A couple of months ago, the veteran UK singer-songwriter Beth Orton, an artist who persistently disregards any of the limits that people usually put on singer-songwriters, released her new album Weather Alive. Orton recorded that album with a number of musicians from the thriving London jazz scene -- Alabaster dePlume, Tom Skinner, Shahzard Ismaily -- and she found some very cool ways to combine their sounds with her own. Last night, Orton brought that sound to the American TV-studio stage on James Corden's Late Late Show.
On Corden, Beth Orton performed "Fractals," one of the best songs from Weather Alive, and she did the track justice. I generally think of Orton as a guitarist, but she played piano on Corden, and she brought a big band with her -- bass, guitar, drums, congas, saxophone, keyboards. Orton and the other musicians locked into a serious groove, and she seemed delighted to be playing. Watch it below.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_1h3QcYzplo&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden
Weather Alive is out now on Partisan.
