Carrie Lakin's High 5

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2018-02-24.

High 5

Carrie Lakin is an enigmatic singer who hails from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. A skilled and polished entertainer, Carrie performs a wide variety of musical styles from Jazz, Blues and Pop through to Soul and RnB.

For the past six years, Carrie has been busy performing at events where her engaging personality and professionalism have delighted audiences. Some highlights have been knockout performances at the Manly Jazz Festival, the Hawkesbury Jazz Festival together with her highly acclaimed support of Yvonne Kenny’s Opera in the Vines and Cliff Richard at Wyndham Estate, Hunter Valley.

Carrie also enjoys performing as a lead soloist with the impressive jazz-gospel vocal ensemble, Jubilation, led by internationally renowned artists, Joy Yates and Dave MacRae. Carrie and Jubilation have featured at Tauranga (NZ), Manly, Bellingen, Dubbo and Darling Harbour Jazz Festivals. They have performed with Alex Lloyd for Crown Princess Mary, at the LIVE sites for the 2000 Olympics and Paralympics and at regular shows at The Basement. For the past four years, Carrie and Jubilation have performed at the Carols in the Domain TV spectacular backing Marcia Hines, Julie Anthony, and Australian Idol’s Paulini, Guy Sebastian and Casey Donovan. You will have seen Carrie as a featured soloist on the 2005 show performing the pumping and thumping gospel belter, “He’s All Over Me”.

International experience features in Carrie’s career with a successful six month season at the Hilton Hotel, Tokyo in 2004. As lead singer of Le Nouveau, she performed at the prestigious St Georges Bar and delighted the international and local patrons of this highly regarded nightspot.

Carrie recently completed a nine-track CD that she recorded with some of Australia’s finest musicians. This CD showcases Carrie’s ability to deliver classic songs with emotional depth and beauty and has earned her glowing reviews from all who hear the music!

1. BONNIE RAITT - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, February 2004

Prior to this gig, I was relatively unaware of Bonnie Raitt. Of course I knew of some of her mainstream hits, but I was wholly unprepared for the impact that her talent as an artist and performer would have on me. The whole atmosphere of the night was set up superbly by the support act of Jon Cleary. His trio infused the Enmore with foot-stomping New Orleans funk and soul. And then Bonnie came on stage. She had such presence and command in every song that she performed. As lead singer, lead guitarist and bandleader, she does it all with such an earthy and humble nature. And her band played together as a brilliant unit and even featured Jon Cleary on keys and backing vocals. Playing her massive catalogue of songs that encompass blues, folk, rock, country, pop and funk, Bonnie just kept on giving to the performance and to the audience. My favourite part of the gig was when the house lights were up, and with satisfied smiles we, the audience, were going home, and Bonnie walks back on stage and humbly asks if she could play one more tune. I’ve never seen an audience move so quickly back into their seats! She played us one more. I think it was “Angel of Montgomery” and it was the perfect final gift of an outstanding performance.

2. DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER – Iridium Club, New York, February 2002

I arrived in New York on Valentine’s Weekend, and was eager to check Time Out to see who was playing. Well What a weekend it was to be! Luther Vandross, Oleta Adams, and Cassandra Wilson were all in town, but I was most excited to see that Dee Dee Bridgewater would be playing at Iridium. So, on a cold Sunday evening I made my way to Broadway and 51st Street to catch her gig. This intimate club was perfect for Dee Dee, as she thrives on connecting with her audience and brings them with her on the musical journey. She is a truly innovative and spontaneous jazz performer, which was illustrated by the infectious interplay she had with her trusty band, led by her long time collaborator, keyboard player Thierry Eliaz. She even called up her ex-husband, trumpet player and arranger, Cecil Bridgewater, for a few songs that they had recently recorded. She performed a lot of songs off her album “Live at Yoshi’s”, like Cherokee, Love For Sale, and Midnight Sun, and I was astounded by her ability to create such diverse sounds and pictures with her tone and choice of notes. And the natural exuberance that features on her recordings was also in full flight, and I am yet to see a more energetic and dynamic performer!

3. ROY AYERS - Ronnie Scott’s, London, January 2005

Finally I was going to a show at the famed Ronnie Scott’s! And to see an artist that I had wanted to see for a long time, singer and vibes player, Roy Ayers. A fellow singer and I had secured front row seats in the already intimate venue, and after the under whelming support act, we were ready for Roy and his band, and we were not to be disappointed. The first song blew us away! The band was just so tight and pulsing with cohesive energy that we just smiled the whole nightlong. Every song was a different musical trip, and the band played through the different feels and rhythmic patterns with ease and effortless mastery. As the bandleader, Roy knew when to hold the reigns and when to let the young lions roar! The outstanding drummer “Leadfoot” Troy Miller kept the whole band together, and the guitarist Tony Smith poured raw and unabashed rock energy into the already mixed melting pot of musical flavours. The band played two lengthy soulful sets and after hearing the old favourite Everybody Loves The Sunshine and many others, my friend and I left Ronnie’s inspired and satisfied to no end.

4. JOY YATES – “Global Vocal Focal” Concert Performances

Joy Yates is an amazing singer whose career has spanned over four decades and has taken her all around the world from her home in New Zealand and finally to Sydney, Australia, where she has built up a school nurturing young singers with her husband, master pianist, David MacRae. For the last 11 years, Joy and David have put on an annual workshop called “Global Vocal Focal”. This weekend-long workshop began as a relatively small event culminating in one concert but it has now evolved into a highly intensive program featuring three immense performances. And it is these concert performances that never fail to thrill me. From the young singers performing in public for the first time to the semi-professionals really nailing “it” and the more senior singers reclaiming their space as an artist, the concerts are often filled with false starts and tears, but with the amazingly supportive musical foundation of the band led by David, there is always a great sense of achievement, satisfaction and joy. I love these concerts because they allow you to remember where you came from and all that your have learnt, and let you dream of where you want to go.

5. NATALIE COLE - Blue Note, Tokyo, June 2004

I was doing a six-month contract gig in Tokyo and Natalie Cole and her band happened to be staying at the hotel I was working at! So after meeting some of her band members, me and my band members decided to go to see their gig at the Blue Note. I was well aware of the success that Natalie had had with her Unforgettable:With Love album, and was eager to see her perform. I was not disappointed. She is a true professional, and her performance was a complete “show”. From the band playing as such a tight musical unit, to the song choices and arrangements, to the way Natalie held herself, I was constantly impressed with the combined skill of the whole production. But putting aside the polished exterior, I was most affected by Natalie’s rich tone and intonation and her ability to deliver each song with emotional depth. She is a true star.