Jazz Journal Review
“The best live gig I’ve seen all year, by a country mile.”
— Leon Nock, Jazz Journal
Thank you to Leon Nock for a wonderful review in Jazz Journal of our recent show at Crazy Coqs in Soho. See the full review below or read on the Jazz Journal website here.
Frances xx
Frances Madden at Crazy Coqs, London
Leon Nock was delighted to find a singer who writes and performs with complete authenticity in the old songbook style
17 August 2026 by Leon Nock
Very occasionally, and completely against the run of play in the current musical landscape, a performer emerges who, in every respect – talent, charisma, choice of accompaniment, rapport with audience – might well be performing in the mid-20th, rather than one quarter into the 21st century.
So far, in a lifetime punctuated by live gigs and literally thousands of hours of vinyl and CD, I have encountered only one performer who ticks all the boxes, or, in other words, a performer who is fit to have her name juxtaposed in the same sentence as June Christy, Jo Stafford, Eydie Gormé, Jeri Southern and other female A-list female vocalists, active in the mid-20th century.
That performer is triple-threat: composer, pianist and singer Frances Madden, who this evening delivered an exceptional 75 minutes at Crazy Coqs. She didn’t do it alone, although she is perfectly capable of so doing, gifted as she is as both pianist and vocalist. She was, however, accompanied by Rob Updegraff, guitar, Phil Donnelly, bass and Mez Clough, drums, with backing vocals by Amy Sears.
I really should get out more. For an hour or so – until I was disabused by the lady herself – I was basking in the thought that virtually single-handedly, I had truffled out a major new talent. Alas, it seems that Madden, who left her native Australia two years ago and settled in London, has already established a reputation both at home and in the UK, where she has already performed successfully at Crazy Coqs, at Ronnie’s and in several other venues.
On this occasion she offered us 10 originals – like Cole Porter, Frank Loesser and Noel Coward she writes both words and music – plus four standards. Given that one of the standards, Tonight You Belong To Me, is exactly 100 years old, it provides a perfect opportunity to describe Madden as a link between then and now, “then” being the popular music landscape circa 1900-1960.
Many modern vocalists who accompany themselves on piano merely play shells, just sufficient to form a background sound, but Madden is the real thing, one minute swinging like Tarzan when the Trading Post ring to tell him that Jane is maxing out his credit cards, the next offering a vocal-free rendition of Cheek To Cheek reminiscent of Victor Borge. This is a fully rounded act, with Amy Sears, who provides backing vocals, on the stand from beginning to end – something new to me. Madden left the piano bench a couple of times, the second to form a cod barber-shop quartet rendition of Tonight You Belong To Me. Rob Updegraff got the lion’s share of the solos but on the last number, Shake Your Blues Away, all three got to strut their stuff, and to do so to a fare-thee-well. The best live gig I’ve seen all year, by a country mile.
Frances Madden at Crazy Coqs, 20 Sherwood Street, London, W1F 7ED, 15 August 2026