There is a particular intimacy to music made in a room where nothing has been hidden. Jammin’ Under Jack, Heather Ferguson’s new five-track live EP, captures precisely that sensation. Recorded at Piano Bar Soho in London, beneath the historic Jack Solomons Club, the 24-minute release feels less like a conventional studio document and more like a beautifully preserved evening in which musicians, songs and surroundings briefly became one.
Ferguson approaches jazz with respect but not reverence. Across “North Star,” “Never, Never, Never,” “Save Your Love for Me,” an alternate version of “North Star,” and “Charade,” she moves between original songwriting, standards and improvisational passages with an ease that comes from experience. Her vocal presence remains central, but the musicians around her are given room to breathe, respond and occasionally surprise.
The decision to record live off the floor is crucial. There are no layers of studio architecture separating one performer from another, no sense that spontaneity has been edited out in pursuit of perfection. Instead, the EP preserves the small fluctuations that make live jazz so compelling. A phrase can linger, an arrangement can open up, and a musician can react in real time.
The setting adds another layer. Piano Bar Soho sits beneath a venue steeped in London’s musical history, and that subterranean quality seems perfectly suited to Ferguson’s approach. The recordings carry the warmth of a late-night room, while the atmosphere suggests the kind of musical exchange that happens away from the spotlight. It is jazz presented not as museum piece, but as living language.
There is also something quietly remarkable about the stage of Ferguson’s career from which this music emerges. Her musical development has continued to deepen through lived experience, two albums and a growing catalogue of singles. Jammin’ Under Jack reflects that maturity without becoming overly polished. Its sophistication comes from knowing when to lead and when to listen.
Ultimately, this is an EP about presence. Ferguson does not attempt to disguise the mechanics of performance. She allows the listener to hear musicians communicating, taking chances and inhabiting the same space. Jammin’ Under Jack makes a compelling case for the enduring power of live jazz, where the most memorable moments can be the ones nobody could have planned.