Spice Jazz Soho: Becca Wilkins Quartet

After 25 years of solid jazz promoting, as founded by Paul Pace, at the Spice of Life Soho, nurturing upcoming talents as well as established masters of the music, the SpiceJazz Team (Tara Minton and Clement Regert) are excited to relocate their acclaimed operation to the well-appointed and stylish music room of Crazy Coqs.

Becca Wilkins’ latest album, Rêverie, is a collection of French Chanson reimagined with her trio of Olly Chalk (piano), Sam Ingvorsen (bass) and Billy Pod (drums).

Rêverie presents the classic French music made popular by Jacques Brel, Yves Montand and Edith Piaf through the lens of contemporary jazz as Becca brings her Francophilia into sharp focus. Featuring classics including as ‘La Bohème’ and ‘La Mer’, this music remoulds some of the most well-loved French songs, as well as introducing audiences to some hidden gems from the genre.

These songs provide a canvas for Becca‘s skills as a song interpreter and improviser, with a set that is both brooding and mysterious; vulnerable and atmospheric. Expect haunting ballads alongside runaway waltzes, interspersed by masterful extemporisation.

Rêverie is a chance to experience Becca’s ‘other worldliness’ (Jazzwise Magazine) in this heady collection of rhapsodic Franco-nostalgia.

Line-Up:
Becca Wilkins – Vocals, arrangements
Olly Chalk – Piano
Sam Ingvorsen – Bass
Billy Pod – Drums

“If you have even a passing interest in French chanson, this very British take on it might just be the most charming, artful way to discover it.” ~ Paris-Move​

“Rêverie is Wilkins’ personal love letter to chanson. She strikes just the right tone and rhythm, bringing a fresh sense of life to these timeless songs” ~ JazzViews

“breathes fresh life into a rich, French musical tradition” ~ Making a Scene (US)

“brings new moods to this rich and stylistically distinctive musical tradition” ~ Era Jazzu (PL)​

“A fascinating and hugely entertaining night of excellent music” ~ Newbury Today