Review: Dana Masters Sold Out concert at Lyric Theatre

Dana Masters originally from South Carolina, has made Lisburn and Northern Ireland her home. In 2012 herself and Linley Hamilton had a weekly Jazz residence in McHugh’s basement bar. Being a huge fan of Jazz Music,  I was privileged to be at the very first performance and was blown away by the talent of Dana and the other musicians. There is only a few vocalists that makes the back of my neck tingle when listening to them and that’s what makes them special and world class. I looked forward to going every Saturday, close my eyes and enjoy the music. It did not feel like I was in Belfast at all. Sometimes I even had to pinch myself as I listened to the sublime weekly performance.

The news soon spread and McHughs Jazz sessions soon had a cult following of faithful fans and at times you couldn’t get into the basement for the amount of people.

In 2014, I was not surprised that 11,000 at Proms in the Park were all talking about Dana as performance of the night. We’ve adopted Dana Masters as one of Northern Ireland’s top vocalists.

“Dana Masters is one of those musicians and not only were we able to relax and enjoy the richness of her undeniably flawless voice, we were also treated to a showcase of some of the finest Jazz instrumentalists in the UK & Ireland.” Jude Malone, GiggingNI.com

More than 350 music fans gave Dana Masters and her band a standing ovation at the Lyric Theatre Belfast on Monday night. The performance included the old Civil Rights anthem ‘A Change is Gonna Come’, dedicating it to her mother, a strong supporter of Martin Luther King.

Dana was accompanied by Linley Hamilton on trumpet, Johnny Taylor on keyboards, Paul Hamilton on drums, , Dave Howell on saxophone, Paddy Groenland, lead guitar and Charlie Foley, bass guitar.

One of my favourite songs was the cover of John Legend’s Ordinary People .

The band played all five of the tracks on the EP – Motherless Child, My Funny Valentine, Blue Moon, Like a Star by Corinne Bailey Rae, finishing the set with a beautiful version of Charlie Chaplin’s Smile.

This was an amazing showcase for  N.Ireland’s jazz scene.

For more information go to: https://www.facebook.com/danamastersmusic

Don’t miss Linley Hamilton this weekend…