Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Lea Delaria, The Daffodil

Thursday 30th April 2009

Crackerjack rating: 8 / 10.

Long gone are the days when girl singers just looked slinky and crooned gently.

Indeed you couldn’t get much more of a contrasting image, than that of American jazz diva/comedian Lea Delaria.

Lea looks almost as broad as she’s long. Short haired and dressed in a masculine, broad shouldered suit, she gave out with hilarious, outrageous and unprintable chatter, leaving no-one in doubt that she liked girls more than boys.

She also proved herself one heck of a song belter, with secure top notes and surefire jazz instincts. Add a huge personality and sense of fun as big as the planet, and you knew the evening could only go one way. A feast of a riot!

Vocal subtlety didn’t feature greatly, but who cared with Lea rocking Miss Otis Regrets, with the atomic trio of Jeanette Mason: piano, Simon Little: bass and Paul Robinson: drums.

Lea’s bold liberties with What’s New Pussycat would have had Tom Jones in tears, whilst The Deep Blue Sea pulsated with scat-song drive.

A waitress named Fiona was on constant microphone call for more tequila, and Ian Shaw  - in town for tomorrow’s Town Hall, Billy Strayhorn tribute - was also summoned up.

The resulting wild duet on Symphony Sid was 100 % proof that jazz knows how to party.

Derek Briggs