I love going to the intimate, New York style Ellington Jazz Club in Beaufort Street. When we discovered that multi award Jazz and Blues vocalist Simone Craddock was performing at Ellington for Perth’s Fringe World Festival, we were in.
Simone Craddock comes with a pretty impressive set of credentials. Based in London for many years, she performed in West End musicals such as Hello Dolly and Jesus Christ Superstar. And if that is not enough, versatile Simone has performed at numerous music festivals as well as fronting plenty of prestigious overseas jazz acts. So, we had high expectations, and happily, we weren’t disappointed.
We sat at a table so close to the stage that we almost felt part of her sultry performance. Accompanied by an exceptional trio of musicians: double bass, piano, drums plus a surprise guest, Simone spent an hour going through what she called her greatest hits. Her music choice from previous shows reflected her incredible versatility. Hand-picked jazz and blues classics from her shows such as Ella and Louis, Birth of the Blues and Candlelit Valentines Concert entertained the full house. What most intrigued us however was the cleverly titled Simone Swings Kylie. In one of her stories, she speaks about her love of Kylie Minogue. What followed was two mesmerising Kylie songs.
The hour of musical genius ended all to soon, leaving the audience wanting more. As with the way of Fringe, there was a following act so sadly no encore. Fantastic band, beautiful music, plus the incredible Simone up front, 4 plus stars from me.
This show has concluded for this season, but be sure to keep an eye out for it next year!