Yet again an amazing vocalist will grace our Patchworks Stage on Wednesday for a very special evening.

I was lucky enough to catch Heidi Vogel presenting her Betty Carter Show at the iconic 606 Jazz Club in Lotts Road and decided that we must present it at our club. Like many great vocalists, one of her formative influences is the music of the great Betty Carter which she expresses with incredible honesty, passion and pure raw talent. I hope that you can join us.

Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998)

Betty Carter was an American jazz singer from Detroit celebrated for her improvisational technique, vocal talent and imaginative interpretation of lyrics and melodies. Vocalist Carmen McRae once remarked: “There’s really only one jazz singer—only one: Betty Carter.”

With a cold and unsupportive childhood, Betty’s need to express herself and be loved found her treading the boards at night clubs and talent shows. In 1948, she was discovered by Lionel Hampton who asked her t to join his band. This was her big break Working with Hampton’s group gave her the chance to be bandmates with artists such as Charles Mingus and Wes Montgomery, as well as with Ernest Harold “Benny” Bailey, Guillespie, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins and many others.

In 1969, she founded Bet-Car Records, one of the earliest independent record labels, and recorded on it for 18 years.

Arguably the most adventurous female jazz singer of all time, Betty Carter was an idiosyncratic stylist and a restless improviser who pushed the limits of melody and harmony as much as any bebop horn player.

Heidi Vogel

An instinctive performer, Heidi started her career touring with the incredible Circue du Soleil but her unique vocal versatility and range quickly gained critical approval and along with performing in multifarious Jazz Club’s she became the lead Singer in the Cinematic Orchestra which toured the USA and built her a reputation that grew outside her home town of London. Since then she has had an incredibly diverse career that has spanned continents and cultures.

Her many prestigious performances include The Montreal Jazz Festival for Quincy Jones, featuring at the Sydney Opera House, The Cape Town Jazz Festival, The Krakow Symphony Orchestra, London Metropole Orchestra and performing the music of John Coltrane in two sold-out shows at our own Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club.

All of this rich experience creates a Pure Magical Jazz Pedigree. Heidi is a gifted communicator whose debut album ‘Turn Up The Quiet’ offers a complete contrast to her more commercial broken beat hip hop recordings and reflects her love, passion and deepest connection with Betty Carter and the truest Jazz Classics.

So come along, support your local Jazz Club and enjoy the music.