Vimala Rowe (vcl); John Etheridge (gtr); Dudley Phillips (bs).(Review by Lance).
Those who attended the Café Society Swing show at GIJF 2016 came away with their head in the clouds. This was one outstanding event - for me the highlight! It was maybe the first time most of us had encountered Vimala Rowe and, just as we'd been hit for six when we first heard Cecile McLorin Salvant at Whitley Bay a few years back, Vimala Rowe also hit a few that didn't touch the ground!
We wanted more, and now we've got it - or have we?
I'd say we've got it even though this is far removed from the Billie/Sarah/Lena persona that prevailed in Sage Two at GIJF.
In John Etheridge, Vimala has found the musical soulmate to take her in a different direction (or maybe vice versa!). The pair gel beautifully on an amazingly varied programme. An emotive Solitude, Earl Coleman's Dark Shadows, an African piece sung in Swahili, classical Indian compositions, several originals by Rowe and the jazz standard Detour Ahead. Very apt as the duo, assisted by Dudley Phillips on double bass on a couple of tracks, take many detours from the straight and narrow - there's even a suggestion of flamenco along the way.
If I'm totally honest, it didn't jump up and hit me between the eyes first time round but, after repeated playings, it got through to me that this really is something special. Two artists at the top of their game merging as one.
Lance.
Available May 28 on Dyad Records.
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