Estelle Kokot who suddenly died on 15 February at age 63 was a true one-off. A regular at the Vortex for over 20 years, since she arrived from South Africa.
She can be classed among the great jazz singer-pianists here, being possibly the best technically on piano.
Most recently she had been playing annually on 29th December at the club with the likes of Gene Calderazzo and Mick Hutton. Once, when the heating in the club wasn’t working properly, all the audience bought whiskies to stay warm and not miss a note of her second set.
“Larger than life” doesn’t properly express her personality or her impact. And whenever she played there was a coterie of musicians to support her in the audience, such as Christine Tobin, Cleveland Watkiss and Steve Lawson.
Once heard, never forgotten!
A tribute on UK Jazz News https://ukjazznews.com/rip-estelle-kokot-1962-2026/