Last Wednesday, to celebrate our 48th Wedding Anniversary,
we made a nostalgic trip back to Hastings staying the night at a wonderful
up-market B&B in the Old Town, Laindons.
If you find yourself in Hastings and need to stay over this is definitely the
place to stay.
After a few drinks in our old haunts and a very good meal in Webbe’s restaurant we rounded
off a memorable day at Porters Wine
Bar in Old Town High Street where our old friend Liane Carroll was
performing, including songs from her new CD "Seaside".
Here’s an excerpt from an article by Hannah Collisson about “Seaside” in
the Spring edition of the music magazine “The Stinger”.
LIANE CARROLL
MADE IN HASTINGS
WRITTEN BY HANNAH COLLISSON
____________________________________________
Born in London but made in Hastings; this is
how jazz singer and pianist Liane Carroll describes herself. It is therefore fitting
that her new album, 'Seaside', is inspired by her beloved hometown.
Liane is to be found playing to a trans-fixed
crowd in Porters in Hastings Old Town most Wednesdays, a venue she describes as
her favourite wine bar in the world.
Those in the audience who have never seen
Liane perform before may wonder what she is doing there when surely she ought
to be gracing the stages of London's top jazz clubs. But the truth is she does
perform in London and internationally, with a terrifyingly hectic schedule.
It's not for the kudos that Liane plays in Porters, it is because even after 27 years she still loves it. In fact she was there for her regular Christmas eve slot, before rushing to London for two nights at Ronnie Scott's.
The idea for the album, a mixture of originals and covers, came about when her friend and musician John Stilgoe wrote her a song called 'Seaside'. For Liane, it was so evocative of Hastings that she decided to make a whole album along the same lines.
The album was recorded in Hastings at James's Quietmoney studio on The Ridge, a place Liane describes as her second home.
'Seaside' is particularly special says Liane, not only because she was given carte blanche to do whatever she wanted with it, but because it is more about Hastings than ever before.
"Loads of my friends are here, my husband was born here, I was made here. It has got such a vibrancy about it this town.
You work on something for quite a while and you think 'I hope it's alright' as you can't be objective when you're right in the middle of it."
Liane need not have worried as 'Seaside' has been very well-received indeed, and was named Best New CD at the 2015 British Jazz Awards.
For someone who freely admits they have never been ambitious, Liane's CV to date is pretty impressive.
"I love it if someone enjoys what I do," says Liane. "I don't want to be a star, I don't want to be rich. Sometimes it is a struggle because you don't know when the work is coming in."
Her biggest buzz comes from interacting with an audience, and being part of something that makes people happy.
Liane learned to play piano before she was a singer, given lessons by concert pianist Phyllis Catling.
"I used to sing all the time when I was playing the piano, but I never had a singing lesson; I didn't want to go down that road, I didn't want to be trained.
I was given encouragement, but when I started singing at Republic in Hastings, aged 14 or 15, I was a dormouse, I was so shy.
But the years have changed that. That's a good thing, it should be a slow journey I think."
Now Liane performs all over the world, and is a regular at London's top jazz clubs.
The biggest festival Liane has played to date was the electronic music festival in Brasilia, Brazil, in 2004 to an audience of 70,000 as part of live drum & bass outfit London Elektricity (they were on just before Eminem, who Liane describes as a "pussy cat").
Since 1993 she has been a regular at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club.
In 2007, Liane headlined the BBC Radio 3 stage at Glastonbury, and in 2012 was named Best British Vocalist at the British Jazz Awards.
The cover photo for “Seaside” was taken by another Hastings resident, Carol Murphy, so it really was Made in Hastings.
© The Stinger 2016
I'll leave you with this Laura Nyro track performed by Liane:
Hey Ho!
