Rachael Calladine

“Soho Elegy”

(Kickspin Records – KSR001CD)

Rachael Calladine -  vocals, Dr. Adrian York – piano, keyboards, Hammond organ, Pat McCarthy – guitar, Andy Tytherleigh – double bass, Si Potts – drums
with James McMillan – trumpet, keyboards

Lincoln based vocalist and songwriter Rachael Calladine first cut her jazz teeth as a member of the Derbyshire Youth Jazz Orchestra alongside such future jazz luminaries as guitarist Phil Robson and saxophonist Dave O’ Higgins.

She has since performed at many famous London jazz venues including Ronnie Scott’s, the Jazz Cafe and the 606 Club. She toured as a featured vocalist with the jazz / hip hop ensemble Us3 and spent ten years living and working in Dubai, returning to the UK in 2018.

Back in ‘Blighty’ Calladine began to revive her UK jazz career, a process that was halted by the Covid pandemic. At this point she retrained as an Emergency Medical Technician and blue light ambulance response driver in Lincolnshire, a role that she continues to fulfil alongside her musical career.

In 2025 she released the acclaimed album “The Game”, recorded with her regular quartet featuring guitarist Pat McCarthy, bassist Andy Tytherleigh and drummer Si Potts. The album featured four originals co-written by Calladine and McCarthy plus six interpretations of jazz standards and pop songs.

On “Soho Elegy” Calladine expands her group to a quintet with the addition of keyboard player Dr Adrian York. The album also includes contributions on trumpet and keyboards from James McMillan, who acts as co-producer alongside the acclaimed jazz vocalist Claire Martin OBE. The album’s liner notes are provided by another great British jazz singer, the inimitable Ian Shaw.

The new album places the focus exclusively on the original songwriting of McCarthy, York and Calladine herself. The result is a very classy selection of intelligent, well written original songs, all recognisably jazz but also borrowing from other musical genres.

Calladine says of the material;
“I wanted the songs to feel familiar. The album reflects the jazz, pop and soul I’ve loved throughout my career. Above all, I wanted to make an honest record that jazz audiences would enjoy, but that anyone could connect with.”

The album commences with “Walk of Shame”, a York original that sets the scene for the album as a whole with its smoky, after hours feel with Calladine’s sultry vocals augmented by the bluesy sounds of McMillan’s muted trumpet plus the empathic playing of the rest of the group, with composer York doubling on piano and organ.

Written by McCarthy the jazz waltz “Falling” has something of the feel of a jazz standard, a comment that is intended as a compliment not a criticism. There’s a timeless quality about the songwriting on this album that harks back to the Golden Age of the Great American Songbook. Every song, whoever the writer may be, is carefully crafted and sounds as if it’s been specifically written for Calladine, but one senses that these are tunes that are adaptable enough to be covered by other artists too, in keeping with the Songbook spirit. In addition to Calladine’s wistful vocals this piece also features the melodic bass soloing of Tytherleigh, followed by an elegant guitar solo from the composer.

York’s playful and witty “Fashionista” changes the mood to something more upbeat and features his lively piano solo alongside Calladine’s sassy vocals.

Also by York title track “Soho Elegy” name-checks various Soho streets and captures the mood of the area in the 1990s when Calladine was singing in its bars and clubs. There’s what sounds like a vibes solo, but with no vibraphonist credited it’s possible that this may be keyboard generated.

McCarthy’s “Photograph” also deals with the pangs of nostalgia, a beautifully wistful ballad centred around the sounds of Calladine’s voice and his own guitar.

Credited to Calladine, McCarthy and Tytherleigh “Gone Too Long” taps into the singer’s blues and soul influences with her soulful vocals augmented by the bluesy sounds of York’s Hammond. The good Doctor is also the featured soloist, with the spirit of gospel infusing both his playing and Calladine’s increasingly powerful vocalising.

McCarthy’s “I Told You So” features another bright and sassy vocal from Calladine on this fast moving, swinging tune with its lithe and lively bebop style guitar solo. It’s also the first song on which Calladine gets the opportunity to demonstrate her considerable scatting abilities.

Also from the pen of McCarthy “Take Care Of My Heart” is a surprisingly cheerful break up song and features the trumpet soloing, this time unmuted, of McMillan.

York’s “The Golden Hour” draws on Calladine’s medical career, the title derived from a term that medics use to describe the crucial first hour after trauma. The songs lyrics compare this with the emotional process of ‘letting go’  at the end of a romantic relationship. With its smoky after hours feel this piece sounds like a genuine torch song with the composer’s piano central to the arrangement. A word too for the sensitive double bass and brushed drum accompaniment provided by Tytherleigh and Potts.

McCarthy takes up the compositional reins again for “Something Just Tells Me So”, a positive, uplifting, optimistic song, and yet another with the feel of a vintage jazz standard.

The album concludes with “No More”, a song written by Calladine and Pascal Consoli, a drummer that she has worked with sice the 1990s. The song was written twenty years ago for a project that remained unrecorded but has been revived here with York’s piano giving the music what Calladine has described as a “country blues vibe”. There’s plenty of soul in there too in a duo performance that really emphasises Calladine’s qualities as a vocalist and as an interpreter of a song.

I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised by “Soho Elegy”. The quality of the songwriting is exceptional throughout, combining strong melodies with a lyrical intelligence that harks back to the ‘Songbook’ era. Calladine inhabits these songs with conviction, it genuinely sounds as if she has lived through the emotions that she is describing. She is a technically accomplished and highly versatile vocalist whose singing embraces elements of jazz, soul and pop. Calladine is accompanied by a superb band who support her every move with taste, grace and acumen,  but without ever becoming overbearing. Any instrumental solos are concise, tasteful and succinct. As a production team Martin and McMillan also deserve credit for helping to make the album such a success.

“Soho Elegy” has been very well received by the critics and is recording that deserves to further raise Calladine’s profile on the UK jazz scene.

 

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