It's been years since I last went to a gig in Covent Garden since they shut down the Rock Garden a few years ago there really hasn't been anywhere for live music apart of course from the Royal Opera House, so I was very happy to be invited to a gig in The Oak room of The Hospital Club. It almost didn't matter that the artist in question isn't really my thing and as I hadn't heard a note by her before the day of the show I didn't really know if I was going to like it or not.
Having found my way to the Oak Room via the lift I found a nice seat towards the back in time to see Judith Owen's launch show for her second album Somebody's Child that is out on May 6th on Twanky Records from www.judithowen.net and yes they played the album in full.
Judith has with her a top notch backing band that features Leland Sklar on Bass, Pedro Segundo on percussion, Gabriella Swallow on Cello as well as a Viola and Violin and Judith's own Piano playing. After a short introduction by tonight's hosts Judith came onstage with her band and spent about 10 minutes chatting to us and paying her respects to the very recently departed Prince as well as giving us some background to the record and the genesis of the album's title song, and while the intro may have been quite funny the songs subject matter is anything but funny being about a pregnant homeless woman dressed in two black plastic bags freaking out. The story in the song unfurls over some very smooth indeed chamber pop/jazz with some very sinuous playing all round.
It's then time for another chat or almost stand-up routine from Judith who is starting to remind me of another recently departed legend Victoria Wood in her mixing of comedy and music and her new single Send Me a Line that's next could easily be one of Victoria's amusing songs only of course it is actually more serious than that being all about indecision set to a strolling piano back beat and the most restrained percussion imaginable it reminded me a bit of Cleo Laine.
Judith then told us about some of her adventures with the legendary Mr Sklar by way of an intro for Mystery and of course a mention for her husband and the mystery Derek Smalls brings to her life before they finally get round to playing the song that seems to be trying to re-work an old Chet Baker love song into something a touch smoother and more Supper Club jazz than anything it's a beautifully played song to tug at your heartstrings.
Need I say the stand-up routine returned before they played Tell All Your Children almost as if Judith is afraid to play two songs together as if we don't have a laugh between songs then we will all slit our wrists at the heavy message in the lyrics about trying to save the planet with what sounds not too far from an early 1960's Prestige style backing or a re-working of an Archie Shepp song musically this is very laid back and yet pretty interesting hearing the strings working to evoke the feelings of desperation in the lyrics.
We Give In seemed to slow things down even more with Leland Sklar's bass getting even more languid than it already was as it almost makes us not notice how serious the lyrics are again about giving up on your dreams and giving into normality whatever that might be.
Judith then does a skit with Leland about different types or sizes of Yams that they happened to have with them it comes across like an old Morecombe and Wise sketch quite funny and odd considering it leads into an intro to No More Goodbyes a song about her father dying and saying goodbye to him the song itself is a wonderfully touching tribute to her dad and Gabriella Swallows cello is wonderfully mournful on this song that again reminds me of Cleo Laine this time crossed with Cassandra Wilson.
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The intro to Arianne telling us about how the song was written about living behind the wall in Berlin made me think the song was called Aryan and it would probably work just as well if it was but it was played at a very slow laid back pace that didn't seem to evoke the feelings I had while in Berlin or the sense of paranoia the years of division engendered in the locals.
There was a good long story about Judith's husband Harry Shearer not doing the expected things like buying flowers for Valentine's Day by way of an introduction to That's Why I Love My Baby an utterly beautiful song about what makes a relationship tick, perfect for sipping red wine with the one you love too.
Next it was time for a few celeb name drops by way of introduction to why they were covering Roxy music's More Than This mainly to do with touring opening for Bryan Ferry and recording the song at his home. Judith has slowed the song down so it sounds like Nina Simone at her slowest and most doleful so that the song felt like it was missing something to me.
Then it was time for a story about a pageant show and Rachmaninoff to help introduce I Know Why The Sun Shines during which Pedro's percussion became even more restrained than it had already been he could hardly have been playing more gently as the Violin and Viola combined to make a wonderfully woozy sound at least some of which had been appropriated from Mr Rachmaninoff.
We then had the only duo of the evening between Leland and Judith on Josephine and no, it's not the Gene Loves Jezebel or Quireboys songs of that name. Instead it's the sad tale of a girl who just leaves without a word and disappears and no one knows where she has gone and Judith's piano playing is again a bit like Nina Simone as Mr Sklar plays with a wonderful sense of restraint making sure to not play any more notes than absolutely necessary to get the feeling of mystery across.
We then get a long rambling intro to the second cover of the evening Aquarius that sadly doesn't feature any of the nakedness of its' original production but it does feature an incredible Cello Solo that for me was one of the highlights of the set as Gabriella Swallow let go of the restraint and sounded like she wanted to be playing in Apocalyptica. At the end of the song Judith encouraged us all into a sing along and most of the crowd joined in as let's face it we all know the words to the chorus of Aquarius.
They then closed with The Rain Is Gonna Fall that seemed a bit of an anti-climax after Aquarius as it was all restrained once more as if they were afraid to let go two songs in a row. Yes they got an encore that began with Judith introducing the band and then thanking just about everyone she's ever met before they did a pretty nice cover of Blackbird by that boring band from Liverpool that yet again proved their songs always sound better being sung by someone else.
This was a very nice set if you like Smooth laid back jazz songs intertwined with a stand up routine.
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