Lincoln Centre Peggy Lee, new video clips and Shelter From the Storm reviews begin

Last week saw the first performance of the Peggy Lee James Gavin show at the Lincoln Centre, featuring jazz legend Rebecca Parris, the glorious Nellie McKay, handsome crooner Spencer Day, lovely Jane Monheit and myself, accompanied by the extraordinary Mike Renzi on piano, Jay Leonhart on bass, Craig Haynes on drums and of course James Gavin who wrote the Peggy Lee definitive biography "Is That All There Is? The Strange Life of Peggy Lee". More about the book, here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/That-All-There-Strange-Peggy-ebook/dp/B00IWUT3VC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453897151&sr=1-1&keywords=james+gavin

We had rehearsals the night before the show with Mike, who had played with Peggy many times, and is widely regarded as one of the best jazz accompanists - currently he works with Tony Bennett, I rest my case. Then all day thursday was rehearsals and sound check at the marvellous Appel Room at Lincoln Centre in Manhattan. We were, I think, all quite nervous-in-a-good-way about the show, especially those of us who had new or tricky songs. It was a fabulous night though, and friends came and shared it with us, and we made new friends and gave Peggy our personal tributes - all of us in our own ways - no one did a copycat or even tried to do that. And James Gavin had done the most wonderful job of firstly conceiving the piece and then making it happen from his mind to the stage. His talk between the songs was splendid and managed the tricky job of being informative and also witty and smart. Here are a bunch of photos from the evening.

L to r Rebecca Parris, Nellie McKay, me, Mike Renzi, Jane Monheit, Jay Leonhart, Spencer Day, Jim Gavin and Craig Haynes.

Behind the stage is Manhattan at night, the full length windows give onto the edge of Central Park. Its a buzz and a half having that behind you.

Here's me doing my thing.

Craig drumming, me singing.

We had a lovely hang out after the show with friends and the band.

Jim Gavin, Jay Leonhart, Mike Renzi and I hang in the foyer.

L to R Nellie, jazz singer Mary Foster Conklin, me and the extraordinary force of nature that is Dr Thelma Reyes.

Myself with Andy Hamingson and John McDaniel

With Richard Hillman and John McDaniel

With Rebecca in our dressing room just before heading into the sub zero temperatures of wintery NYC!

With Dr Thelma Reyes wearing the new necklace.

With the writer and presenter and lovely James Gavin.

Managed to leave New York just before the storm hit and the flights started to be  cancelled and got back to two lovely reviews for the new album, one in Kind of Jazz and one in Boycotting trends, both here. Thank you Matthew Ruddick for this

http://www.kindofjazz.com/index.php/component/k2/279-barb-jungr-shelter-from-the-storm

and Alex Ramon for this

http://boycottingtrends.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/cd-review-shelter-from-storm-barb-jungr.html

The Kate released a very short promo video of the live recording they made which will go out nationally on PBS North America in a few weeks, here -

And there are more videos of 2 short clips of us playing live at the Yamaha showcase in Manhattan with Laurence Hobgood on piano, Wilson Torres on percussion and Matt Clohesy on bass, on the BarbJungrsings Youtube channel, here

https://www.youtube.com/user/barbjungrsings

You can pre-order the album from iTunes and Amazon UK, it comes out on feb 19 in the UK and in April in the States.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shelter-Storm-Songs-Troubled-Times/dp/B0196IPPAQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453899449&sr=8-1&keywords=barb+jungr

The UK tour dates are all on the website here

http://www.barbjungr.co.uk

US tour dates will start in May and will be on the website soon, there are 4 nights at Joe's Pub in NYC.

Meanwhile I'm at County Antrim, Northern Ireland on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th January performing Hard Rain with Simon Wallace  on 7th February and 7th February I will be at Crazy Coqs with Davide Mantovani on bass and the wonderful Simon Wallace on piano. All details are at the website link above.

Hope to see you at one of these!

Meanwhile, have fun!

Come Together in New York, frozen weather and fab showcases this weekend!

January in New York can be brutal weather wise and this year is no exception. Of course all my friends and fans in Russia and Canada and indeed the northern US States will be laughing their sides sore when I say this, but I find minus 4 with a wind that tries to eat your bones as you walk down the street, pretty challenging. As always one has to wear ALL ones clothes at the same time and take them off whenever one's inside again. So there's a lot of extra exercise involved in doing that. I am wearing 2 scarves when I go out and a hooded coat. Like a warm ne'er do well.

