French singer Cyrille Aimee and her guitarist hit all the right notes as they helped launch the 2014 Dundee Jazz Festival at the Gardyne Theatre.
The French swinging jazz singer, who has been feted as the hottest new name in New York, kicked off the festival proper with the duo’s excellent show at the Gardyne on Wednesday evening, alongside Rose Room, who blend gypsy jazz with 1930s swing and are fronted by the sophisticated singing and violin playing of Scottish talent Seonaid Aitken.
The festival has put a special focus on female singers this year, three of whom are making their Dundee debuts: Cyrille, London-based MOBO nominee Zara McFarlane and Gabby Young And Other Animals, who will play their Circus Swing at the Unicorn.
Other highlights include the Big Chris Barber Band who fly in for a one-off concert.
Hailed as the hit of last year’s festival, at 84 he’s the bright frontman he’s always been and he sets the musical quality bar high.
And tonight there’s a homecoming show for Dundee’s Alison Burns, who returns with Martin Taylor, the world’s foremost exponent of solo jazz guitar playing.
He reunites for an exclusive session, with accordion maestro Jack Emblow and Alison, back in her home town after touring in Asia and the USA and, just last week at the Shetland Guitar Festival.
Alison sad: “It’s been a while since I played at the Dundee Jazz Festival with Martin so I’m really looking forward to the show.”
With perfect timing, Alison and Martin released their new album yesterday.
“It’s a Christmas album, we did it as a pledge album, with lots of bundles for people to buy different things, signed CDs, lyrics, Martin’s guitar that he used on the recording, and we made our target in just 12 hours, so that was fabulous,” said Alison.
“It’s me singing, Martin playing guitar and mandolin, Jack on accordion and another Dundonian, Calum McKenzie, on bass, he’s joining us on stage at the Gardyne too.
“There are some slightly less obvious Christmas songs, like Little Jack Frost Get Lost, but also Santa Baby, that’s a good quirky one.
“And we’ve also recorded Abba’s Happy New Year song. We just thought we would do something a wee bit different.”
Their show starts at 8pm tonight.
Returning alongside the main event is the popular Jazz in the Ferry event 15 hours of jazz, swing, bop, vocals and blues, featuring 10 bands in five venues, from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday.
Tickets for all shows can be bought by calling 01382 434940 or via www.jazzdundee.co.uk.