Description
'Tea For Three features a fascinating collaboration between three highly respected musicians on the contemporary jazz scene - vocalist Brigitte Beraha, saxophonist Alan Barnes and pianist Barry Green. They explore new music and jazz standards in a unique meeting of different styles and musical experiences. Recorded live at The Vortex jazz club in November 2023, this performance captures the group at their joyful and interactive best.
Three standards, the 'almost' title track "Tea For Two", a jaunty "The Best Thing for You is Me" and a heart breaking "I'll Be Seeing You" are used as launching pads for the groups unique style. Edu Lobos' "Pra Dizer Adeus" is a gorgeous, lesser-known Brazilian melody featuring Brigitte's perfect diction in Portuguese. The set is rounded off by two originals: Barry's setting of A.A.Milne's "Solitude" and Brigitte's treatment of the Tennessee Williams poem "We have Not Long To Love".
Brigitte Beraha was nominated for Vocalist of the Year in the Jazz FM Awards 2022, two Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2021 and 2022 and an Ivors Composer Award in 2021. She is a vocalist with peerless intonation, an ability to perform in several languages, and is an improviser and composer with real melodic flair.
Barry Green has been a first call modern jazz pianist for the last 25 years, both for visiting American soloists including Bobby Watson and Charles McPherson and high profile singers Elaine Delmar and Ian Shaw. He is an inventive and resourceful pianist, his playing is technically accomplished and his solos reflect his fertile imagination and superb touch.
Alan Barnes' unique musicianship on saxophone and clarinet, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him uniquely popular in British jazz. Over a 45-year career, his saxophone and clarinet playing has been the recipient of more than 30 British Jazz Awards and has twice been named BBC Jazz Musician of the Year.
Brigitte Beraha: voice
Alan Barnes: alto saxophone, clarinet
Barry Green: piano
"Brigitte's close rapport with her band marks her out as a jazz musician whose voice just happens to be her instrument rather than as a singer plus accompaniment." - Chris Parker, Vortex
"One of the most idiomatically agile vocal weavers of lyricism and edgy free-improv on the UK jazz circuit.'- John Fordham
"Whatever the instrument, Barnes plays with the sort of inventive flexibility and invention that ensures that he has his own sound and could not be easily confused with another player. And in these days of musical conformity that is quite something." - Jazz Journal