With Brad Simmons INDOORS NY City January cold snap!

Its way too cold to run in Central Park and when I walked there the very few people I did see running  and honestly they looked as though they were in imminent danger of rapid demise, its not recommended.  One had shorts on. And he was, kindly put, not young. I thought "oh go indoors sweetie and have a cup of tea". Even the park itself looks frozen.

Frozen Central Park

So off we, (John Mcdaniel and I) toddled to do our show at Feinstein's 54 Below. On a night when it was brutally cold, we still had a fabulous audience and a great time singing and playing, and they were a delight and afterwards a lot of folks all hung out together in the bar and chatted. So I was thrilled to find a terrific New York Times review of the show afterwards.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/arts/music/review-barb-jungr-applies-her-emphatic-voice-to-the-beatles-music.html?_r=0

With this fab photo of us on stage by Michelle V. Agins.

On stage at Feinstein's 54 Below

And now its off to rehears Shelter From The Storm for the weekend of showcases in New York, which for Laurence Hobgood and I means Yamaha tomorrow and the Hilton on Sunday.

The Gail Boyd showcases this weekend.


So come along if you can. And more from New York next week when I'm at Lincoln Centre with some great singers for Jim Gavin's Peggy Lee showcase.

And you can pre order the new album here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shelter-Storm-Songs-Troubled-Times/dp/B0196IPPAQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452854766&sr=8-1&keywords=barb+jungr short: http://ow.ly/X6zYB

Have fun and stay warm!

xxx

2016 looking ahead

Happy New Year, to one and all,

as the Christmas decorations are stashed away for another year, (personally for me they're over by the end of January 1st), and the family return to their corners of the world, work starts up again gearing into what I believe will be a fine year.

I began mine singing yesterday night at the fabulous Crazy Coqs in Central London with Jenny Carr on piano and Dudley Phillips on double bass. We played the Man In The Long Black Coat Dylan show, which I hadn't sung for a while. It was a joy to return to those songs, in that set. And it set the tone for the year.

On February 19th Linn Records release the new album, Shelter from the Storm, subtitled Songs of Hope for Troubled Times. Its a collaboration between the wonderful contemporary pianist Laurence Hobgood and myself and we recorded it last year in New York at Sear Sound, with Michael Olatuja on double bass and Wilson Torres on percussion. The first ever live performance of it will appear on national US TV on the PBS channels in late spring.

Watch a segment of the Kate film, here,

http://thekate.tv/artists/barb-jungr/

Steve Ullathorne took the photographs for the new album,

Photo by Steve Ullathorne

Its available for pre-order here, from Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shelter-Storm-Songs-Troubled-Times/dp/B0196IPPAQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452854766&sr=8-1&keywords=barb+jungr

There will be a tour announced shortly to accompany the release beginning in late March with dates at Newbury Corn Exchange, Liverpool St George's Hall, The Apex Bury St Edmunds, The Core at Corby, Portsmouth Guildhall, and 4 nights at Pizza Express Dean Street Jazz Club.

The new website design is happening as I write, so its a big spring coming.

You can keep track of it all by liking the official FaceBook page which has all show details and news all the time, here

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBarbJungr

Alongside that there are great plans for the Deep Roots Tall Trees Corby project, and a new piece of children for Polka Theatre, which will open in the autumn. The Little Angel Production of Bear Hunt will run in spring in London and tour again in the autumn.

And there are tour dates in the USA and more outside UK plans, to be announced.

I very much look forward to seeing you at some of these shows, and hope for a peaceful and beautiful New Year for everyone, everywhere.

First week New York City Come Together shows….

Autumn in New York and here I am near Central Park which has meant I've been able to walk and run there pretty much daily, and its so beautiful - in the sunshine and out of it, the oranges and reds of the trees and the joy of people and children kicking up the leaves, and all the dog walkers and the dogs in their little tartan jackets and high chic. Beautiful.

