ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT for Nicola Farnon
Short Bio, Reviews And Quotes (for longer Bio click here)
Nicola Farnon
Nicola Farnon is a stunning vocalist and accomplished double bass player. Farnon has a remarkable musical pedigree, both parents being professional classical musicians and her great uncle no less than the late Robert Farnon.
Appearing regularly on the national and international jazz circuit, Nicola leads her trio and quartet with a wonderfully warm and upbeat stage presence. Her numerous line-ups include such Jazz luminaries as Dave Newton, Digby Fairweather, Jim Mullen, Bruce Adams, Roy Williams and Alan Barnes and she has supported class jazz acts as diverse as Eliane Elias, Courtney Pine, Georgie Fame, Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, Humphrey Lyttleton and Acker Bilke.
With her natural musicality, versatility and attention to detail, she keeps audiences spellbound with classic songs ranging from 1930's to the 1970s. A truly talented singer, Nicola is a class act with a passionate and swinging style, outstanding personality and a charismatic stage presence to match - and an uncanny ability to adapt her performance to captivate and embrace any audience
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The Nicola Farnon Trio
With Nicola's trio you get a lot of musical talent that manages to pack a mighty punch for a seemingly small outfit as, although only three, between them they cover vocals, double bass, piano, (occasionally sax!), drums and percussion. Farnon manages to combine her exceptional talents of singing and playing bass whilst leading a trio brimming with versatility and integrity. They play an eclectic mixture of popular standards (and a few of Nicola's own very catchy originals); classy arrangements with a mixture of swing, latin - and the moving, heart rending ballads that people never tire of. They all aim to enjoy themselves fully with a delightfully original and very inclusively warm (and often witty!) performance. Ultimately these three musicians combine to give a performance that will startle you with it's genuine love of music and melody, to entertain joyfully - and to swing yer socks off!
Quotes and Reviews
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"jazz music and entertainment of the highest order. How does her trio manage to sound like a jazz group twice the size?"
Seven Jazz
“She’s a remarkable performer on stage, a fine singer and an outstandingly swinging and propulsive bass player with an outgoing personality to match...I declare that she is a class act who should be on every jazz festival in the land….A sure fire hit!”
Humphrey Lyttleton
“Nicola Farnon…
The most important thing in music is poetry…She’s got it
The next best activator is swing… She’s got it
Love, laughter, looks and charm… She’s got it
Her voice, whose choice? Mine… She’s got it!” Robert Farnon
“What a fine group of Musicians….an absolute joy”
Robert Farnon
Manchester jazz festival
making optimum use of their combined instrumental skills with integrity and joy
Scarborough Jazz Festival
The Nicola Farnon Trio combine first class musicianship with a genuine enthusiasm for being on stage at a prestigious jazz festival. Time and again Farnon’s bass playing swung, her winning vocals a delight
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Wakefield Jazz
A wonderful, and indeed extended, showing of the variety that three musicians can bring to a well-worn form. (The trio) captivated and held the audience with an entertaining evening of jazz—creatively demanding and superbly played.
Durham Jazz
Ms Farnon is everything a performer should be; accomplished, communicative and effervescent, her expressive voice a delight. [She] writes her own material and gives it 100%, winning new fans wherever she goes.
Southport Jazz festival
When your uncle is the highly acclaimed arranger and composer Robert Farnon (arranger for Sinatra and Tony Bennett amongst others)- you'd hope some of that talent might brush off on you. For vocalist / double bassist Nicola Farnon it certainly has..
Lincoln Jazz Festival
She has such stage presence, it totally at ease with her audience, and can make each number sound like she is singing it for the first time, just for you. The general consensus at the end of her set, from the full house of 200 fans, was that this most talented artist just gets better and better.
Stradbroke jazz festival
The one and only much requested Nicola Farnon, widely recognised as one of the classiest Jazz and Swing Vocalists in the UK – we are proud to have her back at Stradjazz
Hawick News, The Borders Jazz Festival
“..her own singing, charm, beauty and bass playing and the utter togetherness of her quintet were unrivalled for entertainment value.”
Lincoln Echo
I have little hesitation is saying that in my opinion Nicola is the most accomplished, talented, all round Jazz/Swing vocalist and Double Bass Player in the UK at the moment, and I urge you to support her
Big Band Buddies Magazine
..We were like putty in her hands. She has the unique talent to make it appear that each song that she sings is just for you, and that it is the very first time that she has ever sung it. She is the ultimate professional, with a charismatic personality that is rare in all but the top artists.
Three 'n' Easy CD review
Kicking off with one of her own impressive originals, 'Perfect Loverly Day', this fifth Cd from vocalist and bassist Nicola Farnon is a joy from start to finish. Ranging from the pitch-perfect balladeering of 'Monnlight In Vermont' and the deeply swinging 'almost Like Being In Love' to a sunny 'Surrey With The Fringe On Top' and a gossamer-light 'One Note Samba', Farnon gives uplifting performances of impeccable craftsmanship. In her musical partners, Piero Tucci (piano. tenor sax) and Phil Johnson (drums, percussion), she has two great players who are completely tuned in to her musicianship. Recorded the day after finishing Three 'n' Easy, the bonus live Cd A Day at the Market was similarly recorded, mixed and mastered by bass supremo Andrew Cleyndert, and sounds absolutely terrific
Jazzwise Review
That's The Bottom Line CD review
It's not often that you hear small groups tackling Jimmy Giuffre's 'Four Brothers', but here it is, with sparkling contributions by Piero Tucci (from Canada) on alto, Chris Walker on guitar and Nigel McGill (from Australia) on tenor. Even on the slower numbers, though - like 'Teach Me Tonight' or 'Time After Time' - there's a sense of drama and increasing intensity which owes much to Phil Johnson's attentive drumming, and Nicola Farnon's rare ability to tell a story with a song.’
Jazz UK magazine