Janette Mason – Rewired | December 2025
Progress Theatre, Reading Friday 5 December 2025
Janette Mason keyboard | Tom Mason bass | Eric Ford drums
On a filthy night of rain, wind and cold to match anything we have suffered recently, the loyal devotees of Jazz at Progress turned up in force to welcome Janette Mason and her trio to the Progress Theatre for a performance of her much anticipated ‘ReWired’ project. They were not to be disappointed. Janette, a nominee for Best Jazz Instrumentalist in the prestigious 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards, is a force of nature whose warmth, creative energy and invention lifts spirits to the heights and leaves everyone with a buzzing feeling of wellbeing.
Janette opened this celebration of her life and musical career in show-stopping form with a tantalising rendition of the Zombies smash hit ‘She’s Not There’. Did 1964, the year of its release, carry any special personal significance I wondered? Growing up in in a musical household steeped in a love for jazz and the Great American Songbook, Janette took to the piano under her mother’s guiding eye and was soon drawing inspiration from the likes of Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson. Echoes of both found there way into the next two numbers – Garner’s mischievious, ‘now-it’s- here/now-it’s-gone’ way of toying with the melody of Rodgers and Hart’s classic ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ and the delicate touch coupled with powerhouse swing of Oscar Peterson in ‘Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me’. But most of all it was Janette’s own unique approach to playing, a prodigious free-flowing technique coupled with a deep feeling for the music, that impressed, along with the superb support of her long-term associates Tom Mason and Eric Ford.
The advent of punk and synth-pop captured Janette’s imagination in the late 1970’s and took her musical interests in a new direction with visits to the Marquee in the appropriate gear of the day. Gary Numan’s foundation shaking ‘Cars’ vividly recalled those heady days of safety pins and early electronic wizardry.
‘Mae’s Song’, paid a fitting tribute to Janette’s late mother. Once a professional musician herself, touring the dance halls and variety theatres of the nation as a member of the groundbreaking all-female band led by trumpeter Gracie Cole, she exerted an enduring influence on her daughter’s career which found full expression in this beautifully reflective piece.
Janette discovered David Bowie via a visit to the cinema to watch ’The Man Who Fell to Earth’. Little did she realise, or even dare to imagine, that one day she would audition for Bowie’s legendary producer, Tony Visconti and become the keyboard player in his band Holy, Holy. A sharp intake of breath from the audience accompanied the instantly recognisable opening notes of ‘Ashes to Ashes’, a brilliantly conceived and wonderfully meandering tribute to the great David Bowie.
The ReWired project is a true coming-together of kindred spirits, musically and in heart, mind and soul. The extraordinary rapport between the musicians was at its most palpable during Lane Del Ray’s ‘Video Games’ which rounded off the first set. Tom Mason’s sublime bass lines fused with Eric Ford’s percussion to add rich tonal colouring to Janette’s dream-like inventions at the keyboard. Perfect!
The intimacy of the Progress Theatre provided the perfect setting for Janette’s solo outing which opened the second set and Noel Gallagher’s ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, the perfect choice of number; a backward glance to the time she spent as keyboardist with the super-group Oasis. However thrilling it must have been to perform at the world’s great venues in front of audiences numbering tens of thousands, on this little stage she could feel comfortably at home, stretch out and see where her imagination might take her. And the spellbound audience could feel part of the magical creative process we call jazz.
Eric Ford’s studious demeanour belies the ‘fire in his soul’ as a percussionist. It’s an adage borrowed from the distant days of swing bands, but Eric really ‘set the pots boiling’, especially so on David Bowie’s ‘John I’m Only Dancing’. What’s more, you have the feeling that he’s holding power in reserve, which makes his playing even more exciting … and yet, he never overwhelms the ensemble or overstays his welcome.
An exquisite interpretation of ‘The Man with the Child in His Eyes’, written by Kate Bush at the tender age of thirteen, led seamlessly into Janette’s own heartfelt message of hope, ‘Prayer for the Planet’.
It was great to see that George Shearing figured in Janette’s ‘Pantheon’ of early jazz influences. The blind, British-born pianist found success in the USA with a richly harmonic approach to playing that earned him a huge following, plus the award of a Knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2006. Janette took ‘Lullaby of Birdland’ at a pace, swapping the melodic line with Tom Mason’s bass to tremendous effect and setting up a groove that transported the number from its 1950s origins to the full-on blast of the twenty-first century.
Interestingly, Derek Johnson, reviewing the release of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ as a single for NME in 1966, commented that ‘it lacked the immediate appeal of “Yellow Submarine” but possessed lasting value’.
He was spot on with his judgement and in the eloquent hands of Janette Mason and company one could see why.
Janette’s celebration of her life and musical career ended with a rolled-into-one rocking finale and encore – a pulsating, exhilarating, breathtaking, ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ – a smash hit for the Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart) in 1983. WOW!
As ever, our thanks to the Progress house team for their warm hospitality, especially welcome on such an inclement night, and to Rich and Joe in the ‘broom cupboard’ for the excellent quality of the sound and lighting.
Review posted here by kind permission of Trevor Bannister
Photo by Steve Foster @jazzshots (Instagram & FB)
