.

SARA COLMAN – READY

Sara Colman started out on piano at 5 and was writing songs in her teens even before she studied music at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

‘After growing up in Bristol I studied piano at Birmingham Conservatoire and gained a solid grounding in theory and harmony. I then spent several years working in a duo with the fine pianist Al Gurr and together we gradually undid a lot of our classical training to make way for the jazz music we had both fallen in love with. Gradually the duo expanded and I enjoyed the spontaneity and creativity of working with improvising musicians.’

‘I love to improvise and I love to write songs. So, I write music that has room for lots of improvisation and lyrics that are rooted in the singer-songwriter tradition. I want to be able to reach audiences who enjoy the ‘on the spot’ creativity of an improvising group with those that also look for the communication and resonance of a songwriters expression.’

Ready is a genre-straddling 11 track collection, were Sara Colman immediately established herself as a woman of taste and discernment, and in pianist Jamil Sheriff, bassist Ben Markland and drummer Carl Hemmingsley she has a punchy but sensitive band

Colman brilliantly twists Walter Becker’s ‘Book of Liars’ to her own purpose, summons up a hugely seductive palette of sound on Jimmy Van Heusen’s ‘I Thought About You’, and makes ‘I’m Beginning To See The Light’ fizz with excitement. Other covers include Dan Hartman (‘How Do You Stop’, once covered by Joni Mitchell on Turbulent Indigo), Stealer’s Wheel (‘Stuck in the Middle with You’) and Walter Becker (‘Book of Liars’).

This is a highly recommended album.

Enjoy.