Having reviewed several of her shows at the Hideaway, The House That Soul Built sat down with flame-haired composer, producer, arranger, and performer Janette Mason.

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For those familiar with the London soul and jazz scenes, Janette Mason is a formidable presence. Many jazz club patrons may have stumbled across Mason at the Hideaway, a venue in South London where she is currently musical director. However, she has appeared in multiple music contexts: playing keys for Oasis and Pulp on arena tours, performing with various artists on live television, and composing music for television shows and adverts.

However, it all began in a caravan park in Hastings, where Mason was born and raised. An incredibly musical environment it seems too. Her mother was the musical director at the park which was frequented by jazz musicians from across the Atlantic, including Canadian trumpeter Walter Maynard Ferguson and American jazz vocalist Dakota Staton. Mason describes being ‘totally immersed’ in music from childhood, with a living room fully equipped with a piano, drum kit, and vibraphone. ‘One of my earliest memories was listening to Sergio Mendes; my mum loved Brazilian music.’ She also namechecks Oscar Peterson as a key influence.

However, having a professional musician as a mother did not pre-determine Mason’s career. ‘I was encouraged to be musical; I wasn’t necessary encouraged to take it up as a job. That was something I just knew I wanted to do.’ She also makes it clear that it was primarily jazz that was played at home. With the help of her brother – a fan of jazz-funk – she discovered other genres herself, entering a ‘wayward’ punk phase in her early teens. She describes creeping out of her home to see Ultravox at The Marquee. Though musically talented, she was also strong at school. ‘Two things generally correlate: that you’re good at maths and music,’ she tells me. She applies this scientific, mathematical precision to her music too, analysing time signatures and breaking them apart.

Having studied all the classical music grades and completed a year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Mason ventured into her first professional gigs. She began playing in a local covers band, performing at The Bell pub in Ruislip. I ask her what her career aspirations were at the time. ‘I can’t say I had a particular plan about where it was gonna go,’ she answers. But she also concedes that ‘[she] only really wanted to be a composer,’ having done a degree in composing for film and television. Yet despite venturing into this field, she has always been pulled back into playing.

From her mid-twenties to mid-thirties, Mason was on the road playing keys for the likes of Oasis, Pulp, and Seal. I ask her what touring with Oasis was like. ‘Crazy,’ she responds, before divulging an anecdote from the road best not replicated here. Let’s just say, rehearsal times tended to vary from artist to artist. An audition after her touring stint led to her appointment as musical director for Channel 4’s Saturday Zoo (1993), hosted by Jonathan Ross. She speaks fondly of this opportunity, which allowed her to arrange and play for the likes of Suzanne Vega, Mica Paris, and K.D Lang. Playing for the latter artist was a particular highlight, with Lang having recently released her seminal Ingénue album. ‘I got to play “Constant Craving”,’ Mason reminisces.

We discuss the financial implications of being a working musician. Mason concedes it can be hard not knowing what one’s month-to-month earnings will be. However, she has an ongoing relationship with a publishing company where her self-penned compositions are put out to tender at various television editing houses. Consequently, her work has been featured on shows such as Come Dine With Me and Sex and the City, and even an ad for Vanish Carpet Cleaner. She describes this kind of work as a good subsidiary source of income. ‘You could not sustain yourself on performing alone, we’re a niche market with jazz and soul.’ She also keeps a small teaching practice. Having been self-employed since the age of eighteen, she’s used to the hustle and enjoys the variety.

Our conversation moves to Mason’s current role at the Hideaway, one of London’s premier music spaces located in Streatham, South London. For the past seven years, Mason has been Hideaway’s musical director, responsible for all the branded in-house productions. She currently has residencies dedicated to the likes of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Prince, David Bowie, and George Michael respectively. She takes each songbook, rearranges the material (at times rendering it unrecognisable), and performs it with a full band and guest vocalists. The concept first emerged at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, where Mason would play with jazz singer and actress Lea DeLaria (best known for her role in hit TV drama Orange is the New Black). Each month, Mason and DeLaria would tackle a different songbook and add transgressive touches. When Mason was appointed as Hideaway’s MD, the concept transferred across and has become quite the hit with audiences. Indeed, I first met Mason at her Aretha Franklin show at Hideaway in early 2018. At the time of this interview, Mason is preparing for the second night of her sold-out Bowie residency.

