Lucy-Anne Daniels – Jazz at NAC Cafe Spotlight

NAC offers an exciting new platform for this next generation of jazz performers, all of them students at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Join them in our super-relaxed, intimate café setting, bringing some zest, joy and creativity into the fourth Sunday of the month! Welcome to Café Spotlight…

LUCY-ANNE DANIELS

She has already done a nationwide tour fronting the National Youth Jazz Orchestra – but now you can see the acclaimed Lucy-Anne Daniels kicking off our new Sunday afternoon Café Spotlight series at NAC.

Grounded in the vibrant sounds of gospel and jazz, Lucy-Anne is a vivid storyteller, creative improviser, and fierce performer. Her powerful interpretation of lyric and effortless control of melody instantly captivate and invite you to partake in a musical communion. Within her artistry she uses ethereal vocal effects and textures paired with round acoustic timbres that open and elevate the listening ear.

At just 21, she has dazzled audiences at notable venues across the UK and further afield in Paris and New York.

She became lead vocalist for NYJO in 2019 aged 16 and began studying jazz voice at Birmingham Conservatoire the following year. She went on to front the estimable orchestra on its national 2021-22 tour ‘Amy Winehouse: A Celebration Of Her Life And Music’, with musical director, trombonist Winston Rollins. Key dates included Cambridge Jazz Festival, Band On The Wall in Manchester and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.

Rollins said at the time: “We have an amazing singer in Lucy-Anne Daniels who will be putting her own vibe into the songs, with her lush voice, you will get lost in her interpretation of the songs, whilst enjoying every moment!”

Writing for London Jazz News last September, Lavender Sutton said of one of Lucy-Anne’s gigs, alongside seasoned jazzers, at Ladbroke Hall: “The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly newcomer vocalist Lucy-Anne Daniels. From Leeds and still studying at the Birmingham Conservatoire, her stage presence and charisma lit up the stage as she performed some interesting renditions of classic standards like After You’ve Gone and I’m Old Fashioned. She had an ease about her, interacting with the other musicians with beautiful phrasing and a deep understanding of the lyrics.”

Lucy-Anne also guested with Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in December last year, led by artistic director, Britjazz saxophone great Tommy Smith.

Quite a CV already, then! Lucy-Anne is boldly making her mark on the UK jazz scene and beyond, and is really one to watch.