Ingrid James, Pete Churchill - Search for Peace (2024) [Hi-Res]

An album of deeply moving yet also uplifting and comforting jazz standards, both mainstream and modern, centered around the experience of loss, grief, love and hope.

Ingrid James is a Queensland jazz vocalist whose career has taken her to London (including Ronnie Scott’s), Paris, Monte Carlo, Nice, Marseilles, Toulon and Prague, as well as gigs and festivals around Australia. For this beautiful album, partnered by acclaimed UK pianist and arranger Pete Churchill, with Samuel Vincent on bass and Lachlan Hawkins on drums, she offers us a unique take on classic and vibrant songs by Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini, Bill Evans, The Beatles and more.

‘Search for Peace is close to my heart,’ says Ingrid, ‘as every song has a special meaning. Having lost both my parents during Covid in late 2020, it has been a time for reflecting, re-purposing, finding simplicity in life, processing grief, and turning toward those who are special to me – my family, friends, musicians and community projects.’

The album opens with an original called ‘The Immigrant’ dedicated to Ingrid’s mother, who left her native Finland at 19 to ‘search for the sun’ in Australia, but had to bury her seven-month-old baby daughter on the way. With an almost film noir feel, the song perfectly captures the collision of hope for the future with grief in the present, with a constant sense of moving onwards, caught between two worlds.

The rest of the album is typical of Ingrid’s brilliantly eclectic approach to repertoire, from the familiar to the criminally neglected, reaching right back to the 1930s for the Broadway-tune-turned-swing-classic ‘Alone Together’, into the 21st century with the aching beauty of ‘Stars’ and a languorous, laid-back ‘Something Worth Waiting For’, while showcasing standards from the 1960s, 70s and 80s across the spectrum from jazz to pop – all seamlessly blended together into a rich and nuanced journey through love, loss, and restoration.

Ingrid James, vocals
Pete Churchill, piano
Samuel Vincent, double bass
Lachlan Hawkins, drums

Tracklist:
1. Ingrid James - The Immigrant (Arr. Pete Churchill) (04:54)
2. Ingrid James - Whistling Away the Dark (Arr. Pete Churchill) (04:27)
3. Ingrid James - I Can Let Go Now (Arr. Pete Churchill) (05:52)
4. Ingrid James - Search for Peace (Arr. Pete Churchill) (06:18)
5. Ingrid James - Stars (Arr. Pete Churchill) (05:11)
6. Ingrid James - You Must Believe in Spring (Arr. Pete Churchill) (04:35)
7. Ingrid James - Something Worth Waiting For (Con Alma) (Arr. Pete Churchill) (04:30)
8. Ingrid James - Estate (Arr. Pete Churchill) (07:06)
9. Ingrid James - We Will Meet Again (Arr. Pete Churchill) (05:08)
10. Ingrid James - Alone Together (Arr. Pete Churchill) (03:26)
11. Ingrid James - And I Love Him (04:57)