LEM:

Sue, although you have played around the world, 2007 was your first year playing at the London Jazz Festival in London. What was the experience like?

Sue:

It was a great honor to open the London Jazz Festival (I did, very cheekily, in a Queen-like voice, pronounce the festival open!) There was a huge audience - it was so lovely to see so many people supporting the festival from the very first gig. 

LEM:

Was it what you had expected?

Sue:

I was not really sure what to expect. It was a thrill to be performing back at the Royal Albert Hall; I sang at the Last Night of The Proms many years ago - it is such a beautiful, inspiring building. I was quite over-awed when we first arrived as it is so grand, but I was soon having a ball!

LEM:

What was your biggest challenge playing at the London Jazz Festival?

Sue:

Keeping my feet on the ground!

LEM:

You wrote 12 out of the 14 tracks on your CD, Emergence. Where did you get your inspiration from to write the songs?

Sue:

The inspiration came from all sorts of places. I actually wrote the title track years ago before I recorded my first album - but I never really had the confidence to play it as it is such an ‘in your face, listen to me' statement piece. But in the last few years I felt it would give me the confidence I needed to push my playing on. So I knew the album would have Emergence as the title track before I'd written anything else.

I was very lucky to travel to some great musical places in the last few years especially Rio De Janeiro, New Orleans, and Havana and so I used my experiences there as inspiration for I.O.U., Spotted Cat and I Just Can't Help Myself (which is an English version of the passion fruit style of Cuban lyrics).

The ballad Eclipse I wrote when I got my new trumpets - custom-made gold trumpets made by Eclipse, a company in Bedfordshire where I grew up - it seemed like serendipity. The trumpets have really cute gold flowers entwining the tubing - it is very feminine and totally unique. I just love the mellow sounds that the horns make and yet they can spit out fast and furious notes too. 

My Dad fell off a ladder and broke 6 ribs - whilst he was lying in bed in agony I wrote Spare Ribs for him! Not very caring I know!!

With some of the other songs I wrote the music and sent them to the lyricist (Matt Henkes) who wrote the lyrics depending on how the music inspired him.

LEM:

What musicians inspired you growing up, and who inspires you today?

Sue:

I loved big band music as that was my life when I was at school, so anything that really swings always grabs my attention. I think Ella Fitzgerald is sublime. I aspire to sound like Chet Baker when I play. I adore Clifford Brown's playing as well. He can make something so complicated sound so easy. The people I enjoy today are the ones who really communicate with their audience and really put themselves into a performance. I hate going to a gig and feeling that people are not really trying, however great they may be.

LEM:

You play trumpet and flugel horn. As a young girl growing up, how did you select to play these instruments?

Sue:

I did not get a choice! There is a terrible joke: ‘Do you play the trumpet voluntary? No, my mother makes me!' And for me it is true! I wanted to play the clarinet (all the cool girls at school played clarinet) but my mum knew that the high school big band was really good and would need trumpet players by the time I got there so she pushed me to play. I wouldn't change now.

LEM:

You have played all over the world, what is your favorite place to play in the world, and why?

Sue:

Playing in New Orleans was probably the greatest thrill. It is the home of everything I do and so it was a pilgrimage to go, especially as it was the first Mardi Gras post-Katrina when I was there. It was such a bittersweet experience. The musicians were so welcoming and encouraging. Playing Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans with Uncle Lionel and Glen Andrews from Treme Brass Band in a late night jam on Frenchmen Street was the ultimate experience. I was on such a high.

LEM:

What's next for Sue Richardson?

Sue:

A baby! Just as we were finishing producing Emergence I also became pregnant. Neal (my husband) and I are absolutely thrilled. It is very strange to ask Doctors for advice about being pregnant and safely playing the trumpet - they just scratch their heads! The baby seems to enjoy it though if all the kicking is anything to go by!

My final gigs are in March 2008 and then I will take the summer off and be back at work in September. The record company is planning a European tour for me in Spring 2009 and we are booking lots of jazz festivals.

LEM:

Congratulations to you and Neal on all accounts!