The shows at Feinstein's/54 Below went wonderfully and there were some lovely reviews - here

in Broadway World

http://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/article/BWW-Review-Barb-Jungr-John-McDaniel-Come-Together-To-Perform-Iconic-Beatles-Songs-With-Eloquence-Sincerity-and-Freshness-at-Feinsteins54-Below-20151029

in Times Square Chronicles, here

http://t2conline.com/stephen-sorokoff-my-view-something-old-is-new-again-barb-jungr-john-mcdaniel-sing-the-beatles-2/#

and photos from the same reviewer, Stephen Sorokoff, are here

http://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/article/Photo-Coverage-Barb-Jungr-John-McDaniel-Sing-The-Beatles-at-Feinsteins54-Below-20151030

and finally, Paulanne's review from Theater Pizzazz, here

http://www.theaterpizzazz.com/barb-jungr-meets-the-beatles-in-come-together/

We had a ball with loads of friends joining us for shows, the lists long, but here's Mike Lunoe and Vasily Senin with us after saturday's final show last week.

After the last show with John McDaniel, Vasily Senin, and Mike Lunoe.

On friday we open in San Francisco for 2 nights then Los Angeles for one. Hope to see you there, all details below -

http://www.hotelnikkosf.com/feinsteins.aspx

and

http://www.catalinajazzclub.com

and Stop The War Coalition made Train on the Move their song of the month, here - Train on the Move by Jungr/Tomalin of the month on Stop The War Coalition website -

http://stopwar.org.uk/index.…/…/barb-jungr-train-on-the-move

feel free to share that with everyone.

Till them, have a great week.

The Kate TV, St George's Bristol, Chiddingly, Corby and podcasts

Its been a wild, whirlwind of a week and a half and I'm drawing breath but only just to put down my case and washing and get my stage clothes ready again, as in a couple of days I head out to Berlin with Simon Wallace and Davide Mantovani to perform Hard Rain at this lovely German venue -

http://www.bar-jeder-vernunft.de/de/programm-tickets/

And only 10 days ago we played at St George's, Bristol. What a superb night. Great sound and a great gig and a whopping house of people. It was wonderful to be back in Bristol because its been ages, and we found a very good Korean noodle bar with the biggest plates of fun starters - word of warning to singers - probably best not to have the salt and pepper things when you're just about to sing and need all the hydration you can get……

Then it was blood moon super luna night, and we were in the middle of the most glorious countryside - deep Sussex - for the Chiddingly Festival. Again - a great night, a packed house, and a drive back under the most glorious moon I've seen for many a while. So many of us were moon gazing that night - all over the world, as we did since time immemorial. And we were amply rewarded.

"and the moon rose over an open field"

And here's Davide and Simon sound checking in Chiddingly -

Simon Wallace and Davide Mantovani soundchecking

Then I was off to the States to perform for The Kate TV show which will be broadcast in early 2016 all across the USA. So no pressure! We rehearsed at Michiko in New York as usual, the mighty Laurence Hobgood on piano and keys, Wilson Torres on percussion and Michael Olatuja on double and electric bass. Then on wednesday we headed out to Old Saybrook Connecticut - the guys in the minibus with the equipment and me in the back of Gail Boyd's car with her husband the esteemed Walter Beach at the wheel. You can read about Walter's book, (its wonderful) - here

http://walterbeach.com

We stayed at the Old Saybrook Inn and Spa which may be one of the best hotels I've visited recently. The room was bigger than my flat here in London, and the view from my balcony was a slice of heaven. I had the balcony window open all night and drifted in and out of sleep to the sound of waves slapping against the sides of boats, which creaked and heaved in the water as the wind came up. The dawn breaking was worth getting up for, and its not often you'll find me saying that.

Dawn breaking over the Sound from my balcony window Old Saybrook Inn and Spa.

The TV session was a fiery and marvellous experience. I was chomping at the bit to get this new material onto a live stage at last. We'd recorded and mixed already and the album, Shelter From the Storm, will be released on Linn Records in February 2016, with a UK and a US tour in March and May respectively.

Lida Emert did the best markup - honestly, that woman is a star. She listened and then did what I wanted but about ten times better. And was a joy to be with.

Make up by Lida!

 The staff at The Kate theatre in Old Saybrook could not have been more accommodating or kinder. Outfit wise I went for a catsuit. I know. I was talked into it by one of stage clothes shops. They said, "go on, try it" so there I was in a catsuit. To be fair its a French catsuit which meant it was glam and not super tight - it was more Mrs Bloggs goes Paris than Emma Peel if I'm honest. Nonetheless it was glam.

The catsuit after the show…...

