Back In January, we reviewed Black Coffee, the epic collaboration between Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa, in which Beth Hart performs a vocal masterclass. Well, Beth is back showing another face of her vocal vocabulary, this time in a faultless recording of her live performance on March 7th, 2017 at an intimate concert at NYC’s Iridium Jazz Club which featured songs from her latest album Fire on the Floor and from throughout her career. It’s been 13 years since the release of her last incredibly successful live album, Live at Paradiso, read on to see what we thought....

Live From New York - Front & Center was released on April 13th via Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group, the performance is also featured on the Season 8 premiere episode of US Public Television’s critically acclaimed concert series 'Front and Center'.

Hart is about to begin an 11 date tour of the UK, including the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and the Royal Albert Hall in May, let us whet your appetites....

Hart is  one of the great live vocalists of our time, and Live From New York - Front & Center celebrates the full range and many textures of her incredible voice. In "Jazz Man", her playfulness and powerful vocal range are demonstrated to the full, you can hear the crowd go bananas as she finishes the song. Hot on the heels of "Jazz Man" comes "Delicious Surprise", in which Beth morphs from playful Jazz siren to Rock diva. The stand out track is undoubtedly her performance of her epic, biographical track from back in 2003, "Leave the Light On". Beth performs to a silent room, the emotion is tangible, I doubt there were many dry eyes in the house. Between the songs, Beth shares snippets of stories from her life which add to the truly intimate nature of the performance.    

Like all of Beth’s work, the more you listen, the more you hear; more emotion, more inspiration, more power, more range. This is a performance that just keeps on giving, right up to the concluding track, "No Place Like Home".

Live From New York - Front And Center hqs been released as a 2-disc DVD/CD set, mixed in 5.1 stereo, featuring never before seen bonus material, including an exclusive interview with Hart. The audio from the performance will also be sold separately as a digital release.

Review by Pete Yeomans