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Fiona talks to Jazz power couple Charlotte Keeffe and Lara De Belder.
Musician, trumpeter and flugelhorn player Charlotte Keeffe wears her love for freely improvising, free jazz and abstract music-making on her (brightly coloured) sleeve. Whether performing regularly as a soloist (Sound Brush), or leading a variety of different ensembles, including her RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW Quartet, with Ashley John Long on double bass, Ben Handysides on drums and Moss Freed on guitar, she meticulously carves out spaces for the free movement of ideas and individual expression.
Inspired by abstract painters, Keeffe refers to her instruments as ‘Sound Brushes’. Her music has been significantly featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 6 and Jazz FM, where she's been described as a 'prolific', 'dynamic' and 'excellent improviser!', by the likes of Corey Mwamba, Stuart Maconie and Jez Nelson. She is a Serious Artist and part of the Take Five 2022 cohort. Harnessing the power of art for social change is a crucial part of Keeffe’s musical identity: she has served as Assistant Musical Director of the London Gay Big Band, champions gender and diversity equality, as part of the Parliamentary award-winning Women in Jazz Media team, and played in Marin Alsop's Taki Concordia Orchestra at the World Economic Forum 2019, in front of world leaders and celebrities including Sir David Attenborough. From stepping on Glastonbury and Wilderness stages alongside Charlotte Church, Laura Mvula and Kate Nash, to broadcasting to an international audience live from her bathroom during the global pandemic, Keeffe understands that embracing individuality and letting go of inhibitions is the surest way to grasp the transformative power of music.
Actor, Singer & Writer Lara de Belder studied Music at the University of Leeds before training in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music in London. With a musical background spanning choral and classical music, musical theatre, jazz, blues and pop music, Lara has worked as a performer and creator in theatre, film, TV and concert and is the co-writer and creator of new British comedy musical, Bird Brigade, alongside Luka Antony Bjelis, directed by Grace Taylor (SIX) and long-listed for the Stiles and Drewe Mentorship Award 2021.
Lara's passion for an eclectic range of musical genres has influenced her as a solo artist and writer of original music fusing pop with flavours of jazz, blues, funk, soul, RnB, hip hop, folk and electronic dance styles, first launching in May 2021 with her debut Single, Turn It Over. Describing her music as 'jazzpop', Lara takes inspiration from artists such as Celeste, Jacob Collier, Melody Gardot, Jamie Cullum, Ella Fitzgerald, Erykah Badu, Lizzo, Amy Winehouse, Robyn and Jessie Ware. Her music has been featured on BBC Introducing on BBC Radio Tees with Rianne Thompson and Rachel Teate as well as other radio programmes and podcasts. This November 2023, she will be performing her first headline show as part of the London Jazz Festival in partnership with Women In Jazz Media.
