Flight Call is a new vocal trio: Georgia Cécile, L.A. Daniels and Pete Horsfall. Their London debut is on 28 June at the 100 Club.
Pete Horsfall is one of the driving forces behind Kansas Smitty’s and the whole early jazz revival movement in London. This email interview with Pete, incidentally, seems appropriate, maybe even serendipitous, as I ran into him while we were both waiting in the departure lounge at Stansted for the calls for our respective flights...
UKJazz News: How did you get to know Georgia and Lucy-Anne and how did the idea to form Flight Call come about?
Pete Horsfall: Georgia and I were introduced by Guy Barker – we’ve both worked on numerous projects with Guy and so eventually we crossed paths! I had also met Georgia’s partner, the wonderful Scottish pianist Fraser Urquhart, numerous times – but hadn’t quite joined the dots. Years later, when they told me they were both moving down from Scotland to London, we jumped at the chance to collaborate on this project. Lucy-Anne Daniels and I had been rehearsing up material together for a little while by this point, again having been introduced by mutual friends, and were on the hunt for the perfect third member of this trio.
UKJN: Lucy-Anne Daniels is going to be unfamiliar to some readers. What can you tell us about her?
PH: Lucy-Anne is without doubt one of the great jazz vocalists of her generation. I should be a publicist! But seriously, she is a leading light of the scene coming out of the Birmingham Conservatoire and is already busy gigging with Mark Kavuma, Ruben Fox and many of her Birmingham colleagues – and me. L.A. and I have been working up arrangements over the last year together – it’s an absolute pleasure to sing with her.
UKJN: What was the repertoire you started off with and how has it evolved?
PH: Flight Call started by singing transcriptions of late 50s Andy Bey and the Bey Sisters arrangements. We like the soul and gospel drenched approach that they bring to the jazz repertoire. There’s nothing twee about their style – it’s serious, swinging, soulful and spiritual. We’ve taken great inspiration from them and now have our own arrangements of our favourite tunes.
UKJN: Is it strictly a capella?
PH: We rehearse a capella as there’s nowhere to hide when there is no accompaniment! It’s a challenge for our ears and general musicianship that leads to a stronger ensemble sound in the long run. But for our gig at the 100 Club on 28 June, we are joined by the incredibly talented piano trio of Alex Bryson on piano, Ferg Ireland on bass and Ed Richardson on the drums. It’ll be a real treat for us.
UKJN: Other plans…?
PH: Something HUGE in December. That’s all I can say for now!
UKJN: What else are you up to?
PH: In addition to Flight Call, all three of us are busy with our solo projects.
Georgia just released a gorgeous duo record entitled Sure of You and is busy touring her original material.
L.A. I know is busy up in Birmingham working hard and being featured at Ronnie Scott’s late shows and elsewhere regularly.
As for myself, I’m singing and playing trumpet with a few new projects that I’m excited about – including one alongside Joe Stilgoe and Giacomo Smith, and then a band celebrating the blues with Jim Mullen, and lastly a new ensemble called Beyond Category that has a record coming out on the Jellymould Jazz label later in the year.
