most exciting guitar players, his hard-edged rhythmically driven approach is enriched with jazz intuition and bluesy soul. Tony has toured and recorded with a wide range of musicians including Annie Lennox, Simply Red, Courtney Pine, Jason Rebello, Julian Joseph, Freddy Hubbard, Jean Toussaint, Steve Williamson and many more.

Part way through her set, Sarah invited Ian Shaw who was in the audience to join her for a couple of numbers. Ian is one of the UK's finest jazz vocalists. It was a special moment to hear them sing together, especially the encore, Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released with enthusiastic audience participation.

"Those in-the-know rate her as one of the world's great jazz-soul vocalists of the past twenty years and more - Sarah Jane Morris, Queen of Jazz-Soul" Vogue Italy

After the show I had the chance to meet Sarah and two ladies from the USA kindly offered to take a picture of me and Sarah. What an amazing evening, to be in the company of such a special artist.