US pianist/vocalist Judy Carmichael thrilled to be back in UK for Chichester date

“Before the pandemic I used to come to the UK a couple of times a year, as much as I could and then this particular concert was postponed and rescheduled and then postponed and rescheduled again. I'm just thrilled that it's happening. I love the British. I love the fact that they understand irony. With Americans there can be a little bit of delay! But I haven't actually been to the UK since the pandemic. The last time was 2019 and I did a concert in Chichester and I thought I must come back to Chichester because I loved it there.”

As for the pandemic, Judy admits that she didn't allow herself ever to realise just how bad it was: “I didn't want to be a whiner. I know how many people had to educate their children at school. For musicians obviously it was financial disaster but I suppose I was able to soldier on with so many different things. I was writing a book that I was able to finish. And I have a podcast and I was able to do more interviews because of that platform. I always did them in person but I was able to carry on online. And I think it was also very good for me in a way not be travelling for a year. I've been travelling so much for the past 20 years that it was good to be in a different routine at last. It actually brought a lot of good for me personally but when I did get back to the stage again, in April 2021, it was so emotional. The presenter teared up and when I was thanking the audience, I got choked up too. As I say, I never let myself realise just how much I missed performing. I've got other things in my life. My identity is not just that but I just tried not to think too much about how much I missed it.”

And it’s true, things are not yet back quite to where they were: “People are saying that things are about 30 per cent down generally which is why I'm so thrilled that we are almost sold out in Chichester or we will be sold out by the time it happens.”

But she was doing a concert before Christmas close to where she lives. Usually she sells out weeks beforehand, but this time there were still tickets to go a day before: “I don't know if things have changed. I heard on the radio people talking about the LA Philharmonic being down and that's an orchestra as good as it gets. And on Broadway there are usually about 40 productions but there are now about half that. I would like to think that people are still wanting to go out but some people have got out of the habit and I do think some people are still afraid.

“But I do think I am different too now. We had a year at home and we should be feeling different. I do think I appreciate things more. And I appreciated being at home. I was travelling so much that there were times when I didn't even know what season it was when I arrived somewhere but I do think it has all now made me approach performing differently, now that we've had the pandemic.

"I do feel that I'm reaching out to the audience in a different way. I'm thanking them more. I've always been an advocate for creativity but I'm saying thanks now much more directly to the audience for having the courage to come out and see something. I always particularly thank the people who haven't seen me before. I feel very thankful for the audience just being there, for having switched off Netflix.

“Really in life the only thing that we have is time and how we spend that time is very valuable. And if people choose to give me a couple of hours of their time then I am honoured by that and I'm thrilled that we can spend that time together. And that's what's so wonderful about jazz. It is all improvised. What will happen in Chichester will never happen again.”