For those of you who have passed through The Jazz Meet on any given weekend, you will no doubt know that Jessica Lauren is a very talented lady. Since scoring her first record deal with London’s influential Soul Jazz Records back in the 1990s, Jessica has been a constant fixture on the underground London music scene. earning her stripes playing with the likes of Jean Carne, Tom Browne, Dexter Wansel and James Mason. Over the years, she’s also lent her considerable talents to an assortment of productions from producers as diverse as Joey Negro, Alex Attias, United Future Organisation, Scrimshire and Kay Suzuki to name but a few. Aside from her regular appearances at Floripa holding down the keyboard chair in The Jazz Meet Band, she is also a core member of Nick Woodmansey’s Emanative collective, who after wowing Dingwalls back in the summer, are gearing up for another big release with their latest single ‘Love In Outer Space’, a futuristic cover of the Sun-Ra complete with a Michael Carvin inspired drum line. With the release of last year’s hotly tipped Jessica Lauren Four acoustic jazz project by Freestyle Records, Jessica is once again back in the spotlight.
With that in mind, West Coast radio host and presenter of the bi-weekly music podcast series Velanche’s Playtime, Velanche Stewart, a and now , invited Jessica to take part in his Playtime Extra Interview series. Split into five parts, it takes a somewhat chronological journey through Jessica’s career so far, touching on those early days with Soul Jazz and her experiences within the then ever burgeoning London scene, before bringing us right up to date as she discusses her work with Emanative and of course, her latest album. For those interested in getting a deeper glimpse into one of the driving forces of The Jazz Meet Band, you do do a lot worse than check out what she has to say below.