Hannah Horton grew up in rural Essex and was introduced to clarinet and saxophone by an inspiring music teacher. She did the Junior Guildhall programme followed by a music degree at Goldsmiths under the tutelage of Mark Lockheart. Comfortable with both jazz and classical music, she worked with the National Youth Musical Theatre programme and NYJO before doing a masters and advanced post-grad at at Trinity Laban. She taught saxophone, and released the album Forget Me Not in 2012. After the pandemic and other problems she returned to recording in 2021 with the album Inside Out. She also founded J-Steps, a jazz ensemble for female and non-binary improvising musicians.
Tonight, Hannah mostly played her own original compositions, revealing a gift for writing catchy and accessible tunes, often featuring a strong rhythmic element. She also evinced an engaging personality, chatting with the audience and giving us the story behind the inspiration for each of her tunes.
She started with Surfing Thermals, a minor-key Latin tune inspired by seeing buzzards in flight above her home. This featured an insistent drum pattern played with mallets by Vince Dunn, and an appropriately soaring solo from Hannah on tenor. On the haunting waltz Frozen Light, she demonstrated her powerful yet lyrical sound on the baritone sax (using a new instrument given to her by the Selmer company). Escape (all about holidays in hot countries) featured a relaxed, swinging melody with a unison baritone and bass line, and could easily have come from the pen of Gerry Mulligan. Remembering Mr. Gone was an affecting tribute to Wayne Shorter, with some unusual twists and turns, no doubt inspired by the great man himself.
Hannah’s other tunes were in turn funky, swinging or Latin-influenced. Pianist Adrian York proved his adaptability to all these styles, providing excellent accompaniment and exciting solos. Marianne Windham supplied solid bass lines and melodic solos, while Vince Dunn expertly covered all the different rhythmic approaches required.
The set also featured a few tunes by other composers, including Sea Journey (Chick Corea), Pure Imagination (Bricusse/Newley) and Las Vegas Tango (Gil Evans). Hannah ended the gig with a familiar tune, a fast version of Duke Ellington’s Caravan, earning a great reception from the audience.
Hannah Horton, East Grinstead Jazz Club, Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead, 14 January 2025. Hannah Horton (tenor and baritone sax); Adrian York (piano); Marianne Windham (bass); Vince Dunn (drums)