Quiet Eye

Personnel includes: June Tabor (vocals); Richard Bolton (cello); Mark Lockheart (clarinet, soprano & tenor saxophones); Richard Fox (tuba); Huw Warren (piano); Dudley Phillips (upright bass); Roy Dodds (percussion).
Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, England.
Personnel: Mark Emerson (violin, viola); Richard Bolton (cello); Iain Dixon (clarinet, bass clarinet); Mark Lockheart (clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Andy Schofield (clarinet, alto saxophone); Richard Iles (trumpet); Jim Rattigan (French horn); Llam Kirkman, Mark Bassey (trombone); Richard Fox (tuba); Huw Warren (piano); Dudley Phillips (double bass); Roy Dodds (percussion).
Audio Mixer: Trevor Hallesy.
Recording information: Wessex Studios, London, England.
Editor: Tony Dixon .
Photographer: Tom Howard.
Arrangers: Huw Warren; June Tabor.
Long thought of as one of the most resolutely traditional vocalists on the British folk scene, June Tabor took many by surprise with 2000's A QUIET EYE. Instead of one of her usual small acoustic drummerless combos, Tabor is backed by the 13-piece Creative Jazz Orchestra, a progressive jazz/folk/world group along the lines of the Penguin CafT Orchestra. The combination of Tabor's stunning clarion voice and these layered, textured arrangements is intoxicating. The fact that A QUIET EYE has one of Tabor's finest song selections ever certainly helps as well. Along with a handful of traditional ballads and story songs, A QUIET EYE includes two Richard Thompson selections, "Pharoah" and the lovely "Waltzing's for Dreamers," and possibly the definitive interpretation of Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," halfway between Roberta Flack's soul-jazz torch ballad and John Renbourn's more traditional folk version. There is not a single false step on this remarkable album, and it ranks up there with ABYSSINIANS and AIRS AND GRACES as one of Tabor's finest works.