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Biography 2010
“I have to confess, up to now I have never been a great fan of harpists, however I
am changing my opinion. Jenny Crook is a master musician.”
Green Man Review
Jennifer's trademark harp playing has been featured on many CDs, including albums by international
Realworld artists such as Peruvian diva Susana Baca and Japanese composer Joji Hirota. She has
been a stage guest with Eddi Reader, Mercury Award winning Indian singer Susheela Raman, kora
player Moussa Kouyate, and has worked with many roots artists including Luke Daniels and Eleanor
Shanley in “A History’s Rhyme” for the English National Opera.
Jennifer has also worked with songwriters like Andy Davis (Goldfrapp), Amy Wadge, Charlie Jones
(Robert Plant), Boo Hewerdine and Andy West, and has taken the folk harp into the territory of pop,
beats, blues, rock, and even bluegrass!
She has led classes and workshops at harp festivals across Europe encouraging arranging and
ensemble skills and, when she is not touring, runs her own ‘creative harping’ courses in her home
town of Bath.
“Jenny Crook is a celtic harpist to whom all celtic harpists should pay homage, she
has done much to expand the boundaries of what is fundamentally a diatonic
instrument, through both style and repertoire.”
Luke Daniels, E.N.O composer/MD
Surprisingly, Jennifer did not take up the harp until halfway through her degree course at Middlesex
University. Already proficient on guitar, flute, piano and singing she had aspirations of being a
songwriter but got completely sidetracked by the Celtic harp! Only two years later she was invited by
Jim Lloyd of BBC Radio 2 to take part in a high profile competition.
Jennifer Crook, 7A Walcot Buildings, London Road, Bath. BA1 6AD
Tel: 01225 483254 Email: [email protected]
www.jennifercrook.com
“[Jennifer] is a very accomplished player. I
thought she had the most beautiful
arrangements of the things she played. I
was very impressed by her”
Barbara Dickson - BBC Radio 2
After reaching the finals in the BBC Radio 2 Young Tradition Award in 1993, Jennifer's first group
Cythara (with hammered dulcimer player Maclaine Colston) burst onto the music scene with all the
freshness and exuberance of youth. The duo made appearances on BBC 1's Pebble Mill and
Summer in the City programmes and on national radio. Tipped to become big names by the folk press
they were featured on Mrs Casey's “Evolving Tradition” CD and released two albums of their own
with KRL. They also performed the soundtrack for the award-winning David Attenborough BBC series
The Private Life of Plants.
“Two of the finest young musicians in the country. Both members of this
duo are absolute virtuosos on their respective instruments... It is the
presence of younger musicians of this quality that ensures the
continuing vigour of British folk music”
VENUE
Jennifer began singing professionally when she formed Madigan in
1996 with guitarist and singer Dominic Harrison from Leon Hunt's Daily Planet and Afterhours
fiddler Henry Sears. Combining their different musical backgrounds, they blended Irish traditional
tunes and American bluegrass with contemporary songs. They released "Uncorked" which
included the first original song Jennifer recorded, "The Fair Maiden". The band also provided the
title music for S4C’s folk music series Clwb Gwerin.
“Jenny Crook's vocals are immediately attractive and gently
lure the potential listener into a web of disarming surrender.
'New York Story' and 'The Fair Maiden' mark her out as a
vocalist of sublime power..."Uncorked" reveals a thoughtful
approach to blending pop, rock and celtic forms into a
uniquely identifiable sound”
fRoots
Jennifer Crook, 7A Walcot Buildings, London Road, Bath. BA1 6AD
Tel: 01225 483254 Email: [email protected]
www.jennifercrook.com
She continued to work on the international folk/roots circuit as the duo Jenny Crook & Henry Sears
becoming well known in continental Europe as well as the British Isles. Their 2000 release ‘Chasing
the Dawn’ resulted in some sparkling reviews, and a letter from HRH Prince Charles who wrote:
“Folk music played with such skill and verve is very special indeed”
“I was immediately blown away by the sheer artistry of their
musicianship”
GREEN MAN REVIEW
“Jenny's harp is rock solid as an accompaniment, and angelic on
the melody line. Her singing voice is perfectly suited to traditional
material ...the musicianship is exemplary, and almost every track
is a winner!”
LIVING TRADITION
“A virtual masterclass in modern songwriting on a traditional
theme...”
TRADITION MAGAZINE
The duo were commissioned to produce the music for a series of 10 audio books for Barefoot Books
publishers, and also had an alt. country side project with Nashville-based Andy West and Alun
Thomas as The Rainkings which indulged Jennifer's passion for good songs, and also gave her a
chance to play some rock'n'roll country blues lever harp!
In 2005 Jennifer was invited to join the new line-up of world dance/fusion band Elephant Talk
performing on her custom-made Camac electro-harp - complete with midi and multi-effects pedals.
Two years of fun-fuelled club and festival appearances followed, alongside a parallel career playing
more intimate gigs showcasing her original songs with double bassist and singer Miranda Sykes
(Show of Hands) and her own Champagne For Breakfast Band.
Jennifer Crook, 7A Walcot Buildings, London Road, Bath. BA1 6AD
Tel: 01225 483254 Email: [email protected]
www.jennifercrook.com
Encouraged by the audience response to her own material, Jennifer bought a lovely old Gibson guitar
and began playing solo gigs as a songwriter and supporting artists such as Boo Hewerdine and Lucy
Kaplansky before going into the studio to record her debut solo album.
‘A Few Small Things’ includes such highly respected roots musicians as Robert Harbron on
concertina and mandolin, Bethany Porter on cello, Maclaine Colston on hammered dulcimer and Josh
Clark on cajon/percussion. Good friends Clive Gregson, and Miranda Sykes each make a cameo
appearance too.
Since ‘A Few Small Things’ was released, Jennifer has been booked by some of the country’s leading
roots music venues, worked on the UK Songwriting Festival team and reached the semi-finals of the
UK Song Contest with her song "A Bicycle in Need of Repair".
She has recorded some more songs live in the studio with the band and an EP release is planned for
early 2010. Jennifer is already writing and arranging songs for her next full album, and as a result of
pursuing her songwriting she recently landed herself a job with Snow Patrol, playing electro-harp and
singing on their “Reworked” winter tour of the UK and Ireland.
Jennifer Crook's career has taken some unexpected twists and turns, and no doubt there will be more
to come.
Jennifer Crook, 7A Walcot Buildings, London Road, Bath. BA1 6AD
Tel: 01225 483254 Email: [email protected]
www.jennifercrook.com