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Fran Clark "To Fly" (body & soul BNS001)
With a pleasingly unaffected, natural-sounding delivery and a considerable talent for writing original songs ranging from soulful ballads and lightly funky shuffles to the odd latin-inflected piece or relatively conventional standard-influenced material, Fran Clark has made an auspicious debut recording with "To Fly".
The aforementioned range of her material is what immediately impresses. Clark, a Londoner from Ladbroke Grove, grew up exposed to everyone from Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker and Bob Marley to Nat King Cole and the works of Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart, and it shows, but this eclecticism is entirely unforced, enabling her to express straightforward heart-on-sleeve emotion one minute ('Amazing') and emulate the Great American Songbook's penchant for 'list' songs the next ('A Picture of You', 'Goodbye') without any undue abruptness of transition.
The neat tastefulness of her band and the controlled power of her and bassist/co-producer Pete Clark's arrangements help in this process, but overall it is the clear commitment and patent sincerity of Clark herself ('Goodbye', for instance, contains one of the most unaffected spoken passages you're ever likely to hear), not to mention her sheer musicality and ability to deliver a song in a variety of modes and moods, that make this album so attractive.
Intelligently paced like a well-arranged club set, this is an assured recording from a woman to watch.
Chris Parker - The Vortex Jazz Club
- Chris Parker - Vortex Jazz Club
This west London based chanteuse is a most accomplished soul and jazz vocalist. Fran is also a songwriter of note, specialising in mellow Latin moods, and penned all 11 of the cuts featured on this her debut album. Herein, Fran is splendidly backed by a seven-piece group, including the fine alto saxophonist Graham Reed, flautist Paul McLoughlin and, in particular, her husband Pete on bass and acoustic guitar - he also acted as the set's engineer. I Knew You Would Forget Me is reminiscent of early Everything But The Girl, circa their Eden album, and is representative of the high standard which Fran is capable of when she is in full flow, in terms of songwriting and performance. Flower In A Field boasts an attractive setting, with it's inventive mix of folk, jazz and South American elements, and provides an excellent illustration of fran's ability to cross musical genres with consummate ease.
MUSICIAN
- Musician Magazine
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Singer-songwriter, Fran Clark, grew up in a music loving family and from an early age was exposed to diverse styles; from Aretha to Jimi Hendrix then back to the vibrations and atmospheres of her Ladbroke Grove childhood via Bob Marley, Ray Charles or Jim Reeves.
Based in West London, she began her career as a backing and session vocalist. An accomplished vocalist having worked with live bands playing both original music and covers, singing genres ranging from pop/rock to soul. Her debut album “To Fly” features 11 original compositions with a jazzy mellow vibe and true emotion.
To date several tracks have received airplay from on-line and local radio, alongside radio interviews to include a recent interview on BBC Radio Ulster.
- "gorgeously chilled out" - Jules May-Brown - BFBS Radio1.
- "soft, smooth & lightly moisturised" - Sue Marchant - BBC Radio East.
-"what a wonderful sound!" - John Peters - Venture Radio.
As a jazz and soul singer Fran has performed professionally for the last 10 years.
Fran continues to work toward the completion of her second album.
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