Last Friday night saw the long-awaited return of Culture Night in Limerick city, with a host of exhibitions, family friendly activities and concerts.
By Sadhbh Pearse
Local jazz singer JaYne Fraser captivated the Belltable Theatre for Limerick Culture Night 2022. The Limerick performer put on an intimate set featuring a mix of brand new and older material, along with a few covers that she gave a new, sultry feel, making you feel like you’d heard them for the first time and couldn’t imagine hearing it any other way.
JaYne was asked to perform by the Belltable and John Daly from the Limerick Jazz Festival in conjunction with the Culture Night. Originally to perform with a pianist, these plans fell through. However, all hope was not lost! After over a decade of performing, Jayne has made many a contact and friend in the industry and was able to perform alongside guitarist Paul O’Connor who “did a great job filling in and learning the songs on short notice”. Percussionist Lya Gurrero, a good friend to JaYne, also accompanied.
JaYne emerged onstage in a beautiful satin orange wrap dress which matched her signature wild curls, paired with floral black heels from a charity shop and her usual minimal 20’s style makeup. Stepping behind her coveted vintage style microphone, glass of red wine in hand, she glided into her first song “Night and Day”, her vocals blowing the crowd away for the entire set.
Amongst her own songs “Sucker” and her newest song release “Escape”, Jayne threw in a few covers like “Try a Little Tenderness” amd closed with “Let there be Love”
All three artists blended together beautifully, Paul keeping up with Jayne’s vocal runs and jazz style “scatting” and Lya was visibly passionate in her performing, more so interpreting the vibes and the music than just playing the beat, using a set of conga drums, shakers, tambourine and cajon.
JaYne thoroughly enjoyed her performance and loves being back in the flow of it all since restrictions have lifted. Having grown up with a performing background, she’s has always wanted to perform herself. Her father was in a band himself and she attended stage school for most of her life before striking out into the world of jazz performance and releasing her own material. Having lived in London for many years, she has come to love UK New Wave jazz but still holds the old style close to her heart.
This past summer, Jayne began filming her latest music video for her song “One Man Show” in the Record Room in Limerick, which has a burlesque theme. It even features the amazing London based fire performer Marshall Arkley. Hard at work, she hopes her newest material will be released in early 2023.
Follow JaYne on Spotify and Instagram to keep up with her latest releases and gigs!
