Becca Wilkins’ latest project rêverie, is a collection of reworked French Chanson against the
backdrop of a contemporary jazz quintet.
Inspired by projects such as Lucia Cadotch’s ‘speak low’, this unique line up of vocals and trio evokes an alternate reality of the chanson made popular by Jacques Brel, Yves Montand and Edith Piaf. Featuring classics such as Sous le Ciel de Paris and La Bohème, Becca brings her Francophilia into sharp focus with this music. The collection exemplifies her skills as a song interpreter, band leader and improviser with this music that is powerfully communicative, brooding and mysterious, vulnerable and atmospheric.
This performance introduces audiences to chanson from across the decades, some well-
known, some obscure, each piece remoulded into new shapes that exemplify Becca’s
individual jazz styling. Expect haunting ballads alongside runaway waltzes, all featuring modal extemporisation, intricate counterpoint and masterful interplay. An assured and powerfully communicative performer, Becca is joined by long-time collaborators Olly Chalk (piano), Sam Ingvorsen (bass) and Billy Pod (drums). Rêverie is Becca’s most stylised project to date, as she brings her ‘other worldliness’ (Jazzwise Magazine) to audiences across the UK.