Reviews

Terry Walker review for Brighton Argus newspaper, November 2018 :

It was Joni Mitchell's 75th birthday only a few days ago so this gig was a late celebration.

Court and Spark are a bunch of local jazz musicians who have been playing her songs over a year now; I heard their first gig at The Brunswick. Two or three gigs later they are gelling comfortably into their own groove - distinctive arrangements but with a real feel for the music.

Lucy Pickering captures the detail and emotion of Mitchell's piano and vocal style without trying to be a copy. The band were clearly enjoying the challenge of improvising over quite complex song structures.

While covering songs ranging from the 60s to the 80s, the sound and style seemed to me very much influenced by Tom Scott's LA Express, the backing band on on the mid-70s albums Hissing Of Summer Lawns and Miles Of Aisles. Court and Spark are a smaller group and, with the soprano sax, they also reminded me of the sparser and more consciously 'cool jazz' sound of the later album Wild Things Run Fast with Wayne Shorter.

The first set was mostly from earlier in Mitchell's career, including songs from Blue and For The Roses. The opening Carey set the upbeat mood with an almost Caribbean lilt. A Case Of You was based on a cover by Prince.

The second set centred around songs from the 70s and 80s and the later albums Night Ride Home and Taming The Tiger. It was funkier, with some great solos from Beccy Rork on sax, Andy Williams on guitar and Terry Pack on bass, and drumming and percussion from Milo Fell that was consistently inventive while perfectly melding with the band and reflecting the mood of each song.

Although the final song was the evocative Night Ride Home, the real highlight of the evening was the penultimate number In France They Kiss On Main Street, newly learnt by the band but nevertheless spirited, polished and uplifting.

For fans of Joni Mitchell, this was an evening of pure delight and I hope there will be more from this band. Maybe some songs from the Hejira album for the next gig?

Terry Walker review for Brighton Argus newspaper, August 2017 :

Billed as "reinterpretations of Joni Mitchell", this was a brave endeavour by a group of Brighton jazz musicians. Reinterpreting rather than playing a straight cover demands a high level of musicianship. Not just because of the complexity of Mitchell's songs, but because for a listener familiar with the music, the effect is a sort of live deconstruction, with a heightened consciousness of the particularities of the music and of what the band is bringing to its reconstruction. So making the band's pwn version of the songs cohere demands stylistic empathy and great fluidity. That was amply demonstrated through a range of songs, from the early album Blue to the more recent Taming The Tiger.

Pickering tackled the vocal gymnastics of See You Sometime and Shadows & Light with great confidence. Band solos throughout were perfect miniatures woven neatly into the songs, with the band as a whole really finding its groove in Ray's Dad's Cadillac and Harlem In Havana.

An enthusiastic crowd clearly thought the bravery had paid off, but Court and Spark deserve a much wider audience.

* * * *

" The band is strong and tight, and it's clear that the amount of work put into this project is yielding results... With the sensitive playing and superb solos from all the musicians there is, all at once, a sense of respect, fun seriousness, communication, wit and charm. ... I found it to be a classy, ego-less performance and I make no apology for the obvious reflection that we the audience were both courted and sparked. And we clearly loved it."

extracted from Lou Beckerman's longer review for Sussex Jazz Magazine, October 2016