by Ian Mann
July 07, 2025
/ LIVE
The set list is well chosen and features a mix of old and new from the Kirkland repertoire. The fact that she sings convincingly in a variety of different languages adds an element of authenticity.
Wendy Kirkland Quartet, ‘The Grand Tour’, Kidderminster Jazz Club, St. Ambroses’s Parish Centre, Kidderminster, Worcs., 04/07.2025
Wendy Kirkland – piano, vocals, Pat Sprakes – guitar, Mike Green double bass, Steve Wyndham – drums
Pianist, vocalist and composer Wendy Kirkland was the first artist to perform at Kidderminster Jazz Club, which was founded by vocalist Annette Gregory in October 2019. A quintet led by Kirkland featuring guest vibraphonist Roger Beaujolais delighted a large audience at that inaugural event in the Corn Exchange Room at Kidderminster Town Hall and that performance, combined with a look at Kirkland’s then current album “The Music’s On Me”, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/wendy-kirkland-quintet-kidderminster-jazz-club-kidderminster-town-hall-kidd
Due to the still ongoing refurbishment to the Town Hall KJC has since moved home twice, first to the 45 Live rock venue, which has since closed, and then to St. Ambrose’s Parish Centre, a venue that has served the Club well for the last two years. Kirkland and her husband, guitarist Pat Sprakes, are among the handful of musicians to have played at all three KJC venues. They were both part of the quintet that accompanied vocalist and songwriter Esther Bennett at 45 Live in March 2023.
Kirkland is a musician who has featured regularly on the Jazzmann web pages in recent years. A long time stalwart of the jazz scene in the Midlands and the North both as a performer and as a promoter (Kirkland and Sprakes run Chesterfield Jazz Club) she is now a musician with a national reputation, playing regularly at London venues such as Ronnie Scott’s and at jazz clubs and festivals all over the country.
Kirkland’s overdue, but well deserved, success came with the release of her 2017 album “Piano Divas” album, a recording honouring the great female pianist/vocalists of jazz including Diana Krall, Eliane Elias, Blossom Dearie, Nina Simone, Shirley Horn and lesser known figures such as Dena Derose, Carol Welsman and Tania Maria. My review of that album can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/wendy-kirkland-quartet-piano-divas
The “Piano Divas” album enjoyed a highly positive reception from the critics and the hard working Kirkland also toured the project widely, the quality of the music and the warmth of her personality striking a chord with audiences as she continued to add to her burgeoning fan base.
2019 saw the release of “The Music’s On Me”, an album which built upon the success of “Piano Divas”, but which also placed a greater emphasis on the original songwriting of Kirkland and Sprakes. Once again the album was very well received and Kirkland again toured in support of the project, including the inaugural KJC event alluded to above.
Inevitably the Covid pandemic put a stop to Kirkland’s touring and to her promotional activities. Like many other musicians Kirkland and Sprakes turned to the livestream as an outlet for their creativity. In March 2020 they began their “Latin Lockdown” online series, performing a different song almost every day, their selection reflecting their love of Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music. In total Kirkland and Sprakes performed a total of eighty six different songs, with Sprakes moving between guitar and double bass. Kirkland played piano and sang, and I seem to recall one performance that featured her playing melodica.
The Latin Lockdown series proved to be enormously popular and following the eventual easing of Covid restrictions Kirkland was eventually able to take the project out on the road, retitled “Latin Lowdown”, as part of an Arts Council supported tour during the latter part of 2021.
The concert recording “Latin Lowdown Live” was captured at Kirkland’s home venue of Chesterfield Jazz Club on November 28th 2021 and features a sextet containing the talents of guest vibraphonist Roger Beaujolais, a bandleader in his own right. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by engineer Mark Viveash of the South Wales based 47Studios, with whom Kirkland had worked at the 2021 Wall2Wall Virtual Jazz Festival in Abergavenny. This live recording remains Kirkland’s latest album release and is assessed here, my review forming the basis for much of the above biographical material.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/wendy-kirkland-sextet-latin-lowdown-live
All of Kirkland’s albums, plus numerous club and festival performances, including livestreams, have been covered elsewhere on The Jazzmann.
Kirkland’s return to Kidderminster represented the final event in KJC’s 2024/25 season before the Club takes a short summer break, returning at the beginning of September. The numbers may have been down on that very first event way back in 2019, which remains one of the Club’s largest ever attendances, but the audience was still warm and supportive.
As can be discerned from the above biography Kirkland likes to perform around a theme and tonight this was ‘The Grand Tour’, which presented a set of songs loosely based around the theme of travelling – and of returning home again. It allowed Kirkland and her band the chance to play some of their favourite songs and gave Kirkland the opportunity to demonstrate her linguistic skills as she variously sang in English, French and Portuguese. The quartet that she brought to Kidderminster featured Sprakes, a fixture in all of Kirkland’s bands, Birmingham based bassist Mike Green, and at the drums Steve Wyndham, another regular Kirkland collaborator.
Tonight’s musical tour began in ‘The Big Apple’ with “Sunday In New York”, a song written by the film composer Peter Nero for the movie of the same name and originally performed by Mel Torme. Kirkland sang and played piano, sharing the instrumental solos with Sprakes, these two also entering into a series of exchanges with drummer Wyndham.
Next stop “Zanzibar”, a typically barbed and witty piece of songwriting from Dave Frishberg, a particular favourite of Kirkland’s. With Wyndham initially deploying brushes Kirkland’s vocals were more audible here as she again shared the instrumental solos with Sprakes.
