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June 2009
gig reviews

London Jazz Orchestra
Yazz Ahmed Quintet
Zed-U
Sarah Jane Morris
Sara Colman

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June 2009 gig reviews by Chris Parker

Sarah Jane Morris

Saturday 13 June 2009

Sarah Jane Morris's latest album, Where It Hurts, is dedicated to 'those who know about hurt and will allow themselves to be healed by music', and although many of her recent songs deal with the purely personal emotions consequent upon her divorce after over 20 years of marriage, it is clear, throughout both the album and her live performance of the songs from it, that the hurt she is describing is as deeply rooted in the geopolitical sphere as it is in private reality.

Consequently, songs such as 'A World to Win' (sparked by the bloody suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma), 'Promised Land' (about the fatal consequences of people-trafficking) or 'Never Forget How to Dance' (a meditation on the emotional resources needed to endure false imprisonment) are interspersed with the likes of 'You Know Her' (about emerging from emotional turmoil bloodied but unbowed), the self-explanatory 'You're Really Nowhere at All' or the improvised 'Betrayal' with its bitter sign-off line 'So long sucker, bye bye bye bye'.

Such unflinching dispatches from the emotional front lines could all too easily have a less than healing effect on audiences, but such is the power of Morris's musical partners – acoustic guitarist Tony Remy (who fired off wonderfully terse but eloquent solos whenever called upon), bassist Henry Thomas (sonorous yet punchy throughout), fluent pianist Alastair Gavin and ever resourceful drummer Martyn Barker – that two sets from her, particularly the more funk-oriented second set, which culminated in a spirited rendition of her mid-1980s hit, 'Don't Leave Me This Way', were at least as uplifting as they were thought-provoking, and even a Britney Spears cover (part of a Janis Joplin-themed segue too complicated to explain fully here) did not seem out of place in a performance that audibly delighted a packed club.

 

 

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