Jacqui Dankworth and Charlie Wood

Jacqui Dankworth MBE is one of the most highly regarded vocalists in the UK. Known primarily as a jazz singer, Jacqui’s unique musical palette also draws on folk, soul, classical, blues, and other influences. Her concert appearances and numerous recordings showcase her virtuosic, seemingly effortless mastery of a variety of genres.

Recent recording projects include “Rocking Horse Road”, an album project with The Brodsky String Quartet (2022, Chandos Records) and filming/recording at Abbey Road Studios with artist Sonia Boyce for the original performance art piece “Feeling Her Way”, which won the Golden Lion at the 2022 Venice Biennale and is currently touring the UK and Canada.

Television appearances include the BBC TV’s “Jazz 625: One Night Only” with Gregory Porter, Joshua Redman & others, as well as live performances and interviews on BBC Breakfast, the Paul O’Grady Show, and The One Show.

Jacqui made her Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2023 with her one-woman show Siren Songs. Other notable concert appearances include New Year’s Eve with the Liverpool Philharmonic, a special performance of her Songs Of Stage and Screen programme with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, a headline concert at Cadogan Hall in London with members the RPO and the BBC Big Band, and as guest vocalist on Radio 2’s Friday Night Is Music Night.  Jacqui appeared as Eleanor in The Opera Company’s production of Alban Berg’s Lulu (entitled American Lulu) with the London Sinfonietta, with tour dates including the Edinburgh Festival, the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria, and the Young Vic in London.

Jacqui is also an accomplished actor, having performed leading parts with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and in London’s West End.  Highlights include the part of Cinderella in Steven Sondheim’s London premier of Into The Woods, Sophisticated Ladies (a celebration of the music of Duke Ellington) and Les Liaisons Dangereuses with the RSC.

Jacqui appeared as Rosa in the second series of The Borgias starring Jeremy Irons (Showtime TV) and made a cameo appearance in the film Les Miserables directed by Tom Hooper.  In Oct./Nov. 2021 Jacqui appeared in a new musical adaptation of Indecent Proposal at Southwark Playhouse, London.

Jacqui is constantly touring with her own band and has performed and recorded with a diverse array of celebrated musicians, including the Carducci String Quartet, Courtney Pine, Marvin Hamlisch, Paloma Faith, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Gretchen Parlato, Clare Teale, Georgie Fame, David Gordon, Charlie Wood, Gregory Porter, The London Symphony Orchestra, and legendary jazz pianist Chick Corea.

Charlie Wood is a singer/songwriter and keyboardist whose eclectic musical style incorporates elements of jazz, blues, traditional r&b and popular music. Born and raised in Memphis, TN, Wood’s early musical development was steeped in the blues and R&B music of his hometown. At seventeen, he headed down to New Orleans, spending several years soaking up the exotic piano traditions and lush lifestyle of the Big Easy.

Charlie’s early twenties found him on the road as keyboard player for legendary blues guitarist Albert King, with whom he toured the US and Europe. Returning to his hometown, Wood soon established a long-standing residency at King’s Palace on Memphis’ historic Beale Street, performing nightly with his Hammond organ trio for many years. The gig became known to touring musicians and locals alike, attracting impromptu sit-ins from B.B. King, Georgie Fame, Joey DeFrancesco, George Coleman, Mulgrew Miller, Alvin Batiste, and many others. Honors received during these years included being awarded the Freedom of the City and a dedicated ‘Charlie Wood Day’ by Memphis City Council, the N.A.R.A.S. Premier Player Award for Keyboards and the Beale St. Merchants’ Association Entertainer of the Year” award.

In October 2014, Wood became the 136th recipient of a Brass Note on Beale Street, the Memphis equivalent of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Previous recipients include such musical luminaries as Al Green and Isaac Hayes.

Wood is an accomplished and prolific singer/songwriter and has received stellar reviews for his original releases, including Southbound and Who I Am on Ben Sidran’s GoJazz label and Flutter and Wow on Memphis-based Archer Records. His original song Promised Land won first prize in the 2015 U.S.A. Songwriting Competition (jazz category). Another original composition, Never Gonna Stop New Orleans, was recorded by soul great Irma Thomas and included in Harry Shearer’s documentary film, The Big Uneasy.

Wood is also becoming recognised as a talented and original arranger, with recent scores performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Liverpool Philharmonic, the Brodsky Quartet, the Royal Marine Band, the Back To Basie Bigband, and others. He has also recently been made a Professor of the Guildhall School of Music, London, where he teaches voice and improvisation.

Now living in the UK with his wife, renowned jazz vocalist Jacqui Dankworth, MBE, Charlie continues touring and recording regularly. Notable appearances have included the London Jazz Festival’s Jazz Voice at the Barbican, BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night Is Music Night at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Radio 2’s Jools Holland Show and numerous other performances throughout the UK and Europe.

Wood’s 2014 solo CD New Souvenirs (released on Perdido Records, co-produced by Ms. Dankworth) featured twelve new original Charlie Wood compositions and garnered rave reviews from Jazzwise, R2 Magazine, Jazz Journal, Record Collector, and elsewhere. Jacqui and Charlie’s much anticipated duets album, Just You, Just Me, was released on Perdido Records in autumn 2016.

Wood’s seventh studio album Tomorrow Night was inititally released on Perdido Records and is now out alongside several other classics from his catalogue via Karousel Buried Treasure.

Tracks from Tomorrow Night– some self-penned, others made famous by BB King, Otis Redding, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, Al Green- have received considerable radio airplay (both in the UK and in the US) before and since its release, and Wood has guest featured on Nigel Williams’s show on Jazz FM and on Robert Elms’s show on BBC London Radio. The release of Tomorrow Night comes four years after his last solo record and Charlie is soon to be going into the studio to record his next studio release. Before that, there is the small matter of his organ trio record, Privacy Policy. Watch the website for news on both those forthcoming releases.