“Empty your mind
We master this language we call music
We understand the cadences, tempos, harmonies, bass, top lines, bottom lines, the details of music
Why can’t we then just let it happen?
Briony, let’s just let it happen. Let’s just be that bold.
When we’re that liberated, when we let the god flow through - then it can go anywhere.
Improv brings us back to play, to the adventrouors child - nothing’s impossible to children. Everything’s available, nothing’s impossible.
Get back to that place, get everyone back to that place, then everything can happen.
That’s the joy of living. The joy of being on this earth is to find yourself through the music.
The thing that connects us all.”
Cleveland Watkiss, in talking with Briony about this concert.
Briony and Cleveland will improvise. So will you. Even if you don’t expect it.
Something will happen…..
Cleveland Watkiss MBE is an award-winning jazz singer based in London.
Best Vocalist, London Jazz Awards, 2010
Best Vocalist, Wire/Guardian Jazz Awards
Jazz Vocalist of the Year, Parliamentary Jazz Awards, 2017
Ivor Novello Award for Innovation 2021
Briony singing with Bobby McFerrin, Destini Wolf and Tammi Brown in Berkeley, Ca January 2025.
Briony Greenhill is an improvisational singer, composer, and teacher who conjures landscapes of sound from the depths of the soul. Described as "Joni Mitchell meets Gil Scott Heron, with a British accent," her work is a masterclass in vocal alchemy, weaving together jazz, folk, and spontaneous composition to create music that is as primal as it is sophisticated. Her last album was featured on Radio 4, Radio 3, The Guardian and Mojo.