Mason’s radical rearrangements were put to record on D’Ranged, her third studio album released in 2014. Having released instrumental jazz albums Din and Tonic (2004) and Alien Left Hand (2009), D’Ranged marked a complete departure. The D’Ranged album features nine reimagined covers – including material from across her residencies – delivered by a terrific roster of vocal talent.

I am particularly interested in Mason’s creative process in putting D’Ranged together. How did she decide which nine songs to record? ‘I think it was more about which singers I was going to have, and then which material would work for them.’ The vocal talent on the album is varied, from the soul/gospel leanings of Vula Malinga, to the classic jazz sound of Claire Martin. She came across most of the artists featured on the album through her work on the live soul and jazz circuit, which she describes as a ‘good breeding ground to try new things out.’

I quiz her somewhat about two particularly fascinating tracks from the album. One is ‘Got To Be Real’, a slice of kitschy disco by Cheryl Lynn, rendered as a sexy, smoky jazz number by Mason and vocalist Vula Malinga. Another is a version of the Bee Gees’ ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, which Mason transforms into a piano-driven ballad sung by Claire Martin. How does that kind of rearrangement come to mind, I enquire? ‘I don’t think about that stuff too much. Whatever comes to me first. Literally, I will sit down and start playing it and it will guide me. It may sound weird but there’s a way it will work and a way it won’t.’

One of her most consistent collaborators is vocalist David McAlmont, who delivers a sensual rendition of David Bowie’s ‘Lady Grinning Soul’ on D’Ranged. He also performs in her Bowie, George Michael, Prince and Bond theme shows at Hideaway. Mason speaks fondly of McAlmont, citing him as the creative impetus behind the countrified rendition of ‘Little Red Corvette’ and swinging version of ‘Kiss’ from the Prince residency.

With an ever-growing repertoire of ‘d’rangements’ under her belt, I ask whether we can expect a D’Ranged II at some point. ‘I could do that,’ she says. But then she interjects: ‘Let me tell you about the next project I really want to do’. She expresses her growing interest in British soul singer Dusty Springfield, whose music she has been ‘d’ranging’ as part of her successful ‘Dusty & Shirley’ residency at Hideaway. It is the only residency which has been toured outside of London. ‘Some of the classic Dusty songs [have] big orchestral arrangements. I want to do a live recording, staged like Dusty’s television show in the 1960s [with] theatrical performances and [recorded] live to vinyl.’

Though a formidable presence on the soul scene, Mason has always juggled a jazz trio at the same time. Her most recent project is Red Alert, a collaboration with drummer Chris Morris and bassist Tom Mason. A crowd-funded project released in 2018, Mason explains that Red Alert is a political statement. ‘It was linked to all the chaos that was going on in London in 2017.’ Two tracks, ‘London Bridge’ and ‘Westminster’, are directly about the terrorist attacks which wracked the capital in that year. Is she political? ‘I am… Most musicians are fairly politically aware… [There’s] a lot of conversation in the dressing room… That and food!’

So what are Mason’s plans for the future? After we finish speaking, she is back to Hideaway for the penultimate night of her Bowie residency, starring David McAlmont and Sam Obernik on vocals. However, after the final show she has a month free of performing. She plans to spend the time focusing on some original songwriting. She will be co-writing with esteemed jazz vocalist Vimala Rowe – a collaborator with Mason for Hideaway’s Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan show. ‘She [has] such a mature approach to singing,’ Mason remarks. She will also be going to Germany later this year with Red Alert to record a live album.

For someone used to sell-out audiences and ambitious musical projects, it is refreshing to hear that Mason sometimes just likes to jam. One of her favourite pastimes is visiting the Japanese bar Ukai on Portobello Road, playing ‘anything and everything’ and getting all the patrons on their feet. After all – whether rearranging Prince, honouring Ella Fitzgerald, or improvising with Red Alert – Mason works to inspire a reaction from the audience.

‘That’s what it’s all about,’ she says with a smile.

(Photo credit: Tatiana Gorilovsky)