Saturday 26th September 2009 @ Theatre Royal Ustinov, Bath

What happened when Fats Waller, Roger McGough, John Betjeman and Thomas Hardy met in a Bath playhouse? It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but courtesy of Ruthie Culver’s jazz and poetry evening in the last of the summer sunsets, they made a warm company at the intimate Ustinov Theatre.

This is an intriguing touring act due to its originality. An unusual mix of sultry jazz standards and improvisation over poetry is played, sung and spoken by Ruthie and her three outstanding instrumentalists. As her pianist-saxophonist fiddles away with pouted passion, multi-talented percussionist Chris Blenwick quietly steals the show in his corner with deft rhythmic touches. These bring much needed spice to a performance that has little pace; but with so much earthy humour it is instantly likeable.

Ruthie has character for sure but exudes a smoky, earthy, life-experience brand of humour rather than glitz and sparkle. She is a woman with performance style worn with a secretive curl of the mouth, not a girlish giggle; the approach of a seasoned mature poet not a flimsy singer-song-writer. Perhaps this is the main appeal of Ruthie. As she reads Betjeman to well-placed twangs from the double bassist (he occasionally interjects, but should really leave the mic work to the female star to avoid seeming lamentably try-hard) the audience can’t help but relax. It really does feel like Ruthie does not give a damn. To make a poem about Nettle Soup sexy, takes some panache after all.

An element of realness in her own poetry gives this unremarkable singer an appeal that is charming and unpretentious. She is not a woman out to seduce us and seems more comfortable when she unexpectedly strays behind the drum kit in her first act. Her Gershwin song of introduction proclaims Ruthie as a jazz songbird but really she is more than this; a woman sharing her love of music with the audience - one of whom tonight has written one of the poems they read during the show. So whilst there is little revolutionary about this group, they are worth the ticket price for the comfort of good old jazz straight from the heart with years of experience.

www.ruthieculver.com

Katy Austin