Review: Kate Dimbleby, The Crazy Coqs @katedimbleby @CrazyCoqs

Kate Dimbleby, skillfully supported by Naadia Sheriff on piano and backing vocals, presented her collection of Dory Previn songs Beware of Young Girls at the Crazy Coqs,  a magnificent Art Deco cabaret club associated with one of my favourite restaurants, Brasserie Zédel, both worth visiting for the decor alone. I have long loved Dory Previn’s songs but they are so deeply personal that other singers have understandably rarely covered them. Kate Dimbleby gets round this by linking the songs with a description of the life of Dory Previn, so that we understand, for example, the background to the astonishing song My Daddy says I’m not his Child. It is not a Dory Previn impersonation, though. Kate links the songs to Dory’s life but interprets them brilliantly in her own way as a commentary on Dory rather than an impersonation. This was far more than a concert, more of a one person play with songs, carrying the small audience at this intimate club on a huge emotional journey. I loved being reminded what a superb songwriter Dory Previn was, and learning that after all that emotional upheaval, she married again, more happily, and lived to the age of 86.

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