JOANNA EDEN -CAMBRIDGE MODERN JAZZ AT HIDDEN ROOMS

Joanna Eden sings

Cambridge Modern Jazz are back in their true home - the cool jazz cellars of Hidden Rooms in Jesus Lane. They have wandered around but finally found - the true sound of live jazz music really resonates in a chic but casual cave. Surely you should always go underground for a real jazz session? Yes, the Gonville Hotel was well lit with comfy lounge listening de luxe atmosphere - but as one visiting London dude remarked , ‘it’s nice, but it ain’t jazz here”. And with a last minute endorsement of a musician a real live New Yorker, “This place. is hip” the Club has flitted. With drinks larger and half the price it’s already appealing , but a when it features a group like Joanna Eden quartet, the new gaffe is a winner.

Joanna is superb. I hadn’t heard her before but fell straightaway in love with her soft gorgeous voice. I was not the first to pronounce she’s “just like Joni Mitchell’ but she certainly has her relaxed unforced originality. Joanna’s first number was seductive. “Quiet’ summoned the sexy sultry joy of an. intimate night in with a new lover. Gorgeous. Lovely lyrics ‘ For a quiet man, you’ve got a lot to say’ so sultry. as was her follow up ‘Beautiful’ as she luxuriates in the pleasure of sensual appreciation. Gorgeous. Her new line up with bass guitar and guitar plus George on drums.

In her second half we got her Joni Mitchell music, she made a wonderful West Coast job of Blue Motel where the singer’s desire combine with her insecurities and suspicions create a song with a natural heart.Joanna has gigs a gogo all round London’s top jazz pads, from Ronnie Scott’s to the Albert Hall on Thursday 14th December. She is that good. But catch her in her home strip, her club in Saffron Walden where she lives. The Quartet is softly brilliant

And what a great start to the new revived Cambridge Modern Jazz. Just put the heating on - please, there’s cool and cool.

joannaeden.net/joannasplace

Joanna at the piano