Cate has produced two CDs, "Honey Bunch" and "Candy Lips". To hear samples, or to purchase CDs please see the Music Samples page.
Review of "Honey Bunch" CD in Just Jazz Magazine November 2005
Tracks:
Honey Bunch; You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me; *Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans; Let’s Misbehave; Is I In Love? I Is; *Too Busy; Hard Hearted Hannah; I’m An Unemployed Sweetheart; *Easy Living; I’m Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now; He’s Funny That Way; Believe It Beloved
Personnel:
Cate Cody (vocal), Norman Field (clarinet, saxes), Malcolm Sked (sousaphone), Nick Ward (drums), Wayne Shannon (piano), Martin Litton (piano*)
‘If you care for quality tunes with nicely crafted lyrics, stylish period musical accompaniment and the singing style of such great ladies as Annette Hanshaw, Ruth Etting and the early Billie Holiday, then you will like this CD by Cate Cody and her backing band. Cate not only sings beautifully, she also chooses her songs carefully, avoiding the trite and over-familiar in favour of the more rewarding but less-performed gems that are available to all performers in her chosen genre, but neglected by most of them. What’s more, she invariably sings the verses as well as the choruses: this is not only innately more musically interesting, but often the words to the verse ‘set up’ the words of the chorus, thus making the song more of the complete dramatic entity intended by its composer and lyricist (her clear diction and perfect pitch also ensure we actually get to hear all the words, too!). The booklet notes, written by Cate herself, explain the reasons behind her choice of repertoire and offer interesting sidelights on the tunes in question; it’s clear that this is a lady who takes her craft very seriously indeed. As to the actual performances here, we have an excellent selection of tunes varying from the slow ballad style of 'Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans' to the up-tempo ‘twenties frivolity of 'I’m Gonna Meet My Sweeetie Now' and taking in the real rarity of 'Is I In Love? I Is' recorded by American singer Marion Harris in London in 1932.
The backing group varies slightly in that on three tracks, Cate is accompanied only by Martin Litton’s piano – though ‘only’ is perhaps the wrong word to use, since Martin’s rich and inventive playing more than compensates for the absence of other instruments on these tunes: 'Easy Living' in particular is a small masterpiece for both singer and accompanist, though 'He’s Funny That Way' runs it a close second for my favourite track on the CD. On the remaining numbers, Cate has Norman Field’s elegant and perfectly idiomatically-correct clarinet and alto, Wayne Shannon’s sympathetic piano, Malcolm Sked’s buoyant brass bass and the inimitable Nick Ward taking care of vintage percussion duties…recommended.
From Cotswold Life Magazine Apr
2007
“Cate Cody from Tewkesbury has been described as ‘the jazz diva whose ball-gowns have revived the circulation of many a veteran jazz fan’.They, and her voice, have graced Blenheim Palace and Oxford University. The girl who started out by learning Billie Holiday’s version of Loverman, cites The Greenway in Shurdington and the ‘delightful’ Daffodil in Cheltenham as two of her favourite places in which to perform.Billie is her all-time favourite: “her exquisite voice never fails to leave my heart pounding with its emotion and passion”. Cate devised two successful shows for The Roses theatre at Tewkesbury; one was based on songs related to snippets of social history between 1914 and 1932; the other was all about love. Sheenjoys delving into the rich history behind the jazz era, its songs and composers, and says that with an estimated 300,000 popular songs copyrighted between 1910 and 1950, there’s an amazing range of great music to choose from. You might catch Cate with her Salty Dogs - a band of up to six players – at public events, but she is in huge demand for private functions, including weddings,picnic suppers and boating parties.”
Written by Mark Child
for Cotswold Life April 2007
