Gill Manly interviewed in Lucid Magazine

Singer Gill Manly has spoken to Sylvia Arthur of Lucid Magazine  in an article entitled "The Rise Of Women In Jazz".  Gill discusses how image is used to sell jazz, the part that big-money promotion plays in sales of jazz albums and the issues she was confronted with when she performed a Nina Simone tribute at Ronnie Scott's.

Gill says "I did wonder whether people might find it a bit odd because generally there is a Nina Simone tribute show that's going around the world and generally they hire black singers to do it. I know all the associations politically with Nina and the whole history and all that but I just went in to it with the concept that music is for everybody and if you close your eyes and listen to the voice, as long as it pleases you who cares what colour or shape it comes in".

Sylvia Arthur describes Gill as "an exceptional vocalist and veteran of the UK jazz scene [who] has always valued substance over style. In her twenty plus years in the industry, she's performed with the likes of Eartha Kitt and Tony Bennett and has exhausted the club circuit with her stage act that pays homage to the greats, from Nina Simone to Ella Fitzgerald. Her latest album, With A Song In My Heart, has received the kind of critical acclaim that money can't buy."

Read the full article online here.