Vimala Rowe – EFG London Jazz Festival 606 Club Chelsea 17/11/2019

The Vimala Rowe Quartet gave an outstanding performance to the delight of their 606 Club audience.
My wife and I had seen Vimala perform before, playing Billie Holiday in Cafe Society Swing and singing the Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald song books. Although neither of us consider jazz to be our favourite musical genre, Vimala’s excellent vocal performances at those two shows was reason enough to see her perform at the Jazz Festival.
The quartet consisted of Vimala (vocals), Giazonne Reyes (piano), Nick Pink (bass) and Marco Quarantotto (drums). Vimala has a beautiful voice and is an excellent interpreter of lyrics, she is charismatic and has a delightful stage persona.
The performance consisted of two sets featuring several of Vimala’s own songs and some jazz classics (several of which were written by Rodgers and Hart).
Vimala’s songs are very personal covering several aspects of her life. ‘Inter -Racial Adoption Blues’ was about how she and her brother were adopted by their white parents in Leicester. There were songs inspired by her fifteen years living in the Far East and her life in Hampstead walking on the heath.
The jazz standards included Billie Holiday’s ‘Yesterdays’, Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley’s ‘I Will Never Marry’ and Rodgers and Hart’s ‘My Sweet Valentine’. The highlight of the show for me was ‘Malaika’, a Swahili lullaby which Vimala sang acapella, this song demonstrated the quality of her voice. Malaika means angel. This preceded her own song called ‘Angels’.
The band was excellent. If Vimala had not told us I would not have guessed that the pianist was her usual bass player.
The performance was very well received and there was a deserved encore for which the quartet was joined by the 606’s own Steve Rubie on flute.
I would recommend Vimala to any music lover especially those who would like an introduction to jazz.