Local resident Kate Dimbleby to preview new show at Bedford Park Festival

This year's Bedford Park Festival line-up is packed with stars from sports, stage and screen and is now graced with the addition of local songstress Kate Dimbley.

Fresh from an extended maternity leave and previewing her brand new show 'I'm A Woman' on Friday June 18th featuring Kate Dimbleby and her Honky Tonk Angels aka Naadia Sheriff on piano and vocals; Jonty Fisher on bass and vocals, Sophie Alloway on drums and Chris Allard on guitar and vocals.

The cabaret show celebrates the great female singers of the 20th century including Bessie Smith, Sophie Tucker, Dolly Parton, Peggy Lee, Kirsty MacColl, Carole King, Dusty Springfield and Liza Minnelli and grapples with the highs and lows of the generation told they can “have it all”.

Local resident Kate has been described by The Times as ‘One of the most versatile singers on the jazz/blues circuit… opening up her own Third Way, part-cabaret, part pop concert’. As a jazz singer, she has released three albums, sold out the Festival Hall, toured internationally and appeared regularly on national radio.

Her second album, Ain’t This Cosy, inspired by the life and music of Peggy Lee and recorded with the Geoff Eales trio, was released in 2000 to accompany a 50 date sell-out national tour of her one-woman show Fever! The Making of Peggy Lee, written by Lucy Powell. The show went on to tour Australia and New Zealand and Kate was asked to devise a show with the BBC Big Band at the Festival Hall in 2003 which went on to tour theatres around the UK.

Kate and her jazz trio (“So tight they’re almost vacuum-packed” Time Out) went on to devise Music to Watch Boys By with Cirque du Soleil director Cal McCrystal. A whistlestop musical tour of the Seven Ages of Man including songs by Tom Waits, Dean Martin, Elvis Costello and Queen, it had highly successful runs in London and Edinburgh and played several festivals in Australia and New Zealand.

In 2009, Kate released Things As They Are, an album of original songs written by Kate and recorded with her band. Featuring Malcolm Edmonstone (also MD to Jacqui Dankworth) on piano, Jonty Fisher on bass and Ben Reynolds (voted best newcomer for BBC Jazz Awards 2008).
Kate began her career as a regular singer at Birmingham jazz clubs whilst at university. Moving back to London, she quickly established herself on the jazz scene playing many of the UK’s most prestigious venues. Her debut album Good Vibrations was released by Black Box Music in 1998.

A love of cabaret resulted in a residency as host and singer at Soho’s exclusive club Kabaret as well as frequent guest spots at Lenny Beige’s Regency Rooms and Madame Jo Jo’s in Soho.
I’m a Woman is Kate and director Cal McCrystal’s third show together. After her national and worldwide tours of Fever! and Music to Watch Boys By , she moved to Vancouver Island where she wrote songs and rediscovered her own voice after several years of playing Peggy Lee.

The next few years were spent training as an Alexander Technique teacher and doula, having two children and recording and collaborating with other artists and songwriters. In 2010, the Bedford Park Festival asked her to put together a show for them and I’m a Woman was born, 5 years after the birth of her first daughter.

May 21, 2010