I first heard this record on the same day I was scheduled to interview the lady on its cover. Isobel had only recently come to my attention, through mutual friend Elise Roth—another up-and-coming, London-based jazz vocalist—and I wanted to get a bit familiar with her work in preparation for our chat. There wasn’t too much to familiarize myself with mind you, beyond a few YouTube clips and debut album Day Dream, which was released in spring.
Later, sitting down to what would become a very enjoyable hour talking about her projects, aspirations and Britain’s place in the wider jazz world, I had nothing but praise for this work. Complimenting your subject is a good way to relax them and make them more talkative, you see. Fortunately, praising Day Dream wasn’t at all difficult, as I honestly did like it very much. Isobel deserves a lot of this praise, for her beautiful vocal work—on which more shortly—but so does the other person named on the cover: bandleader and arranger Colin Skinner.
A former member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra UK, sax man Skinner is assistant musical director to the Syd Lawrence Orchestra and appears with both the Echoes of Ellington and Back to Basie outfits. He has performed alongside superstars like Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett, to name but two, and arranged the music for Kevin Spacey’s 2004 Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea.
His arranging ta
