Surviving the Big Smoke

I went to see my favourite band at the moment - Jazzinho - on Sunday night at the 606 club and they were fab as usual. Most of the songs they played I knew from their album but they still sounded really fresh as the the instrumentation was different and the improvisations that the band do are always innovative. It's Guida da Palma's band and she is the lead singer. Her vocal acrobatics are really something for the ears and eyes to behold. She makes all kinds of sounds like from the side of her mouth comes a sort of brass sound and she does tropical rainforest too. That is only for effects though - most of the time she is singing and embellishing the songs. I've never seen a mouth open as wide as hers when she goes for the full belt. Nice molars! She is such a great performer too really energetic and warm and she seems to involve every single person in the audience. What a hero! I would love to be able to perform like she does. I had one private singing lesson from her last year and after 3 years of singing lessons it's the one I remember the most. The funniest thing she told me is that when I go for the high notes, you need to use more of my lower abdominal muscles to support the sound and asked me to imagine I was doing a poo and then sing a high note at the same time! So far no accidents.
I got home at 1 in the morning and had to get up again at 5.30 am to go to work so I have only just caught up on my sleep. Off for an early night now in fact. Got The Producers tomorrow evening - oh the perils of being a citybitch! By the way - the piano player in Jazzinho was my teacher on the Certificate of Jazz and Pop Music at Goldsmiths last year. He is amazing too. This is a picture of Jazzinho playing "Telefone" (you can see why I know that) by Roberto Menescal but most the songs she writes herself.