SARAH Jane Morris is the living version of the gift that keeps giving.

Forty years on from enjoying number one chart success with ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ as part of the Communards, the St Leonards-on-Sea based musician continues to push boundaries. She is a fertile hub of creativity. Long may it continue.

The fruits of her latest musical adventure – homages to some of the world’s iconic female songsters – were the focus of a delightful night in the magnificent Union Chapel in London’s Islington (Sunday September 20): an integral part of the local community.

The venue was packed, the stage was rammed with talented musicians – and at the end a joyous choir of Sarah Jane Morris ‘acolytes’ brought the proceedings to a thrilling and climatic ending. Inclusivity at its finest. 

As Sarah Jane Morris said pointedly: ‘AI [Artificial Intelligence] can’t do this.’ 

Absolutely: this was the best advert for live music that I’ve witnessed in ages. By the end of the night, the chapel with its roof reaching out towards the stratosphere was rocking as the audience got off their hard wooden seats, roused their numbed posteriors  and danced like crazy. It was as if the Union Chapel was holding a Baptist service.

To date, Sarah Jane has recorded 21 songs about those female singers that have left an indelible mark on her – and plenty more are in the pipeline. 

They form the basis of two albums The Sisterhood (released two years ago) and The Sisterhood 2, released in the spring of this year – and it was the latter that formed the heart of the night’s music (The Sisterhood 3 is already being crafted).

The songs – works of love – are a collaborative effort, written and composed by Sarah Jane Morris, husband Mark Pulsford (an accomplished artist) and Tony Remy (Sarah’s ‘right hand man’ on stage and a sublime guitarist).

They are works of creative genius, involving oodles of research to capture the essence of Sarah Jane’s chosen icons. The result is a poetic underpinning with the words having as much resonance as the music they are put to.

The evening started with ‘Longing To Be Free’, an anthem to feminism based around Peggy Seeger (still going strong at age 91). ‘Thank you for showing us the way,’ Sarah said.

We were then treated to ‘I Can Hear Jesus Weeping’, an ode to Tracey Chapman, and ‘Love, Wit And Stardust’ for the much lamented Dolly Parton. 

As the evening progressed, the intensity of the music increased. After songs for Bonnie Raitt (‘Sweet Mama Raitt’), the campaigner for non-violence protest Joan Baez (‘Always Both And Never’), Kate Bush and Sinead O’Connor, The Dignity Of Love increased the tempo ten fold.

The upbeat song, about Janis Ian, a teenage sensation in the 1960s, was infused with the mercurial clarinet of Gianni Vancini and the splendid backing vocals of Otis Coulter and Silvia Losappio. For the record, Janis was the first person to purchase The Sisterhood 2 album and loved the lyrics.

With the sea of choristers (all benefiting from Sarah Jane’s masterclasses) flooding the stage, the ode to Janis Joplin (‘Tomorrow Never Happens’) created a strong vibe in the chapel which continued with Crazy Angel (a song written about Patti Smith).

With everyone now on their feet, Sarah Jane paid homage to Aretha Franklin with Sisterhood, the funky title track of the first of the two albums. ‘We lock arms in Sisterhood,’ sang Sarah Jane, ‘as every single woman would, if only every woman could, lock arms in Sisterhood.’

There was more: a thumping, sing-along version of Janis Joplin’s ‘Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart’ and a ‘Rolling Stones’ version of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’. 

The finale was ‘Don’t Want To Know Bout Evil’ – a John Martyn song covered by Sarah Jane on her excellent 2019 album ‘Sweet Little Mystery: The Songs of John Martyn.’

There are no bounds to Sarah Jane’s talent, nor for that matter Tony Remy’s.

A glorious night where music triumphed. More please. 

Finally, a big shout out to Mike Willis who opened the night’s musical delights, accompanied by his guitar, a super voice (a mix of Glen Campbell and John Denver) and bags of humour.

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Title image by Jenni Trent Hughes