It’s been twelve years since vocalist Georgia Mancio and pianist Alan Broadbent began to collaborate as performers and songwriters. As well as numerous live shows, the collaboration has produced three albums: Songbook in 2017, Quiet is the Star in 2021 and now a new collection of original songs co-written by the duo and titled A Story Left Untold.

During that twelve-year collaboration, live and on record, Mancio and Broadbent have produced consistently high-quality work, whether as writers — Mancio as lyricist, Broadbent as composer — or as performers, and this latest album does not disappoint. The inter-relationship between Mancio’s voice and Broadbent’s piano is a joy to hear, both performers have a sophisticated, understated style and their connection ensures that they beautifully convey the moods and emotions of their songs — A Story Left Untold maintains the duo’s high standards from start to finish.

Of course, this is not solely a duo album. Bassist Andrew Cleyndert, co-producer with Mancio, and drummer Dave Ohm are present on almost every song and their subtle, sympathetic, playing is crucial to the atmosphere across the album. The ten songs were written over an eight-year period, from 2016 (“Same Old Moon”) to 2024 (“A Story Left Untold”) and recorded in 2023 and 2024. They’re mostly slow to medium tempo — “In the Afternoon” is an exquisite example, the slow tempo, Ohm and Cleyndert’s laid-back groove and Mancio’s lyrics all evoking the variations to be found through the year simply by taking a walk as “another season changes, till then, I’ll keep walking in the afternoon.” “The Love I Left Behind” is another ballad, inspired by Scottish poet John Glenday’s “For My Wife, Reading in Bed.” It’s a piano/vocal duet sung in English and Italian (Mancio’s second language, but she credits singer Diana Torti as “Italian language consultant”).

“From Me To You” is taken at a faster pace, there’s a brief exchange of solo phrases between Ohm and Broadbent, and the upbeat musical mood reflects Mancio’s voice as she sends the song “with love from me to you.” “The Same Old Moon” moves even more quickly, but Mancio matches the pace effortlessly, maintaining the crystal-clear quality of her voice and the clarity of each and every word of the lyric and ending with a surprising and impressive vocal leap on “moon.”

“A Story Left Untold” brings the album to a close. Unlike the previous songs, Broadbent wrote and arranged this number for a 42-piece orchestra and in June 2024 it was recorded with the FAME Skopje Studio Orchestra. The orchestra does an exceptional job of translating Broadbent’s ideas into reality. Mancio’s lyrics, which she added after Broadbent had both written and arranged the music, tell a mysterious tale that seems to trace a history over hundreds, if not thousands, of years yet the singer has experienced every part of it: “And though I lived it all, I never really understand.” The ambition displayed in this majestic song suggests the Mancio/Broadbent partnership has much more left to explore, their story still has much to be told.

Release date is 5 May. The launch is at Pizza Express Dean Street on 30 April

TOUR DATES
24 April Seven Arts Leeds
25 April 8pm Sheffield Jazz at Crookes Social Club, Mulehouse Road, Sheffield, S10 1TD
26 April Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham (two shows)
27 April (3pm) Stapleford Granary Cambridge, CB22
29 April 8.30pm Jazz Hastings at East Hastings Sea Angling Association,
30 April 8pm Pizza Express Jazz Club, London
2 May 7.45pm The Lighthouse Poole
3 May 7.30pm Cranleigh Arts Centre
4 May 12.30pm Cheltenham Jazz Festival
4 May 8pm Ship Theatre, Wally Hall School, Hollybush Lane, Sevenoaks TN13 3UL

from https://ukjazznews.com