It’s always nice to discover a new (to you) venue and band that you want to visit and hear again. To be honest, I didn’t discover vocalist Scarlett Stone and her trio or the Bluebird Café in Wedmore, Somerset – I was tipped off by a friend who had seen the gig advertised online. Neither of us had heard the band before, but we were impressed by their performance and were glad to have made the adventurous journey across the county.
The band’s regular line-up consists of pianist Richard Jenkins and bassist Adrian Smith and this session showed that they and Stone have established a supportive and responsive rapport. For this Bluebird gig they were joined by Mark Pembury on tenor sax. At a couple of points in the afternoon he took the lead as Stone had a brief rest: she mentioned that she had been unwell so needed to conserve her voice a little, but it sounded pretty good to me, both on leisurely ballads and uptempo numbers.
A fine, elegant singer with a varied repertoire, Stone negotiates the melodies with grace and puts over the lyrics with conviction. Her interpretations of songs are pleasingly personal whilst respecting their original essence. This session incorporated various Great American Songbook classics including Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, I’ve Never Been In Love Before, My Favourite Things and I Could Have Danced All Night as well as jazz standards including George Shearing’s Lullaby Of Birdland and Sonny Rollins’s St. Thomas, an excellent feature for Pembury.
Apart from being a stylish, poised and highly engaging performer, Stone runs a weekly jazz session in Wells with a different band every week, plus two jam sessions with the Wells Jazz Collective, where Jenkins and Smith function as the core house-band. She told me “This is really why we put events on – to support this community group. It’s been an important place both for musicians who want to meet up and play who might not be in a band as well as providing a space for all ages of jazz musicians to network. We also have a nice group of people who get to see jazz live that can’t really go to cities.” The WJC sessions take place at the White Hart in Wells and the Red Brick Building in Glastonbury.
The Bluebird, which has an excellent menu and a welcoming ambience, presents live music (not always jazz) on the afternoon of the last Sunday of the month. If you want to eat there (we found the food and service was excellent) it’s prudent to book a table in advance, but you can just go along to listen (and drink.) You can find details at bluebirdcafewedmore.com and you can enjoy some clips of the band in action at facebook.com/Scarlettstonejazz.
Scarlett Stone Trio at Bluebird Café, Wedmore, Somerset, 27 July 2025
