Ian Shaw and Tony Kofi, An Adventurous Dream: The Music of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington At Pizza Express Live in London, PX Records ****

My eye is watching the noon crowd,

Searching the promenade, seeking a clue,

To the one who will someday be my,

Something to live for.

The UK's top male jazz singer. A torchbearer for everything we need from a top jazz singer: wit, incredible technique and bohemian savoir faire mainly because we prefer set against other approaches the more Mark Murphy jazz side of the road derived from the enduring literary legacy of the Beats whose work Ian Shaw riffs off so well. Entering the hallowed halls of Ellingtonia this is one of Shaw's very best records up there with the magical Fran dancing to the music of time found on A Ghost in Every Bar and his work in New York with Cedar Walton. In his element corresponding intimately on the stand with saxophonist Tony Kofi in very good form these last few years in a whole range of situations whether paying homage to Cannonball Adderley with Alex Webb and Andy Davies, going more celestial with Alina Bzhezhinska and kicking home hard with Sharp Little Bones, on this very fine Sweet Pea and Duke themed album.

The unrelated everGreens Barry and Dave on piano and bass respectively are intergenerationally ideal especially given how long the younger of the pair Barry has worked with Ian. For instance, in the same room as An Adventurous Dream was recorded, the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, Barry was excellent at a gig circa The Theory of Joy in 2016 - probably the best gig of all of Ian's we have attended down the years. Green, B's best bits are on 'Day Dream' while bassist Dave, known for his work with Ian and Tony's labelmate Scott Hamilton, keeps stately authoritative time throughout and is just the steadying vintage beatmaker needed for the material. He also knows how to handle classic Swing Era tunes expertly.

Other highlights are when Shaw sings ''Azaleas drinking pale moonbeams'' the incredible line of Strayhorn lyrical poetry found on 'A Flower is A Lovesome Thing' and makes us immediately listen for extra enjoyment to the deeper register in Murph's voice on his Links (HighNote, 2001) version.

Following swiftly on from the more 1970s themed Shaw singersongwritery of Greek Street Friday our vocals album of the year in 2023 here on this excellent live album certainly this latest however much it contrasts is no disappointment. The bonus factor is the live feeling you gain ably captured in the album's top of the tree sonics. And partly it's also the focus. After all An Adventurous Dream concentrates on some of the crown jewels of a century-plus of jazz in terms of composition, repertoire and the art of the song. Kofi is best on 'Isfahan' and 'Blood Count' shows the rigour of his instrumentalism and discipline of his approach most exactingly. The album title borrows from the lyric to Ellington and Strayhorn song 'Something To Live For' introduced to the canon by Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra in 1939 and covered by many down the years including notably by Carmen McRae on a 1956 release, Nina Simone and Ella in the 1960s, the great Nat King Cole influenced easy listening singer Johnny Mathis in 1990 and the marvellous Jane Monheit in the early 21st century.

Updated on 26 April adding the full album embed

Tags: reviews the album

You will not emerge from seeing this Sam Taylor-Johnson directed film without having something to say. Even if you hate Back to Black you probably won't forget it. It's fair to say that the power of the songs still stuns. Go for these at the very least. A sad tale as Amy Winehouse died so young in 2011 aged just 27. But who comes out worst in the film? Oh, overly intrusive press photographers for sure. Who comes out better than the narrative of the day when Amy was being hounded? ''Bad boy'' Blake Fielder-Civil who is played so well by Jack O'Connell particularly in The Good Mixer scenes, an actor who also was an incendiary presence as squaddie Gary Hook on the superb Yann Demange directed troubles drama, '71.

But even better than O'Connell as we see it is Marisa Abela as Amy - Abela made her name on raunchy BBC city drama Industry and also bravely but actually pretty effectively here on Back to Black used her own singing voice instead of lip-syncing to an array of Winehouse hits. Also convincing are Lesley Manville (Mrs Wells in Mike Leigh's Vera Drake) as Amy's nan Cynthia who Amy was so close to and Eddie Marsan who was so excellent as John Darwin in ITV drama The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe - and like Manville appeared in the cast of Vera Drake playing the character Reg - and who plays Mitch, Amy's dad, in a gruff but nuanced way that also captures his sentimental side.

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Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) and Mitch Winehouse (Eddie Marsan) depicted on Frith St, Soho - street of dreams Photo: StudioCanal

It's funny and 100 per cent correct when Amy says that she does not see herself as a ''fucking Spice Girl'' - girlpower she says is Sarah Vaughan. When she and Cynthia listen to Tony Bennett singing 'Body and Soul' it's also a respite before the madness of fame and the ultimate swift descent. Cynthia whose beehive Amy advised the singer on went out with Ronnie Scott back in the day. Ronnie and a lot of beboppers of his generation revered Sassy above all. In recent years the Kurtster one K. Elling has paid tribute in a long list to Sarah Vaughan following in the wake of ManTran and many more including bang up to date Zara McFarlane - but let's not digress too much.

There are scenes filmed in Ronnie Scott's and when Mitch is in the Palm Tree pub in Mile End listening to some live jazz when he hears the news to his consternation that Amy has got married in Florida pulls away to take the call from his daughter talking to her outside the pub on his mobile phone. The long time Osidge domiciled Welsh pianist Geoff Eales is among the musicians credited in that brief scene.

Amy songs in the film from Frank are 'What Is It About Men,' 'Stronger Than Me,' 'I Heard Love is Blind,' 'Know You Now,' 'Fuck Me Pumps' and '(There Is) No Greater Love'. Back To Black songs are 'Back To Black,' 'Me & Mr Jones,' 'Love is a Losing Game,' 'Rehab,' 'Tears Dry on Their Own' and 'Valerie'. Jazz canon classics used in the soundtrack include Thelonious Monk's 'Straight, No Chaser,' Billie Holiday singing 'All of Me,' Tony Bennett singing 'Body & Soul' and Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown on 'Embraceable You'. The soundtrack is by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis and their 'Song for Amy' is very touching rolling over the end credits.

I haven't seen the Asif Kapadia 2015 Amy documentary but have watched the BBC documentary told from Amy's mother Janis' point of view entitled Reclaiming Amy that I thought was very worthwhile given that the press narrative up to that point rarely touched on her mother's thoughts - it was always more about Mitch. His role here is played down a little although he is significant at crucial points.

Clearly Amy loved her Blake - it's inconvenient for many fans of the singer to admit that especially if they only read about her contemporaneously in the tabloids of the day which were far more powerful then than they are today.

Back to Black does not allot blame to anyone - beyond the artifice of scene setting that all drama needs and there is of course a spin in this but that angle is an attempt at understanding everyone's point of view. Such lack of any sense of a preening, puritanical moralising self-entitlement is its strongest suit. If you want someone to blame, this isn't the film for you at all. Rated: 4 stars