If Edensor’s Cavendish were to be compared to a London music venue, it would more likely be the Wigmore Hall than Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, but it was jazz all the way for Peak Music’s final concert of the 2025/2026 season.
Jacqui Dankworth and Charlie Wood delighted the packed audience with a stunning set showcasing a wide variety of jazz styles from classic Duke Ellington, through Stephen Sondheim to a quirky flamenco version of the well-known Windmills of your Mind, which famously featured in the film The Thomas Crown Affair.
Jacqui is, of course, the daughter of the late jazz musician Johnny Dankworth and his wife, the renowned singer Cleo Laine, and comparisons are unavoidable. There is certainly no doubt that she has her mother’s power, vocal agility and feel for the music.
Her partner, Charlie, hails from New Orleans and his heritage is very evident in his piano playing. He is also a skilled composer and singer. As jazz musicians, their preferred ambience is obviously a shadowy nightclub, but they good-humouredly adapted to the fact that, at the Cavendish Hall, it was either bright lighting or being invisible on stage.
A sense of fun was never far away. A performance of Broadway Baby from the show Follies gave Jacqui the opportunty to do a passable impersonation of Su Pollard’s character in Hi de Hi! More mainstream numbers included You Got a Friend, famously performed by Carole King and James Taylor, and Gershwin’s Lady be Good.
The evening ended with a moving rendition of Sondheim’s Send in the Clowns and an encore of the blues classic Sitting on Top of the World, the audience appreciation showing that this was a fitting finale to another impressive Peak Music season.