Ella Hohnen-Ford on lockdown reflection and great 20th century voices

Vocalist, composer, lyricist, and bandleader Ella Hohnen-Ford is a versatile and adventurous artist. A ‘Londoner born-and-bred’, Ella graduated with First Class Honours from the Royal Academy of Music in 2020 and has since become known for her role in Jonny Mansfield’s Elftet, as well as her wildly successful weekly livestreams. Ahead of her performance with Ella Hohnen-Ford ‘TreeClimbers’ for NQ Jazz at The Yard on Monday 19th July, we asked Ella six questions, covering her past twelve months, favourite vocalists, and excitement about the return of live music.

Q. What are you most looking forward to about the return of live music?

What am I not looking forward to!!! - mostly just soaking the whole experience up. Being in the room!

And for my own performances, aside from the obvious joys, I have a new found appreciation for the team of people that help put on live music! Working with a real sound person, promoter, venue, tech person etc. - the people that allow you to focus on nothing but the music. Not even the wifi connection. Can you imagine?!

Q. What can audiences expect from your NQ Jazz performance?

A reunion! We’ve been playing as a band since before I started at RAM in 2016 (!) and we’ve missed each other this year. We started playing together because we were best mates, so it will be a big love-up. Excited to air some new music too!

Q. What has kept you busy during the last 12 months?

For me this last year has been about digging deep and finding the fire that connects us to music and letting that lead the way in terms of my own self reflection, growth and connection.

Covid has forced us to create our own opportunities and taught me not to be reliant on anyone else to make things happen. So I’ve been putting that into practice.

We’ve been live streaming every Sunday to Reddit and Youtube. We’ve had over 2 million people engage with it, which has been cool. Bringing Jazz to the masses! I’ve learnt so much.. especially about performing - even without a live audience!

I’ve been writing music. Including some for Will Sach and I (premiered on NQ Jazz!), some for string quartet, lyrics for various collaborators (e.g. Noah Stoneman, Elliot Sansom) and for my solo release, which is in the works.

Another highlight has been I’ve been working with Joe Webb, he’s been such an inspiration this whole year. We have a project reimagining old show tunes - stay tuned for that!

Last summer, I organised a socially distanced event featuring the Echea String Quartet, providing an opportunity for ten amazing composers to debut some original commissions for the line-up of voice and strings. I was blown away by the pieces.

I also have trained as a Yoga teacher, started long(ish) distance running, eaten a lot of chocolate and connected with the incredible people around me in a new way. Strengthening my community has really inspired me. I’ve been reminded that music is about people. It is a gift to share and also a responsibility. Despite the grief of this year, I feel so incredibly grateful.

Q. Has your musical perspective or perception of the industry changed over the past year?

• The importance of an audience. Mac DeMarco said in an interview recently that for him, more than half of the music making process is sharing of it.

• How much I treasure collaboration in music.

• Why I make music - as a necessity, to communicate and express and grow.

Q. Who has had a significant influence on your music?

Bjork and Joni Mitchell - examples of ever evolving artistry.

The great voices of the 20th Century… such as Sarah Vaughn, Donny Hathaway, Etta James and Stevie Wonder.

My mentors musically and in life including Kwabs, Kit Downes, Becca Stevens, Nick Clitheroe, Norma Winstone.

Q. What music are you listening to at the moment?

I’m mainly listening to music that I’ve loved for a long time. There’s endless inspiration in that, and comfort too. Bob Dylan, live late recordings of Nina Simone, young billie Holiday, Etta James (Fool that I am has got to be one of the greatest tracks of all time), excavating old songs from musicals. Also have been tuning into Pablo Held’s podcast on YouTube, livestreams around the world, Dirty Projectors new stuff, Midori Jaeger.