Louise Dodds: All I Know
14th March 2025
All I Know is the 4th album from Scottish jazz vocalist and songwriter Louise Dodds. It blends contemporary vocal jazz with Louise’s love of songwriting and storytelling, and uses improvisation to elaborate on the emotion and story of each song.
Originally from Scotland, Louise Dodds was nominated for Best Vocalist at the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2022 and 2023. Louise previously released two critically acclaimed solo albums – Fly (2013) and The Story Needs an Ending (2022) plus the stunning jazz/folk duo album Two Hours After Midnight (2023) with pianist & arranger Elchin Shirinov. She has performed at the EFG London Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival and Glasgow Jazz Festival and into Europe. In 2020 she opened for Norma Winstone MBE.
The title of the album, All I Know, is a line from track 5, Educating the Heart, chosen as it also sums up the overall theme of the album - everything Louise has come to know about love, life and the people around her.
Each song has been inspired by either a personal experience or the experiences of those closest to her, with a raw honesty intended to help the listener feel a sense of connection and understanding. It touches on both the light and dark sides of these experiences, often within the same song.
‘I wanted to give a voice to these feelings and experiences not just to understand and release them, but to also help other people know that they are not alone in what they are going through, and to help them find what they need within themselves.’
The album covers themes such as friendship in difficult times, the highs and lows of relationships, the love and pain within loss, finding strength and courage in yourself, and even asks the question
- if you could go back in time and meet your younger self, what would you tell them? (Inside Story). The album also includes a homage to her hometown of Edinburgh (Holyrood).
Louise Dodds - vocals, compositions
Elchin Shirinov - piano, arrangements
Max Luthert - bass
Dave Hamblett - drums
TRACKLIST:
- As Standard 4:51.
- Home 3:59
- Kindred Spirits 5:47
- Hemispheres 5:56
- Educating the Heart 4:52
- Holyrood 4:53
- Lifeline 5:18
- Inside Story 3:23
- Dark Night of the Soul 4:00
- Wiser 3:47