Here’s an old-fashioned kind of jazz singer, who likes slow tempi, and one who knows how to shape what might be unpromising nostalgic material done a thousand times over into something more personal.
Following not long on from last year’s Looking for a Boy, with a different rhythm section this time – pianist Gareth Williams instead of Dave Newton; guitarist Jim Mullen in place of Colin Oxley; bassist Mick Hutton not Andy Cleyndert; and here now also joined by tenor saxophonist Stan Sulzmann (it’s the Gilad-ian Enzo Zirilli on drums) – Francis got her jazz education on the bandstand in New York sitting-in down in the Village, and jamming up in Harlem.
The Very Thought of You was recorded live in Chelsea’s 606 club (above in the video), and has an easy-going congenial atmosphere to it like much of the music to be heard any night of the week at Steve Rubie’s Lots Road boîte.
Nicely recorded – particularly the way the saxophone curls around the voice on the title track – the album artwork, though, could have done with songwriter credits. Francis has a gently reflective sometimes whispery slightly husky voice in the June Christy tradition as she negotiates soft subtle hidden spaces, fragility balanced with inner strength. SG