Noreen Stewart, so often a backing singer, took the lead singers microphone and showed that she is an accomplished singer.
Noreen took this gig at very short notice, taking over from Judith Sephuma who had travel issues and could not arrive at Hideaway in time. My wife and I had seen Noreen perform several times, once with Drizabone Soul Family and several times as a backing vocalist, most recently with Ivy Chanel in April.
Her performance was very strong as she showed the quality and range of her voice and the confidence to take well known songs and sing them in her own different way. The songs she chose (all were her favourites) were delivered in an impressive jazz-soul style. She was accompanied by just two musicians, a keyboard player and a drummer. She invited some of her friends on stage, Judith Lee and Ivy Chanel both sang one song each (‘Natural Woman’ and ‘At Last’) and Hannah a saxophonist accompanied her on two songs.
The set was not fixed, Noreen had a list of songs from which she selected but the choice of which of those to sing was made in the moment. Noreen built a good rapport with her audience and at times she showed her sense of humour.
The songs ranged from Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Night and Day’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ (which had a very jazzy feel to it) to Anita Bakers ‘Sweet Love’ and Jocelyn Brown’s ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’.
This was an enjoyable evening and Noreen deserves lots of credit for taking on the gig and giving a high quality performance.
Johns London Music Reviews 