Songs Of Old

« Songs of old » gives traditional stories a new twist with a contemporary jazz setting that is as fresh as the morals of the tales. Like Emily Allison, who grew up singing her father’s English nursery rhymes, most of the poems (Blake, Lear), stories and anecdotes have their roots in Britain. In turn dark, ironic, naive or moving, Emily’s compositions echo lyrics that illustrate all shades of human nature, from purest virtue to blackest vice.

The sextet (accompanied by a string quartet on four tracks) is composed of young jazz musicians from Belgium, France and Luxembourg.

Emily Allison (vocals, compositions, arrangements)
Sylvain Debaisieux (tenor sax)
Guillaume Vierset (guitar)
David Thomaere (piano, keyboards)
Boris Schmidt (bass, double bass)
Paul Berne (drums)

In Praise of Folly, string 4tet
Margaret Hermant, violin
Maia Frankowski, violin
Nicole Miller, Viola
Annemie Osborne, Cello

Brussels Singers (Backing vocals)
Constance De Keyser, Anu Junnonen, Leander Moens, Boris Schmidt, Célia Tranchand, François Vaiana

Produced by Emily Allison
Recorded at Studio Pyramide in 2018, Berseel, Belgium
Engineered, mixed and mastered by Vincent Debast
Artistic Director, Thomas Mayade

Design and photography by Clément Vallery
Artwork by PARVATI