Siobhan Pettit

[warbachavid]

The Flavelle Files: Siobhàn Pettit
Lisa Flavelle tracks down the hidden heroes of the Irish music scene

By Lisa Flavelle
lisaflavelle@yahoo.co.uk

28 May 2004
As any jazz musician will tell you, quality singers are hard to find. When Siobhàn Pettit relocated from the south she was warmly welcomed to the local scene by players who knew she was something of a rare fish. With a melodic voice and dazzling stage presence combined with perfect pitch and rhythm, Siobhàn was a welcome relief from many more self-indulgent singers.

Originally from Clonmel in Tipperary but now living in Belfast, Siobhàn began her career singing folk music and was later introduced to jazz while in New York studying with Mike Mitchell in Carnegie Hall. Since her return from the States in 1991, she has worked with her own jazz quintet, a nine-piece big band called Nightswing, and the 15-piece Ulster Dance Orchestra.


Siobhàn certainly knows how to put a band together. Linley Hamilton fronts the wind section on trumpet and Brian Connor is on piano. The most proficient of singers can be swamped by a seven-piece band but Pettit can confidently lead them through her set of swing classics and jazz standards.


Her most notable performances so far include playing for the President of the Philippines and an appearance at Belfast City Hall in 1995 for Bill Clinton's visit. Siobhàn has also appeared at many of the country's most successful jazz festivals and provided backing vocals on Van Morrison's album, Down The Road. She has also worked with Heather Small, Ruby Turner, Brian Kennedy, Maura O'Connell, Francis Black, Cara Dillon and Ronan Tynan.


Her first CD, Don't Try To Cushion The Blow, was a 4-track EP and her second was a live recording of a concert. Her third release, Verse & Chorus, was recorded in 1999 and has a mellow mood, with one special track written by Pettit featuring the much-missed local guitar legend Foggy Lyttle on guitar.


It was Pettit's most recent album of Burt Bacharach songs, Long Ago Tomorrow, that really cemented her reputation, however. Released on Tfor3 Records, Siobhàn and her producer partner Rod Patterson gave the songs a fresh take, with new arrangements by Gavin Murphy and Brian Byrne. Siobhàn's contemporary interpretation of such classics as The Look of Love and I Say A Little Prayer captures a style reminiscent of current jazz darling Diana Krall.


Siobhàn is currently negotiating licensing and distribution deals for Long Ago Tomorrow for territories in the Far East, Europe, Canada and the US, and has just returned from a promotional tour in the Philippines, where her album reached No 3 in the charts last year.

[Roberto Pinardi]

Very great cd