Live jazz gig at the Boxford Fleece in Suffolk
For the next two years Jenny worked with her band...Mark Fletcher (drums) Geoff Gascoyne (bass) Liam Noble (piano) at various jazz venues in London and the South of England.
In 1991, jenny and Mark had moved to Belmont in surrey to a big three storey house. There they lived for almost three years, with their four cats - October, Paris, Boris....and Elvin. During this period Jenny got very disillusioned with London life and was looking around to find somewhere more rural. This was found through a picture in the 'Evening Standard' of an idyllic 16th Century thatched cottage, (Rose Cottage) the cottage was purchased ( after many months of trying to obtain a suitable mortgage on the property )in 1992,although Jenny and Mark did not move in until April 9th 1993.
In the Surrey years Jenny had a three night weekend jazz residency with the jazz trio in the restaurant at 'The Royal Garden Hotel' Kensington.
Following that...a six month stint depping at the 'Windows of the World Restaurant ' in Park lane.
On February 19th 1993...Jenny's father passed away. Having just come out of hospital and being treated for a lung problem (emphysema) he died in his sleep.
After the funeral Jenny and Mark decided to move to the cottage as soon as possible. Although much work had been done there was still a lot more to do. The builders were in for the next three months, and Jenny decided to have some time off from singing and concentrate on renovating the cottage.
Within ten days of moving in... Her lovely blue cat ' Paris ' was found dead near the front door on the morning of the 19th of April. In the August the same thing happened with October the long-haired golden chinchilla Mother cat. Jenny put signs up as regards to 'slowing down ', there were front page local newspaper articles campaigning for speed bumps to be installed. The situation was helped slightly by the road ( a country village road no less ) being made one way by mid 1994...but the road was still a constant worry and had almost ruined the rural dream.
In the September Jenny went to work in Corton, nr Lowestoft in her old mate's ' Dave White's band. Here she worked with old friends again. 'Pete Fipps' on bass.. plus the obnoxious yet charming Simon on the drums. It was great fun, and jenny made a lot of new friends and saw a lot of Cabarets...( Bert Weedon the guitarist, Mike Berry the singer...the Drifters vocal group etc....) Jenny stayed for a year at Corton, and then left to go to work at the Dorchester in Park lane three nights a week with a cocktail jazz trio.
In January 95 the Dorchester band were offered to go to ' Bangkok ' in Thailand for three months starting in the February. No one else could go but Jenny decided that she hadn't been away to work for a long time, and so after much discussion with the Agent Jenny took her own five piece band out to Bangkok. It was decided that Mark would stay at home (as he had so much work on anyway) and would cat sit ! Jenny took out with her, her old friend 'Brent Keefe ' on drums, and a recommended 'Mate ' of his on guitar named 'AL Steele ' and 'Ozz ' who lived near Cardiff. Plus a Norfolk keyboard player called ' Ian Sainsbury '.. ( a friend Of Al's ) and Adrian Beale on bass from Manchester .
Bangkok was enlightening from the start. Jenny and Al had disagreements on how the band should perform (as the venue change its criteria and dress code from day to day! ) There was hardly ever anyone in the hotel Club...except about twenty 'Thai' hostesses nightly!
On their one evening a week off Jenny and the band went to watch local musicians play. In a nightclub one evening they met a singer called 'Nobby' (his real name was unpronounceable!) they all became good friends and on her one night a week off Jenny sang in Nobby 's band. Nobby was a really good singer in the Michael Franks style and they sang well together.
There were money problems with the hotel right from the start in Bangkok .. so much so that 'Phil' the agent flew over to try to smooth things over a little...but the hotel owner refused to see him..and Phil ended up being robbed and then stayed on for a holiday !
It was finally decided that the band would finish two weeks early, but could stay on for a holiday with their wives and girlfriends for free ( plus food ) for the extra two weeks. In the meantime...jenny was working six nights a week with Nobby at his Club, ( although for far less money ) Jenny was enjoying it so much that she wanted to carry on with the Thai band, having made friends out there and enjoying the sunshine and the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.
