The first abiding impression of Rwanda-born, Belgium-raised, UK-resident singer Ineza (Kerschkamp), performing on Valentine’s Day at Pizza Express in Dean Street, is quite how good and how gentle her way with songs can be. There was a particularly appealing grace and ease with how she approached a song such as “Good Morning Heartache” in the first half, and then “My One And Only Thrill” (Melody Gardot) and “Throw It Away” (Abbey Lincoln) in the second.
That soft centre was what the Valentine’s night audience of young – (ish) couples wanted and needed; Ineza had gauged the mood well. And yet there were also hints of a voice of very different character. More astringent, more urgent, maybe even more Kidjo-ishly powerful and African, to be heard in Jazzmeia Horn’s “Free Your Mind”, and that sense of contrast, of range, light and shade, really encouraged me to want to hear Ineza again…and soon. Her encore, Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia on My Mind” allowed her to give another captivating glimpse of power and unfettered energy that she can muster, and a different night and a different programme would surely bring more of that side of her to the fore.
It was a great band too. The jazz-critic-trying to-guess-influences part of my brain would venture to suggest that alto saxophonist Michael Lack has possibly listened to quite a lot of Bud Shank. Lack makes a really sweet sound on what he told me is a vintage Buescher instrument. Bassist Flo Moore’s placing and time just get better and better, and Katie Patterson’s drumming and deeply positive energy are priceless assets to any band.
Pianist/MD/programme deviser Alex Webb has done a lot of smart work in devising a classy programme of songs in which almost the entire programme is by either female lyricists or songwriters. And his introductions/ linking announcements were always engaging. It had completely passed me by that Fran Landesman crafted the lyric of her and Tommy Wolf’s 1955 song “Spring can really hang you up the most” as a hipster take on the opening lines of T.S.Eliot’s “The Waste Land”, and can’t help feeling that my life has been enriched through that, and by Ineza’s subtlety and gentleness with the song.
Thoughts of Fran Landesman bring me to a sad aside…verging on anger: Pizza Express music programmer Joseph Paice, who, through his deep knowledge of the music and web of connections, is the living embodiment of the deep connection and history of Pizza Express’s association with American jazz, the songbook and all that, has just inexplicably been made redundant. Evocative music is an important part of Peter Boizot’s legacy, so this heartless decision feels like a subversion of it. This is not just hurtful for Joe, but does gratuitous damage to London’s wider music scene.
BAND
Ineza Kerschkamp (voice)
Alex Webb (piano/MD)
Michael Lack (alto)
Flo Moore (bass)
Katie Patterson (drums)
