James Hudson: Live at West Side Jazz

The self-styled crooner James Hudson put on a cool show for the crowd at West Side Jazz, pulling out a great selection of classic show tunes, brilliantly arranged.

Joe, James, Murray and Dave (c) rw_crowley

James confessed that the set-list was very much last-minute, and arrangements were directed through the evening so it was very much a specific, carefully curated performance. His voice is pure and sonorous: there’s an ease with which he adapts the melodies and gently leads the band along with him.

Some of the best arrangements were The Nearness of You, You Make Me Feel So Young and the encore Sunny. With a jazz version of Pure Imagination, originally made famous by Gene Wilder, James proved that he can turn anything into a standard and make it swing.

Joe, James and Murray (c) rw_crowley

The musicians at West Side Jazz are always at the top of their field and, due to a sporting injury, a late substitution on bass for this show was the highly adept Murray Dare. Keys responsibilities fell to Joe Hill, while Dave Tandy was on his usual drums chair. The quartet together put on a great show of arrangements featured on James’s two albums, Tomorrow and Moonray. I reviewed the latter just before its release in 2024.

James unashamedly describes himself as a crooner, and admits his inspiration in the shape of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerlad, but he does it with real class and the audience at West Side Jazz loved it.

Next up at West Side Jazz is an exciting Big Band made up of some of the UK’s best musicians on 6 May