Sarah Jane Morris plays Chapel Arts / 3rd September 2010

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Leave your preconceptions at home,” begins one London critic’s assessment of sensual singer-songwriter Sarah Jane Morris, who straddles rock, blues, jazz and soul with a goosebump-raising four octave range that rumbles from the heels of her size eight shoes to the tips of her flame-red mane

SARAH JANE MORRIS
Famed for her association with the Communards in the mid-80s and infamous for a banned rendition of the classic Me and Mrs Jones, Sarah Jane Morris has always attracted as much attention for her politics as for her soul-driven, seismic voice. Eleven solo albums later, pop stardom on the continent, and a diverse set of musical collaborations on record, film and stage, Morris continues to steer her unorthodox career to greater heights. Sarah Jane has recently released a stunning co-written and co-produced album entitled Where it hurts. The tracks are co-written with Dominic Miller (Sting’s right hand man and co-writer of ‘Shape My Heart’) and Martyn Barker (Billy Bragg and The Blokes). The Album was launched at Ronnie Scotts (London) and Blue Note (Milan). The songs deal with the end of her 22 year marriage, the Burma Regime, Refugees, Climate Change and much more! Her one woman show was previewed at the Edinburgh Festival to rave reviews in August, also called 'Where It Hurts' which is co-written with Michael Crompton (Silent Witness ) with Dominic Miller accompanying on guitar. This show is now touring the UK theatres and Arts Centres. It includes stories and songs from her childhood through to her collaboration on the song ‘Coal Not Dole’ with Matt Fox (Happy End) and Kay Sutcliffe (a Kent Miners wife) for the miners strike, The Communards, nearly playing the part of Janis Joplin in the Paramount movie and beyond. Since Sarah Jane Morris is one of the most unassuming of artists (despite singer/songwriter talents that frequently find her compared with Janis Joplin, Nina Simone or Tom Waits), she would certainly shy away from anybody’s sentimental connection between her latest work and a global political event with the world’s hopes riding on it. But somehow, I found I couldn't keep the sound of this album’s haunting songs and that of the worldwide fanfare welcoming Barack Obama to the American presidency from flowing into each other. These were intense experiences that happened to me close together in time, so perhaps it isn’t surprising that somewhere deep down they would vibrate together. Just four days in January 2009 embraced my first hearing of the music from ‘Where It Hurts’, a night at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club where Sarah Jane was mesmerically performing live (nothing like as regular a privilege for London’s music-lovers as it should be), and Obama’s historic inauguration on 20 January. (John Fordham The Guardian 2009) A voice that can excite shivers of passion and delight … Soaring, swooping, sensual and sophisticated, this voice is more than a style, it’s a force of nature … Torch song, soul standard or smoky blues, the message remains constant: human passion with a dazzling voice. (Neil Spencer, The Observer).