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Sarah Moule

Sarah Moule's 4th CD 'Songs From The Floating World' 9/15/2014 plus 21 date tour

About Me

‘Out of all the great gigs I have seen featuring singers I have to choose the massively underrated Sarah Moule at the 2009 Swanage Jazz Festival’ – Jazz UK’s Brian Blain on his vocal highlights in the magazine’s 100th Edition.

In September 2014 Sarah begins a 21 date UK tour to launch her new CD ‘Songs From The Floating World’ released on Red Ram Records (15/9/14 RAM002). Since she began performing with her quartet – Simon Wallace on piano, Mick Hutton on bass, Paul Robinson on drums – in 2002 Sarah has established a growing reputation as one of Britain’s most exciting jazz vocal talents. Together with her core trio she has recorded a body of new songs by legendary American Beat lyricist Fran Landesman and British composer Simon Wallace over her four albums.

In addition to touring with her band, in 2012 she wrote the one-woman show ‘FEMMES FATALES – Songs for Scarlet Women’ which debuted at the Abbatoir Club to a standing ovation. She has since performed the show, along with husband, Wallace, at the EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL, Dulwich Festival, Charlton House, Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho, Bollington Festival, Ludlow Fringe Festival and Herne Hill Festival, and toured the West Country with it in 2013. Many of the songs from that show feature on her forthcoming CD.

She sings regularly with the Sound of 17 Big Band, performing at Ealing Jazz Festival this year, and is a member of saxophonist Duncan Lamont’s seven-piece project ‘The Other Side Of The Rainbow – The Songs Of Duncan Lamont’ which will perform in the EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2014.

Sarah has also devised two biographical music shows. The first, ‘A Portrait of Peggy Lee’, of which Bob Sinfield of Jazzfm Radio commented : ‘something of the spirit of Peggy Lee seems to come over her. It’s slightly spooky…but in a very good way’, was premiered in the London Jazz Festival 2009. This was followed in 2012 by ‘When Peggy Met Ella’, co-written with Shireen Francis and featuring Geoff Castle on piano, which is currently touring the UK. ‘When Peggy Met Ella’ draws parallels between Peggy Lee’s and Ella Fitzgerald’s turbulent lives and features some of their signature songs and the odd lesser-known gem.

In 2009 she devised and performed a show with singer/songwriter and Clive James’s musical collaborator Pete Atkin, ‘BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT’, which premiered at the Dulwich Festival. In 2010 Sarah made her Southbank Centre debut as a featured artist, in A NIGHT OUT WITH FRAN LANDESMAN, together with actors Imelda Staunton and Phil Daniels and jazz musician Bob Dorough, singers Ian Shaw and Gwyneth Herbert, composer Simon Wallace and Fran Landesman herself. The show was reprised with Sarah, Gwyneth Herbert, Ian Shaw and Nicki Leighton Thomas for the Art Of Song Festival in 2011. In September 2011 Sarah made her Ronnie Scott’s Club debut as a featured artist with LADIES SING THE BLUES. She now performs regularly with the Renato D’aiello Quartet in ‘Acoustic Jazz Lounge’ in Ronnie’s Bar.

Sarah’s 2008 CD, ‘A Lazy Kind Of Love’ (Red Ram Records RAM001) included songs from unusual sources such as Julie Burchill, Clive James/Pete Atkin and Madonna’s brother-in-law, composer and producer, Joe Henry, as well as continuing her ongoing musical relationship with Fran Landesman and Simon Wallace. Spotlighting Sarah’s interpretations it complements them with exceptional playing from her the trio, Simon Wallace, Mark Hodgson and Paul Robinson, and guests Alec Dankworth, Mike Outram, Alan Barnes, Paul Clarvis and Pete Atkin.

Her previous recordings include two releases for Linn Records. Her highly acclaimed debut CD was ‘It’s A Nice Thought’ (AKD192, 2002) – a collection of new songs by Fran Landesman and Simon Wallace, whom The Observer dubbed “one of the finest songwriting partnerships”. Full of literate, often witty songs that lend themselves perfectly to Sarah’s emotionally direct vocal style. This was followed this in 2004 with ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ (AKD239, 2004), which married further new material by Landesman/Wallace with classic songs by one of the greatest of the American Songbook lyricists, Johnny Mercer. As always Sarah is surrounded by some of the best British jazz musicians, including Jim Mullen, Pete Wareham, Matt & Steve Fishwick and Steve Waterman. This led in 2005 to Sarah’s broadcasting debut with the BBC Concert Orchestra for BBC Radio 2’s ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’, performing orchestral arrangements of songs from ‘Something’s Gotta Give’.

Born into a large family on the south coast of England, after university Sarah soon traded the refined atmosphere of Bloomsbury publishers Jonathan Cape for extensive travels in steamy tropical locations. On returning to London in the early 1990s she met jazz singers Ian Shaw and Claire Martin who introduced her to pianist and composer Simon Wallace, also recently returned to London after several years writing for the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and touring with the equally steamy Lindsay Kemp Company.

“As soon as Simon played me the songs he’d been writing with Fran Landesman I knew I wanted to sing them” says Sarah. “They resonated with me, musically and lyrically – great tunes and lyrics that seemed to be about how we live today and the emotional highs and lows we all have to deal with. I immediately started singing them on the gigs I was doing in Soho and haven’t stopped yet”.

Around this time Sarah began to explore the music of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington along with the late-night lifestyle of the London jazz musician while taking lessons with Claire Martin and ex-English National Opera soloist Kenneth Woollam. She soon established a solid reputation for herself on the London jazz scene singing regularly at the 606 Club, The Vortex, Pizza Express Jazz Club, The Pizza On The Park and guesting at Ronnie Scott’s Club.

She has performed with many stalwarts of British jazz including Ian Shaw, Claire Martin, Iain Ballamy, Tim Whitehead, Tim Garland, and Steve Waterman to name a few. She toured the Mediterranean with Ronnie Scott’s pianist John Critchinson in ‘A Tribute To Ronnie Scott’, performing opposite the legendary bebop duo Jackie & Roy. She was also featured vocalist with the John Wilson Orchestra for six years in the 1990s, performing extensively with them including a concert for Her Majesty the Queen at the Royal College Of Music and recording their eponymous debut cd, ‘This Is The John Wilson Orchestra’.

Her television credits include The Paul O’Grady Show, Lenny Henry in Pieces and The Ben Elton Show. She has also been featured vocalist with bandleader John C. Williams’ Rockin’ In Rhythm septet, specialising in the songs of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, and performed with them at St David’s Hall, Cardiff in 2002 for the Welsh Proms. That year she and the group also premiered a suite of newly commissioned pieces by John Mayer, Barbara Thompson, Nikki Iles, Simon Wallace and Dick Walters at Leasowes Bank Arts Festival in Shropshire. She lives in London, and is married to Simon Wallace.

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because... I was first exposed to jazz...at university when I started listening to Billie Holiday and Jeri Southern records. I met saxophonist Tim Garland who suggested I track down singer Claire Martin OBE in about 1991 and started taking lessons with her. The best show I ever attended was every late night set at Ronnie Scott's where I stood at the back and paid £5 to see Betty Carter, Elvin Jones, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and many more The first jazz record I bought was a Billie Holiday record, turquoise cover, can't remember the name, probably a compilation on vinyl. My advice to new listeners is go gently with music you find difficult to listen to. Listen for a few mins, then leave it and come back to it the next day and so on so it begins to sound familiar. That way it's more approachable and doesn't just sound like noise...it sounds like noise you at least recognise and will maybe get to like.