Glam is essential. I'm an old school punk glam gal. So it was French catsuit and studded boots. But to the important things - I can't speak too highly of the musicians I am working with. Laurence Hobgood is just a star. That man is a joy to work with. Inspiring, bar-raising, and funny too. Michael and Wilson were a delight all the time, and what is it about musicians and bananas? They love 'em. Potassium must make for good playing…..

Michael Olatuja and Wilson Torres soundchecking at The Kate

Laurence and Michael at sound check

I had a slight jet lag moment with Bali Hai but after couple of false starts we sailed through. It was high tension and high jinx. Laurence described it as "bold". That works for me. Its a bold album. I can't wait for it to come out. Just seen the artwork and love that. Here's a bunch of photos of the filming.

This is what we looked like from the audience…….

After the show we hung out with a bunch of fabulous friends from the O'Neill including Braiden Sunshine who is wowing America on The Voice, and rightly so. What a talented and lovely young man he is.

With Braiden Sunshine after the show

Leon and Anne took us to a roadhouse bar for drinks called if  memory serves, The Monkey Farm. That was something. Good nachos. Good nachos are a wonderful thing. Extra jalapeños. Thats the trick. And the next morning we said goodbye till we meet again for APAP in January and touring in the New Year.

With Wilson, Gail my US manager, Michael and Laurence in the hotel the morning after.

Then it was back to the UK. Sardine time on the plane, so slept little. But returned to find the podcast I did with James Taylor is out. Its about life and music and so on.

http://icmponline.com/podcast/barb-jungr/

And to Corby to do our Deep Roots Tall Trees concert which was a huge success…. photo of the choir and the musicians and I, here…..courtesy of Janet Halsey….

Deep Roots Tall Trees choir with Mark Brennan, George Reilly, Gareth Fuller and I at The Core in Corby

and then to Crazy Coqs to sing Love Me Tender with Jenny Carr on piano and Dudley Philips on bass. And now its off to Berlin. Which is where I started. So, hope to see you at a show soon……meanwhile….I'm off to Berlin! Namaste! See you there.

Edinburgh, The Isle of Wight and back again……...

Well the Edinburgh Festival was marvellous. We all arrived in various states of jet lag form all over the world and lived in a flat in Leith, my brother in law Tim, Mirek my nephew, Vasily Senin the Russian director and John McDaniel my glorious collaborator on Come Together (The Beatles collaboration). We did a radio show together after he got off the plane, and amazingly he managed to play and sing, which is more than I would have done straight off a transatlantic flight. We saw a bunch of fabulous shows including Penny Arcade, David Benson's Boris World King, Todd Gordon's Sinatra show, some brilliant acrobats called Cirque La Roux and a truly hideous thing cavilled Velvet I think, I might have blanked the title we loathed it so much. If by chance I go to hell I am pretty certain they'll be showing shows like that. Here's some Edinburgh fun photos.

With Dillie Keane, Warren Lakin and Ronnie Golden after a show

With Michael Parker and legendary comedian Arnold Brown, with whom I won The Perrier Award in  the 1980s

It was absolutely great to do the Come Together set 3 times, and after each show to hang out with such fabulous friends, many of whom I've worked with over a 40 year period. Just gorgeous. Our apartment in Leith was near my old collaborator and fellow song writer and musician and dear friend, Michael Parker, and he found time for us to catch up, for which I was dearly grateful. We made this together years ago, the album's available here now at last for download

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/blue-devils/id974596330

and the video is here

And there was the doing of the new show. John and I found so much in it, and thank you again to the glorious Vasily for this wonderful photograph of us taking a bow together.

John McDaniel and I taking our bow in Edinburgh after Come Together at the Old Assembly Rooms.

We performed at the Old Assembly Rooms. Well, memory lane. They've made a mess of the refurb, trashing the old supper room and turning it into a Jamie's. The old Music Hall and Ballroom are shadows of their former selves and the studio that Todd played in was in one of those formats that prompt the question "Are you havin' a laugh?". Then came the news that the officialdom of Edinburgh is going to - not being content with the above - bring in "a variety of promoters" to programme the venue next year. What a rubbish idea. So they really are killing one of the most legendary of the old venues. It used to be the only performers' bar to be seen in, that Assembly Bar. The deals that were done there. Gone. I despair at the idiocy of some planning and council decisions when it comes to the arts. Why not consult us? We know. Don't get me started.

For something much nicer here are some people I love.

