Re-arrangement  – or as she likes to put it: ‘D’rangement’ – comes naturally to Janette Mason. The musical director of London jazz and soul venue The Hideaway (which I sincerely hope will be back in business soon), Mason has enjoyed a fruitful career as a pianist, composer, and arranger. In her interview with The House That Soul Built, she discussed her time touring with Oasis, working on The Jonathan Ross Show, and producing her second album D’Ranged – featuring covers of pop, jazz, and soul classics sung by a roster of talented vocalists.

Mason has several residencies at the Hideaway where she d’ranges the iconic catalogues of Aretha Franklin, George Michael, Stevie Wonder, Dusty Springfield/Shirley Bassey, and David Bowie respectively.

Bowie is the focus of Mason’s upcoming EP Wall to Wall Bowie, featuring four radical rearrangements of Bowie classics. The EP’s first single is a cover of ‘Starman’, with the release timed to coincide with Bowie’s birthday.

This glam rock prophecy of hope – with a chorus inspired by The Wizard of Oz’ ‘Over the Rainbow’ – is arranged as a jazz-inflected ballad. The wonderful David McAlmont – one of Mason’s main collaborators at the Hideaway (performing in her Bowie, Prince, and George Michael residencies) – delivers vocal duties. The verses simmer with intensity; Mason’s sombre piano runs parallel to Tom Mason’s prickly bass, while McAlmont delivers Bowie’s cryptic lyric with restraint. Mason makes us wait two verses till we reach the cosmic gloriousness of the chorus. Her piano sparkles and McAlmont allows his voice to take flight.

Janette Mason’s Wall to Wall Bowie EP is due for release June 25th 2021