at a glance...

Hometown: Warwick, England
First Recordings: early '70s

Personnel:
June Tabor -vocals
Huw Warren -piano
Mark Bassey -trombone
Liam Kirkman -trombone
Richard Iles -trumpet
Jim Rattigan -French horn
Richard Bolton -cello
Richard Fox -tuba
Dudley Philips -double bass
Andy Schofield -clarinet, alto saxophone
Iain Dixon -clarinet, bass clarinet
Mark Emerson -viola, violin
Roy Dodds -percussion
Mark Lockheart -clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones

Related Artists :
Steeleye Span, Nic Jones, Fairport Convention, The Oyster Band, The Silly Sisters, Martin McCarthy, Andy IrvineRichard Thompson, Martin Simpson, Elvis Costello

June Tabor's voice is a bit like an atom bomb; quite devastating, but hard to deploy and even harder to be around. Witness her collaboration with the Oyster Band, which didn't showcase her or the ensemble's best talents. A similar problem befalls this record, on which Tabor fronts a thirteen piece jazz orchestra.

The fault isn't hers; she sings her well-selected material (some folk songs and more recent fare by writers like Maggie Holland and Richard Thompson) exquisitely, her low but nimble voice unwrapping the lyrics and spreading out their meaning like only a true mistress of song can. But her band would be better suited to backing up Maynard Ferguson on a slow Monday night out in the sticks; too often their playing and arrangements, unjustly "enhanced" by digital reverb spread thick as peanut butter, sound gaudy and obvious compared to the singer's nuanced delivery. Mark Lockheart's smooth and gooey soprano sax solos deserve special opprobrium - they sound like they were lifted from a waterbed commercial.

Still, the record isn't a complete bust; "The Writing of Tipperary/It's A Long Way to Tipperary" and "The Water is Wide/St. Agnes Jeannie and Jamie" work because the band functions more as a theatrical and textural backdrop, and the a cappella "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is predictably gorgeous.