Mirek my beloved nephew, Tim my brother in law, the gorgeous Earl Dax and Joey Arias's friend in a selfie of great joy after the show.




And if you forgot what the Come Together show is about……here's a taster, and there'll be a lot of chances to see it in the autumn in New York, San Francisco, LA and London. All dates are on my website at

www.barbjungr.com

Here's the taster…..Vasily Senin's fabulous film…..

And then I went on my family holiday. The Isle of Wight is a little island off the south coast of England. Rolling hills, cliffs and downs, heather heaths and headlands. We saw badgers at night eating from the waste bins on the sea front beside our apartment (I did take a photo but its so dark there's no point showing it to you, I know there's a badger there but digital photography failed me and I couldn't use a flash for fear of frightening the little fellow), bats danced over heads on dusk walks, foxes slunk across our paths, salamanders lounged on the wooden steps from the beach to the headland. It was alive! We visited a donkey sanctuary that was truly magical. We fell in love with donkeys. Who wouldn't? There was a falconry display, with kites soaring over us and falcons swooping down to grab tiny pieces of meat from the hilarious joke man and handler. We wandered around Queen Victoria's rural hideaway Osborne House wondering how you could have so much money and buy such hideous paintings, and ate seafood in Ventnor in the sunshine. Heavenly.

And every day I ran up to the headland and back, and watched the Needles change under the varying skies.

The Needles from my headland daily run

At night we walked the beach and watched the waves.

Dusk at Totland

Perfect holiday Totland Bay dusk at low tide

Now its back, and shows are looming. I'm at St George's Hall Bristol

http://www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk/event/barb-jungr-hard-rain/

and Chiddingly Festival with Hard Rain,

http://chiddinglyfestival.co.uk

 and then to the US to film the new album live at The Kate.

http://thekate.tv/artists/barb-jungr/

and after that there'll be a new blog, with any luck!

Come see us somewhere, we are all over the country and in October in Berlin. The USA this autumn and more.

Till then, happy autumn. Jeremy Corbyn elected leader of the Labour Party gives me hope for the future, as do the many people giving of their time and money to help those less fortunate on the move in mass migrations from the rest of the world to Europe. Its, I hope, a new dawn and a new day for more people, everywhere.

From the Queen's Hall, thank you Billy for filming this in 2012, sound not great but feeling good is the watchword.

and lest I forget a wonderful review by Alex Ramon of the Crazy Coqs Stockport To Memphis show last weekend on Boycotting Trends website.

http://boycottingtrends.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/concert-review-stockport-to-memphis.html

So a brilliant Namaste - which I say as a yoga practitioner and not as a noodle!

Barb

Connecticut The Beatles Shirley Jones new Video and more

So here we are, as the sun sets over Waterford public beach, and all the members of the 2015 Cabaret Conference head homewards, some of us to other continents, some to NY City, and what a wonderful 2 weeks we had.

On the rocks at Linda Mariani's party for us all at her gorgeous seafront house. 

The last couple of days went in a blur with the legendary Shirley Jones visiting us and performing and talking with us and giving us a window into her Hollywood life. What a dream of a woman - still gorgeous at 82, still singing, and so smart and witty. We all managed to crowbar ourselves into photos with her, I wish I'd have been in slightly more glamorous gear for mine, but it was in the middle of a teaching day…..thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Lennie Watts and I with the great Shirley Jones

A few days before we'd had a superb day off and we'd all been invited to Linda Mariani's beautiful waterfront home for cocktails and canapés and we'd stumbled over the rocks tipsy with sun and freedom.

That break was so welcome as the day before John McDaniel and I launched/birthed, whatever, our new Beatles collection Come Together. This is us at the encore. There'll be video soon. And here it is!

Thank you Vasily Senin for making this fab video of our new show.

At the encore of Come Together O'Neill Center, Waterford, Connecticut.

So here's some photos Vinnie took of the show

And here is Vasily Senin with Molly Pope and I after the Gala ending show.

With the wonderful Lennie Watts with whom I worked.

Lennie Watts and I.

And now its a few days of getting my head together and I'm off to mix the new album. So here's a taster shot from the session in July in New York.

Michael Olatuja on bass at Sear Sound NYC

And straight after  mixing I'm at the Edinburgh Festival doing 3 shows of Come Together with John McDaniel, have you booked yet?

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/come-together-barb-jungr-and-john-mcdaniel-perform-the-beatles