POLLY GIBBONS
**Price includes brunch, music and a drink.**
Fully embracing the inspiring, expansive array of American jazz, soul and blues influences that have infused her dynamic career as an artist and live performer, Polly Gibbons fashions a frolicsome, freewheeling musical history lesson on Is It Me...?, her second release on the indie jazz label Resonance Records.
Capturing the joyful essence of the 12-track collection, the multi-talented British singer, a staple of the UK Jazz Scene since the mid-2000s and recently nominated Vocalist of the Year by Jazz FM says: "It's a massive melting pot, varied but beautifully linked because I love every style I'm singing. Jazz would never have happened without the blues, which came out of the gospel tradition - and blues is the foundation of contemporary Western culture and pop/soul music, and so on."...
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POLLY GIBBONS
**Price includes brunch, music and a drink.**
Fully embracing the inspiring, expansive array of American jazz, soul and blues influences that have infused her dynamic career as an artist and live performer, Polly Gibbons fashions a frolicsome, freewheeling musical history lesson on Is It Me...?, her second release on the indie jazz label Resonance Records.
Capturing the joyful essence of the 12-track collection, the multi-talented British singer, a staple of the UK Jazz Scene since the mid-2000s and recently nominated Vocalist of the Year by Jazz FM says: "It's a massive melting pot, varied but beautifully linked because I love every style I'm singing. Jazz would never have happened without the blues, which came out of the gospel tradition - and blues is the foundation of contemporary Western culture and pop/soul music, and so on."
Polly has cultivated her craft and eclecticism over the past decade, performing at all the leading UK jazz clubs, international festivals and as a regular at the legendary venue Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, where she has sung with the All-Stars, led by pianist and house musical director James Pearson. "There's always this element of surprise from people who haven't seen her perform," says Pearson, Polly's longtime songwriting collaborator and arranger. "She astounds me, too. She's unpredictable." In 2016, she opened the sold out UK tours for George Benson and Gladys Knight and had two acclaimed performances at the Royal Albert Hall. She was also a featured singer with the Liverpool Philharmonic in a presentation of the music and life story of John Lennon.
A farmer's daughter who grew up in Framlingham, a small market town in Suffolk, England, Polly is one of seven siblings in a family that shared all types of different musical loves. Her mum cherished classical and choral music (Bach, Mozart, Chopin), her dad was an electric bassist who played in bands in the 70's, her brothers loved R&B and her sisters were all vinyl collections, playing everything from hip hop and soul to jazz and folk.
Polly took obligatory piano lessons at age four, but didn't realize she could sing till she was around 13. Crippled by an initial shyness, at her first public performance at a school Christmas concert, she sang with her back to the audience. Though she sang hymns regularly at the Baptist church her family attended, her musical sensibilities were galvanized when her sister played Billie Holiday's "I'm A Fool To Want You" -- which Polly found "extraordinary!"
Inspired by Billie, the budding singer experienced an initial flurry of excitement in discovering jazz and blues, listening to such artists as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Donny Hathaway, Thelonious Monk, etc. She notes, however, that although she doesn't have a very "folky" voice, she was also greatly influenced by artists like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Rickie Lee Jones and Bob Dylan, and she continuously listens to classical music, too! Participating in a local music workshop, she met British singer Ian Shaw, who took Polly under his wing and secured her first gig in London when she was 17. Participating in other workshops, she cultivated her talent with bassist Gill Alexander, Jacqui Dankworth (daughter of Cleo Laine) and later, James Pearson.
Reflecting on her subsequent success on the British club scene, Polly says, "I have found that singing is most inspiring for me when I bring a certain lightness of being to it, a certain joy and levity that allows me to communicate more fully with my audience - as if each moment was both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. I have learned to follow my passion wherever it leads me. It's a fascinating journey that's always in flux and there are always exciting new goals to work towards."
Polly's road now leads her to one of those extraordinary places with the release of Is It Me...? The album is a journey all its own - a culmination of so many moments that also signifies a meaningful new beginning for both the singer and contemporary jazz.
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