Photograph by Kulvinder Hambleton-Grey
FUN STUFF!!
Favourite things: Cooking, Reading, Bourbon Whiskey, finding new musicians to listen to on-line and her cat Winnie!
Favourite album: ‘You’re Mine you’ - Sarah Vaughan (Produced by Quincy Jones)
Favourite movie: Ray
Favourite place: Bembridge, Isle of Wight
Favourite food: Caribbean food; Rice and Peas with lamb or chicken curry, Roast lamb (with all the trimmings)
Aydenne (aka ‘Mama’) has been a jazz and blues singer for nearly three decades. There are many, many milestones for Aydenne including a lead role in “Break Away Angel” musical Theatre Royal, Stratford, London, a Royal Performance for HRH Queen Elizabeth II, Jazz Cafe, Ronnie's, Cambridge University, Jazz FM's ‘Jazz in The Park’, Pizza Express (Olympia, Kensington, Beckenham), International Isle of Wight Jazz Diva Festival (2006,2007 & 2008), Wimbledon Theatre (2009 & 2010), and 5 star hotels such as The Cliveden (Berks.), The Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore (3 month residency), Don Carlos 5 Star Hotel (Malaga, Spain), Lady Butlin’s (of Butlin’s holiday) 85th Birthday party (Jersey C.I.), Newport Jazz Weekend 2013 and 2015, Pizza Express Live, The Pheasantry May and December 2016, Brunswick Jazz , The Bulls Head Jazz Room, September 2016, January 2017 , May 2017, Barnes, Jazz & Blues Picnic Isle of Wight 2014, 2015,2016 and 2017, Regular performances at the beautiful Piano Bar, Soho, Carlisle Street Jazz Jam 2016 and 2017, to name just a few….There are just too many to mention here.
Along with her fabulous musicians, and guesting with other bands, Aydenne is consistently busy delivering memorable performances across the UK.
Aydenne Simone had the great honour of performing with the fabulous Keith Ingham Trio, a concert celebrating the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald at The Newport Jazz Weekend, Isle of Wight . The result was the fabulous live album “All of me”, and three tours of southern Spain. Aydenne had broken her metatarsal bone , which was 4 months of agony and then on the morning of the concert, Aydenne woke up with full blown flu! But!! Aydenne is a soldier and she delivered a fabulous performance despite all of that!, so enjoy the album.
This new album features songs that are favourites of both Aydenne & Liam, and every single song is a gem in it's own right! Aydenne and Liam are both fans of quality jazz and these tracks are selected to fit right under that heading!
Aydenne’s most important influence is Sarah Vaughan. When Aydenne was only 6 years old her father (also a former jazz musician), gave her a Sarah Vaughan album, called ‘You’re Mine You’, produced by Quincy Jones. That album, and Sarah Vaughan in particular, (and Ella Fitzgerald and Eydie Gorme) have always been an inspiration to Aydenne, some would say because Sarah and Aydenne share that deep, velvety tone, playfulness and the love of a 'pretty' song that swings.
Aydenne loves working with Liam because not only is he a phenomenal jazz pianist, but, his quality of playing speaks to an era where only the best were good enough. Man can he swing! This album was such a delight to make, so we hope you enjoy it.
Photograph by Kulvinder Hambleton-Grey
Liam Stevens (aka 'Fox Cub') is one of the busiest and most talented jazz pianists in London.
Liam started playing piano at the age of 6. His favourite jazz musicians include Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, Wynton Kelly, Kenny Kirkland, Dan Nimmer, Benet Mclean, Benny Green, Ahmad Jamal, Nathan Britton,Ray Brown……and the list could go on and on.The most important influences on Liam are Paul Clay, James Hanson, Paul Walker, Ray Parkin, Gareth Williams, Benet Mclean and with his standard of playing, he is right up there with them.
Liam also adores others such as Georges Cziffra, Evgeny Kissin, Danil Trifanov, Anthony Hewitt,Vladimir, Hororwirz,Itzhak Pearlman, Pinchas Zuckermann, Benjamin Grosvenor, Sviatoslav Richter,Glenn Gould,Rachmaninoff and choral music such as Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and Bach’s St Matthews Passion.
Liam is a regular at Ronnie Scotts, The Piano Bar and is an accomplished piano teacher both private and in schools.
The Liam Stevens Trio is one of the most swinging bands in London, the talent in the band is astonishing , the standard of playing speaks to the era that gave us trios from the likes of Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson and Count Basie bands. It just swings like it should!
Liam is excited about this album because, the first time he met Aydenne he knew that they thought about music in a similar way, and he wanted to do something that’s simple but swings like the clappers!.
FUN STUFF!!
Favourite things: Cooking, Reading, Beer, Wine, Scotch, Pub, Theatre,
Watching football and going on late night drives with
Benet Mclean talking about music whilst drinking lots of Dr Pepper!
Favourite album: Vladimir Horowitz live in Moscow
Favourite movie: Full Metal Jacket
Favourite place: London
Favourite food: Sea food, fried chicken or steak