Personnel: I've worked with so many great players that it's hard to list them all but here are some of my favourites:
My new album "In the Mood for Love" features Mike Graver on piano - a wonderful player who is particularly suited to 'The American Songbook' ballads which are featured on the CD. Other super pianists I've worked with have included Jonathan Vinton, Julian Martin, Keith Nichols and Martin Litton who plays the piano on "Easy Living"
Other musicians are added to make my ‘Salty Dogs’ Jazz band and have included great reedmen like Norman Field, Trevor Whiting and Zoltan Sagi, drummers Nick Ward and Alan "Sticky" Wicket and Double Bass players Malcolm Sked and Chris O'Connor. I have also worked several times with Frans Sjostrom (almost certainly the world's finest Bass Saxophone player!) and the great guitarist Nils Solberg. I also perform regularly as a guest singer with other bands - this year it has included the 9 piece 'Sticky Wicket Swing Band', and Graham Dalby's 14 piece Orchestra.
John Vickers (see Manouche Guitars) features on "Don't Fence Me In" - This was just a bit of fun in the studio when we were testing levels for a different project - I'd only sung it once before when working out the key - but it was such a good take that we kept it.
Influences
Influences: Billie Holiday remains my all time heroine, I never tire of her voice, it’s exquisite and never fails to leave my heart pounding with its emotion and passion. I’m also a huge fan of Annette Hanshaw, Peggy Lee, Fats Waller and many others.
Sounds Like
Sounds like: Cate Cody! But if you had to say who else it would be Peggy Lee.
..with Piano... ..or The Cate Cody Trio... ..or with her 'Salty Dogs' Jazz band..
Popular & critically acclaimed, Cate Cody is a talented Jazz Singer bringing the glamour, sophistication and fun of the 1920s & 1930s Jazz Age to audiences & venues as diverse as Earl Spencer & guests at Althorp; the Royal Society of Arts; The Park Lane Hotel, London; Blenheim Palace; Oxford University; the RAF; and some of the finest dancers in the UK. She plays for diners at restaurants such as The Daffodil, Cheltenham; The Greenway, Shurdington and Jesmonds of Highworth, and she has wowed Jazz festival-goers at Whitley Bay, Upton-on-Severn and Chipping Norton; as well as hundreds of private clients for weddings & parties throughout the UK.
Cate started out by learning Billie Holiday's version of 'Loverman' and Billie remains her all-time favourite: "her exquisite voice never fails to leave my heart pounding with its emotion and passion. I'm also a huge fan of Peggy Lee, Mildred Bailey, Anita O'Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Julie London, Doris Day and many others".
Cate devised two successful shows for The Roses theatre at Tewkesbury; one was based on songs related to snippets of social history between 1914 and 1932; the other was all about love. She enjoys delving into the rich history behind the jazz era, its songs and composers, and says that with an estimated 300,000 popular songs copyrighted between 1910 and 1950, there's an amazing range of great music to choose from. " I like to sing a balance of well known favourites and rare classic jazz tunes. There are the 'greats' like Cole Porter, The Gershwin's and Hoagy Carmichael who I love, but I also think it's important to pursue the salvage of the less well known tunes and composers; some are almost lost to history. My repertoire has really been built up over the years with songs that I hear, fall in love with and have to learn. There have also been some that I've learnt specifically as requests for weddings and have kept on singing afterwards. I always try to learn the verses; they are important introductions to the songs and are sadly often omitted.
A new CD album "In The Mood For Love" featuring Mike Graver on grand piano has just been released. After working together for 18 months Cate & Mike felt it was time to record some of their favourite songs from the American songbook, including classic standards ‘As Time Goes By’, ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, the lesser known ‘Baltimore Oriole’ and many more.
Professionally recorded with a fine Yamaha grand piano & vintage valve
microphone for an authentic sound, this was meant to be a 4 track demo
but the session went so well 13 tracks were in the can by the end of the
day. Perhaps for the first time the full rich timbre of Cate’s voice has
been captured, along with sensitive and tasteful piano accompaniment.
Two previous albums "Candy Lips" and "Honey Bunch" featured her 'Salty Dogs' band, with 'Candy Lips' in particular receiving a 'Recommended' by Just Jazz Magazine.
Hey Kate, I,ve just noticed your playing "the daffodil" on my birthday,would love to have made it but I,m up in Glasgow that week. Best wishes for the gig. tomigun
