"FIRST TIME EVER"
Mandy Fox & Hara. Mandy Fox voice, Meredith White piano, keyboards, Penrose Feast ten. sop. saxes, flute Trevor Lines double and electric bass, Sean Randle drums, percussion. Dave Jones el. bass track 6; Ian Smith percussion track 1.
Recorded at Porcupine Studio, London, 1995/96. SLAMCD 220 Bar code 5 028386 022022
TRACKS:
1 Invocation 4m 57
2 Missing 4 46
3 Here it comes 4 19
4 You 5 42
5 Flight of the eagle 5 56
6 First time ever 6 29
7 Zoodat 5 39
8 She moved through the fair 5 23
9 Let me go soldier 3 40
10 Bliss 4 31
11 The prayer 4 14
12 Soukhous by night 3 54
13 The call 4 38
Cadence, March 1997
This is an interesting mixture of folk music and jazz. Mandy Fox is a singer with a cultured, melodic voice who is equally at home with near-Eastern drones, soaring jazz and Celtic harmonies. She has the ability to speed up from conventional singing into a high pitched wait that recalls Flora Purim. This works on the near-Eastern stuff like ‘Invocation’, as well as on successful fusions of British folk music and jazz like ‘First Time Ever’ and ‘She Moved Through The Fair’. Piano and electric bass decorate a simple but moving vocal on the former while the latter slowly rises from a hushed vocal to an elegant jazz waltz and, finally, a climbing, woolley tenor solo by Penrose Feast matched by Fox’s siren vocal. Feast is a strong liberating presence throughout this CD and this robust playing is his finest moment. The entire band’s strength matched with Fox’s gorgeous vocal make this CD compelling listening. Highly recommended.