As Jacko Hooper first came to the mic for his opening song, bathed in red and amber light and wearing his signature trilby hat and glasses I was reminded of a young Elvis Costello while the Brunswick Room packed to the limit had a real ‘LA Troubadour’ feel about it. I was also reminded of the new Cohen Brothers movie ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ about a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene in 1961 struggling to make music against seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Tonight Jacko Hooper is celebrating the launch of his first major release ‘For You’ a four track EP which I highly recommend. Each song is beautifully recorded and produced while Jacko’s vocals have a real depth and passion but tonight is about performing ‘live’ in front of family, friends and fans alike and Jacko does not disappoint and what a pleasure it is to once again enjoy a single singer song writer, standing alone on stage with just his guitar in tow having recently seen too many bands in too many major venues.
There is also something quite humbling yet magical and endearing about seeing an artist who has been slowly and meticulously developing their act and song writing for some time and finally getting the opportunity to perform their first EP in front of a packed audience.
As an artist and performer Jacko Hooper has all the right attributes, an engaging and natural charm and the ability to communicate with his audience not only through his songs but his own personality as well. In the past I have attended other gigs where Jacko has been one of the support acts but had not taken the time to enjoy his music much to my regret but slowly and surely Jacko has been working his way up the ladder and it is now very clear a master of his own performance. No doubt owing much to the support of One Inch Badge who are also his management as well as record label and says much about their support for this excellent ‘troubadour’.
Jacko has devised a well constructed set, securing the maximum impact from each song from the effervescent ‘Egg Shells’ (the first track on his EP) which has a catchy and sing along quality through to the beautiful ballads of ‘November 5th Song’ and ‘Run Away With Me’ full of emotive intensity and stunningly performed. To ‘Roaming’ my favourite song and the last number of the evening which to me truly sums up what Jacko Hooper is all about; a poet learning from his experiences, passing on his observations through song and delivering his message in a passionate and dynamic way.
If there is the slightest reservation about the ‘live’ performance is that most of Jacko’s songs follow a strong narrative structure which are delivered with such an intensity including the dynamics created by his own performance that one feels another song like ‘Egg Shells’ would alleviate some of the angst we were all experiencing and bring some lighter moments to the performance as well creating more space for his deeper material.
To some degree this was partly achieved in his duet with Tom Staniford on piano and a new song ‘Borderline which has all the hallmarks of another excellent song.
There is no question that Jacko Hooper has set the bar high with his first release ‘For You’ and I am looking forward to seeing and hearing more from this rising young star.
CEO
Tonight Jacko Hooper is celebrating the launch of his first major release ‘For You’ a four track EP which I highly recommend. Each song is beautifully recorded and produced while Jacko’s vocals have a real depth and passion but tonight is about performing ‘live’ in front of family, friends and fans alike and Jacko does not disappoint and what a pleasure it is to once again enjoy a single singer song writer, standing alone on stage with just his guitar in tow having recently seen too many bands in too many major venues.
There is also something quite humbling yet magical and endearing about seeing an artist who has been slowly and meticulously developing their act and song writing for some time and finally getting the opportunity to perform their first EP in front of a packed audience.
As an artist and performer Jacko Hooper has all the right attributes, an engaging and natural charm and the ability to communicate with his audience not only through his songs but his own personality as well. In the past I have attended other gigs where Jacko has been one of the support acts but had not taken the time to enjoy his music much to my regret but slowly and surely Jacko has been working his way up the ladder and it is now very clear a master of his own performance. No doubt owing much to the support of One Inch Badge who are also his management as well as record label and says much about their support for this excellent ‘troubadour’.
Jacko has devised a well constructed set, securing the maximum impact from each song from the effervescent ‘Egg Shells’ (the first track on his EP) which has a catchy and sing along quality through to the beautiful ballads of ‘November 5th Song’ and ‘Run Away With Me’ full of emotive intensity and stunningly performed. To ‘Roaming’ my favourite song and the last number of the evening which to me truly sums up what Jacko Hooper is all about; a poet learning from his experiences, passing on his observations through song and delivering his message in a passionate and dynamic way.
If there is the slightest reservation about the ‘live’ performance is that most of Jacko’s songs follow a strong narrative structure which are delivered with such an intensity including the dynamics created by his own performance that one feels another song like ‘Egg Shells’ would alleviate some of the angst we were all experiencing and bring some lighter moments to the performance as well creating more space for his deeper material.
To some degree this was partly achieved in his duet with Tom Staniford on piano and a new song ‘Borderline which has all the hallmarks of another excellent song.
There is no question that Jacko Hooper has set the bar high with his first release ‘For You’ and I am looking forward to seeing and hearing more from this rising young star.
CEO
Twitter: twitter.com/jacko_hooper