However, all that was shattered when out of the blue Mark called her in the early morning to say that Boris had been killed outside the house. Without thinking, jenny called the airport and changed her flight (She got the last seat) and after much grappling with packing, and repeatedly weighing in her luggage at the airport, Jenny embarked on the epic eighteen hour journey home.
At London - Heathrow, Jenny was met by her singer friend ' Polly Raymond ' who drove her back to Norfolk . Mark was devastated by Boris's death and needed much consoling
The very next day Jenny went with Mark to the animal crematorium at Duxford near Cambridge . Jenny said her goodbyes to Boris thinking how strange it was that when she had left the UK last, there had been this enormous ginger/cream cat with freckles on his nose! (In fact Boris was named after Boris Becker!) It was a shattering experience.
He was so loved.
A publicity photo taken at Holme Lacy, Hereford
That summer Jenny freelanced, playing many different types of gigs from jazz piano and voice at 'Jim Thompson's' in Croyden to numerous functions. The following year ( 96 ) Jenny was called to audition for a part in the new Musical 'Heathcliff ' with ' Cliff Richard .' Jenny subsequently got a part as one of the onstage backing vocalists... from that came various voice jingles...the most famous being the 'Nissan' car advert...then the recording of the chorus for 'Evita' for the Madonna film version of Evita.
Jenny in the Bath!
Lastly , but not least came the part of 'Maggie ' the blues singer ' in the ' Helen Mirren' two part TV programme for Granada ...this was a world wide success in Canada and the USA specifically.
It was at this time that Jenny decided to move again, having become increasingly dejected over the loss of her three cats in a ' So called countryside Idyll.' Plus being thoroughly fed up of the anthracite boiler running out of fuel... meaning that Jenny very often had to run out into the snow in the early morning in dressing gown and wellies! Much to the delight of the neighbours who must have thought she was some kind of
mad woman!
Jenny decided on a small two bedroomed house (with all mod cons) just outside Colchester in a sleepy Suffolk village. This time Jenny moved in on her own; both she and Mark decided to go their separate ways ... Mark to London and Jenny to Suffolk . After the calming life in the country Jenny could not contemplate a move back to the Capital. Having lived there three times and done it, so to speak, to go back there again would have seemed like a step backwards.
Jenny moved on June 6th (her father's birthday Jenny and Mark said their goodbye's (after seven years) Jenny took the cats (By this time they had also acquired a stray tabby- cross-Siamese called Mackie)
The relief felt from moving from the big house was infinitesimal, and Jenny looked forward to having a rest after the house move, before she began rehearsing for Heathcliff in the August. Again.... 'The best made plans of mice and men !' Jenny found herself busier than ever... Paul Stevenson a guitarist friend of hers and Marks called up and offered her a Monday and Tuesday night gig at Boswells Night Club in Norwich covering the two ' Jam nights '. This Jenny accepted. but then later on Sundays were offered, then there were other gigs on guitar and voice with Paul, plus private functions. By the time August came and jenny started rehearsals in London for Heathcliff, she found herself rehearsing five days a week, plus on Mondays and Tuesdays drove to Norwich from London each evening. It was exhausting, and Jenny was making herself ill with all the to-ing and fro-ing plus experiencing frequent asthma attacks due to the stress of it all. Paul said some decisions had to be made, and that she (Jenny) could not possibly work in Heathcliff and Boswells at the same time! It was to hard a decision and Jenny went for many weeks trying to do both. In the end, preferring to stay and work near home, plus doing work she loved Jenny left Heathcliff to concentrate on Boswells and her other commitments.
On the 5th of November 1996, Hy Kursner, the owner of Boswells, informed jenny that they were changing the 'Jam nights ' into more of 'The Band nights ' and therefore her services were no longer required! Jenny was gutted; there was no Heathcliff, hardly any other gigs...and no money!
No matter, by December 96 Jenny was offered work in Portsmouth over the Christmas period, by the John Oliver Agency '. After this came almost three years of solid work with the 'Music Express Band', (which consisted of the Guards band brass players stationed at Chelsea Barracks !) this Jenny did concurrently with her 'Ken Macintosh big Band ' gig right up until March 2000...the Millennium year.