Thoroughly exceeding all expectations and now a committed fan looking forward to their next performance.“
Reviewer: Adrian Bendall-Charles (Central Coast Radio)
Venue: Flamingos Live (Lizottes) Friday 11th October 2024
Picture this if you will. It was the long wet last day of the school holidays, kids going stir crazy and impossible to find a baby-sitter, so I drove up to see the Natalie Claire Jazz Band at Flamingos Live in Newcastle alone on an overcast Friday evening. Along the M1, I was overtaken by a white Ute that flicked up a stone and put a neat crack across half the windscreen.
Upon entering Flamingos Live with its wealth of all things entertainment memorabilia with choice elegant swashes of pink, I was immediately transported to my old overseas jazz haunts like the Saxophone Bar in Bangkok or home-base of the Stray Katz, since closed Grappa’s Cellar in Hong Kong. The Flamingos Live wait staff, especially Jamie, were quick to ensure I was comfortable and smiling with gratitude and a bottle of bangin’ bargain bubbles.
Warm and appropriately lit, I was fast settling in for the night and crowd were as diverse as the delicious three-course meal I subsequently meandered through. (Chilled lemon prawns with baba ghanoush, roasted peppers, dukkha and chermoula, followed by a deceptively filling aromatic pumpkin and vegetable curry with fragrant basmati rice, before finishing with a stunning lemon crumble coupled with crème anglaise and vanilla bean ice-cream).
The lights dimmed and Natalie’s pianist Miroslaw Galczynski opened to an audience ready to make this a night to remember. Couples of all ages and nationalities abounded and this just shows how timeless and borderless jazz can be. People were dancing in the spaces between tables and courses, everyone’s closets were surely bare that night of all sequins and inhibitions. When the talent on stage can parlay with the audience’s expectations and mood you have a phenomenon on your hands.
Drummer Steve Ley, Bassist Nicholas Powning and vocalist Natalie Claire then pulled out the big guns. Clean comic relief and this just put Flamingos Live on fire for the rest of the night. Not one misplaced note. Not a one and I kept feeling the troubles of the world were so far away and we were immune to the mundane. Natalie Claire’s voice had me the minute she walked on, and the entire band have perfect stage presence and audience interaction. It might have been the lemon crumble talking, although I could not help applauding Natalie’s range which can move around notes like churning honey and tunefully maintain a melody with bull whip precision.
The Natalie Claire Jazz Band graciously and generously performed a double encore as neither the audience nor myself were in any hurry to leave our new-found cultural oasis in suburban Central Coast NSW. We would want The Natalie Claire Jazz Band at any event as their repertoire fit any line-up and they add a unique signature to every number. Thoroughly exceeding all expectations and now a committed fan looking forward to their next performance.
Intimate venue, relaxed crowd at Natalie Claire Jazz Band.
Reviewer: Tyneesha Williams (The Illawarra Flame)
Venue: Wollongong Town Hall Sat 24th Feb 2024
On Saturday February 24, Natalie Claire Jazz Band delivered an incredible performance at the Music Lounge in Wollongong.
“If you’re here tonight, it means you missed out on getting tickets to Taylor Swift!” Natalie joked at the show’s start.
While Swiftie mania was once again filling Sydney’s Accor stadium, Wollongong’s crowd were in for an entirely different Saturday night. The venue was intimate and the energy relaxed as the band, headed by singer Natalie Claire, covered all the well-loved jazz classics, from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald.
A highlight was the band’s rendition of Peggy Lee’s Fever when, supported by the band’s clear chemistry, Natalie’s smooth, toned vocals took centre stage.
Each bandmate performed impressive solos. Pianist Miroslaw Galczynski, drummer Steve Ley and bassist Nicholas Powning anticipated and complemented each other’s improvisations with ease and great timing.
The audience was engaged and invited to interact with the band, who even led the room in singing happy birthday to one lucky person.
The musicians’ range of skills was on display, switching from slow, smooth ballads like Fly Me to the Moon to more upbeat numbers. The temptation to dance was irresistible and by the end of the show, several people were up and jiving to samba beats at the back of the room.
The evening ended with an encore performance of Route 66, finishing off a satisfying night filled with jazz classics.