Another important source of inspiration for Kirkland is pianist /vocalist Blossom Dearie. It was Dearie’s version of the Cy Coleman / Carolyn Leigh song “When In Rome” that inspired Kirkland’s rendition (the song was also famously covered by Tony Bennett). With lyrical detours to Spain, France and Naples Leigh’s words are just as clever as Frishberg’s and Kirkland clearly relished singing them during a performance that put the focus on the song itself rather than instrumental virtuosity – there were no solos.
It was back to the Frishberg repertoire for “Peel Me A Grape”, a song famously recorded by Diana Krall. A ‘favourite song’ rather than one specifically travel related this featured Kirkland’s playful vocal alongside instrumental solos for guitar and piano.
“Haven’t We Met”, written by Kenny Rankin, was variously recorded by Torme, Frank Sinatra and Carmen McRae. An intro that incorporated the theme to Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Here’s That Rainy Day” was followed by Kirkland’s singing of the verses of “Haven’t We Met”. Next came a scat vocal episode followed by a piano solo. Further verses were succeeded by a Sprakes guitar solo that incorporated quotes from “My Favourite Things” and Wes Montgomery’s “Full House”.
A slow and bluesy rendition of “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” incorporated typically fluent instrumental solos from Sprakes and Kirkland and represented something of a set highlight.
The first set concluded with a song that brought two of Kirkland’s favourites together with “I’m Hip”, a song written by Dave Frishberg and recorded by Blossom Dearie. The quartet had great fun with this wickedly barbed satire of a certain type of jazz fan, the fifties hipster, with Kirkland throwing a contemporary reference to Jamie Cullum into the lyrics.
The beginning of the second set saw something of a loose return to the ‘travel theme’ with “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, written by Brooks Bowman and recorded by Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra among others. Green and Wyndham provided a relaxed swinging accompaniment to the vocalising of Kirkland and the instrumental soloing of Sprakes. Green was also featured with a double bass solo and Wyndham with a series of drum breaks as he ‘traded fours’ with piano and guitar.
“The Good Life”, written by singer and guitarist Sacha Distel, was introduced by an extended unaccompanied guitar passage from Sprakes that saw him making effective use of his newly acquired sustain pedal. It also afforded Kirkland the opportunity to sing in both French and English in addition to soloing at the piano.
From the “Piano Divas” album “Bahia” is a Kirkland / Sprakes original celebrating a holiday spent in Brazil. The couples’ love of Brazilian and Latin music was expressed in a breezy performance incorporating bossa rhythms, relaxed vocals and the bright instrumental soloing of Kirkland and Sprakes.
Co-written by Dave Frishberg and Johnny Mandel “You Are There” was introduced by a passage of unaccompanied piano, to which Kirkland subsequently added vocals. Guitar, double bass and brushed drums were then introduced on a tender ballad addressing the subject of lost love, presumably for someone who has died, but perhaps just for somebody who has ‘moved on’ romantically. Kirkland described the song as “sad but beautiful” and delivered the song with great conviction, in addition to sharing the instrumental solos with Sprakes. The seriousness of the song represents something of a departure for the normally facetious Frishberg, but it’s a moving piece of work that expresses its message very effectively.
It was back to Brazil for Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “So Danco Samba”, a song from Kirkland’s “Latin Lockdown” project. This featured Kirkland singing in Portuguese while she and Sprakes also incorporated Duke Ellington’s “Take The A Train” into the music. The performance was also notable for a lively drum feature from Wyndham.
A final visit to the repertoire of Blossom Dearie and Dearie’s own song “Sweet Georgie Fame”, her hymn of praise to the British vocalist and musician, written in the “swinging sixties”. It’s a song that was covered by another of Kirkland’s favourites, Brazilian pianist / vocalist Eliane Elias with her bass playing husband Marc Johnson. With lyrics praising Fame’s musical abilities and name-checking New York and London landmarks it’s a charming period piece. Sprakes and Kirkland were the featured instrumental soloists.
Appropriately the quartet concluded with “Travelling Home”, a Kirkland / Sprakes composition that represents the closing track on “The Music’s On Me” album. The song is a good natured reflection on the musical lifestyle and the joy of returning home after a successful gig and included instrumental solos from both Sprakes and Kirkland.
The encore was a playful rendition of “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, introduced by the duo of just voice and guitar, but with Kirkland and Sprakes subsequently joined by Green and Wyndham. Sprakes and Kirkland vied with each other with regard to how many quotes each could incorporate into their solos. A fun way to conclude a very enjoyable gig.
As can be seen from my previous coverage I have always enjoyed Kirkland’s recordings and live performances. In addition to her vocal and instrumental skills she’s also an engaging personality and a force for good on the UK jazz scene.
Tonight’s event was the first of the ‘Grand Tour’ series, which will see Kirkland taking the music to other parts of the country. The set list is well chosen and features a mix of old and new from the Kirkland repertoire and the fact that she sings convincingly in a variety of different languages is a nice touch and adds an element of authenticity to the project.
My main concern tonight was that Kirkland’s vocals were too often overpowered by the sound of Wyndham’s drums, even though I was seated closer to Kirkland. The sound at KJC is usually good, although I concede that it may have been a technical issue. The numbers where Wyndham played with brushes were by far the most effective and perhaps it would be best if these were deployed more extensively at future performances, certainly during the vocal passages.
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