Sarah Gillespie Quartet

Bessie Smith is one of the most iconic artists in jazz and blues history. Her raw, visceral howl of a voice chronicled a life of gin-soaked bar room brawls, renegade lovers and bawdy nights of Harlem vaudeville.

This evening the critically acclaimed Anglo-American songstress Sarah Gillespie takes to the stage with a fresh interpretation of her heroine, whose lucid jazz poetry, raucous humour and dark cathartic blues blazed a trail for generations of performers.