Betty Bryant • Lotta Livin’

With the UK state pension now standing at 68 for people born in 1987—and likely to rise further, given our shambles of an economy and the absolute shower running it—I’m becoming worried that I may be working into my seventies. Betty Bryant had no such concerns, it seems: the veteran vocalist, pianist and composer is still clocking on in her nineties, having just released her fourteenth record at the grand old age of 94. I only wish I loved my job so much. (My other job, that is: I’d quite happily go on reviewing jazz for a living indefinitely, if one could make a living doing it.) Known to friends and fans as “Cool Miss B,” Bryant’s professional musical career began back in 1955, having studied piano under Desdemona Davis (pianist with Morrison's Jazz Orchestra and the Ted Lewis Jazz Band, and a definite candidate for one of my forgotten ladies features). An engagement at Beverly Hills’ Ye Little Club led to solo work around LA, which was her launchpad for an international touring career. Bryant became the house pianist at celeb chef Susan Feniger’s Street restaurant, as well as making regular trips to Tokyo where she often graced the upmarket Tableaux Lounge. Her style blends blues and jazz influences, mixing twelve-bar chord progressions and dominant sevenths aplenty with jazzy melodic vocals, making for a sound which manages to be both brooding and uplifting. He