Review of The Sarah J Band

Palpably, Alan Bates continues to find off-the-beaten-track talent for his Candid label(s) releases. Firm evidence of this reached my ears in a peak evening during another week, at the Dean Street Pizza Express venue, devoted to this special stable. The latter set included a duet with the attractive young lady who opened the evening - Sarah Mitchell, who had come 'all the way down from Leeds' with her enormously supportive trio. Sarah proved to have two distinct singing styles at her disposal. There is Aretha-type soul/gospel big-voice attack, which she uses on most of her own compositions, of which there were seven. Let Me Apologise was a particularly successful 'soul-strutting' item. Then, early in her set, the ultra-slow verse of The More I See You sounded like someone in a stage musical, as did her measured delivery of What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? Overall, this dual-personality soul/show presentation had much appeal. LES TOMKINS