Nikki Yanofsky, just 16, the youngest-ever jazz signing to a major record label, according to her label Decca, has just completed a two-night run at Pizza Express Jazz Club, a stint that saw her also fit in a special Jazz For Kids matinee for school children yesterday afternoon, a first at the club.

Watching her perform on the first night in the Dean Street basement club in London, a venue that eight years ago hosted the then unknown Norah Jones, it was striking how far Yanofsky has travelled in such a short time.

Tiny, with her hair up and wearing a sparkly top and looking very much the teen she is, Yanofsky from Quebec whose debut album Nikki is released in November when she returns to the capital for a London Jazz Festival show, has bags of energy, bringing with her the sort of attitude that a kids TV presenter who has just consumed numerous bars of chocolate and a big bottle of Fanta might adopt.

With a naturally friendly way with the audience who were quickly and painlessly won over, her singing voice is another matter entirely with the sort of mid-song strength and range that has seen her compared to a young Ella Fitzgerald at least in terms of technical excellence irrespective of timbre or style. She can scat at a gallop, deliver a certain bluesiness and rhythmic maturity that singers twice her age would still be far from perfecting, but also has a commercial edge which is bound to appeal eventually to a wider audience. She is lucky to also have the sort of ease that makes her voice seem more like an instrument at times.

With her expert Montreal band of pianist John Sadoway, guitarist Andy Dacoulis, bassist / musical director Rob Fahie and drummer Richard Irwin she began with a peppy ‘Sunny Side of the Street’ followed by ‘God Bless The Child’ and an early highlight, ‘Lullaby of Birdland’. ‘Take the A Train’ saw her relax a bit and her signature song ‘Airmail Special’ was notable for not allowing the pyrotechnics of her interpretation to overwhelm the material. Dacoulis fulfilled the role as prevailing uptempo accompanist to Yanofsky excelling throughout but reaching new heights (with Rob Fahie also to the fore harmonically) on ‘No More Blues’. 

– Stephen Graham