London Jazz News provides the most comprehensive coverage of the EFG London Jazz Festival. This year they had around 40 full length reviews. And yet… they are not covering more than about 12% of the gigs in the festival. So they asked writers and friends from the scene to tell us about other gigs that they enjoyed:
For the full set of reviews, please click on the image, above.
For the reviews featuring Ubuntu Music artists, including mimi-reviews that were not included in the article, please see below.
Alina Bzhezhinska and her band at the Crypt. Photo credit Tatiana Gorilovsky
Alina Bzhezhinska
John meets Alice meets Dorothy meets Pharoah in this mash-up of a contemporary twist on jazz as we know it. Harpist Alina Bzhezhinska really throws a spellbinding party to awaken the senses and gets the body moving with what she refers to as ‘Hip Harping’, a blend of jazz fusion with Afro-beat and other styles. And it really works. Along with a strong rhythm section, special guests Tony Kofi (saxes) and Vimala Rowe made the eclectic night at the Crypt in Camberwell that much more memorable. (Martin Hummel – Ubuntu Music record label representative for Alina Bzhezhinska)
Calum Gourlay
Calum Gourlay Big Band with Sara Dowling
The Scottish bassist Calum Gourlay asked Sara Dowling to pick six of her favourite songs for him to arrange for his big band. Done in a week, they proved crisp and imaginative with Dowling in fine form, some excellent tenor sax solos from Riley Stone-Lonergan and an outstanding baritone solo from James Allsopp on Yip Harburg’s Then I’ll Be Tired Of You. It finished with the standard Tangerine featuring a blistering, dissonant trumpet solo from Charlotte Keeffe. Deserves another outing. (Paul Kelly, Director, Swanage Jazz Festival)
Helena kay
Helena Kay + Sam Watts, Kaidi Akinnibi + Lorenz Okello-Osengor, Nils Økland
A triple bill at Union Chapel. Award-winning saxophonist Helena Kay was a leading member of the London jazz scene until recently moving to New York. It was wonderful to see her return for the opening set with Sam Watts, who plays piano with a fascinatingly Brazilian tinge. Tracks taken from Helena’s excellent debut album Moon Palace plus a couple of standards. Kaidi Akinnibi and Lorenz Okello-Osengor, from the Tomorrow’s Warriors family, treated us to an improvised duo comprising saxophone and the chapel’s Henry Willis Organ respectively. Nils Økland flew in from Norway to treat us to a virtuoso Hardanger fiddle performance: an interesting and atmospheric solo set. A jam session followed with all of the above-named musicians but – too many instruments and too many different styles – it didn’t really work for me. (Steve Marchant)
Deschanel Gordon, Mark Kavuma, Wil Harris, Mussinghi Brian Edwards, Artie Zaitz, Luca Caruso.
Mark Kavuma & The Banger Factory
If you were looking for good-time jazz, influenced by the masters and interpreted by some very cool cats on the London scene, the place to be was Brick Lane’s Living Room. Led by the upbeat, charismatic trumpet man Mark Kavuma, The Banger Factory is a well-oiled fun machine where people can’t stop boogying. Add the sax godfather, Mussinghi Brian Edwards, guitar groover Artie Zaitz, and the piano-man-to-watch Deschanel Gordon, and you’ll shake until the sun comes up. (Martin Hummel, Ubuntu Music record label representative for Mark Kavuma)
Josh Arcoleo, Noemi Nuti.
Andrew McCormack’s Graviton
Out of the 12 gigs that were booked over the 10 days of the EFG London Jazz Festival at the Spice, this show was the most original and moving. Andrew McCormack is a most inventive composer and a a top-flight pianist. Essentially, a mythological suite such as The Hero’s Journey comprised dramatic themes made all the more stirring by the gutsy tenor sax of Josh Arcoleo, strident vocals of Noemi Nuti and the locked-in engine room of bassist Tom Herbert and drummer Jamie Murray. Mid-way though the evening, Chick Corea’s Windows provided a lyrical and hard-swinging instrumental interlude which amply displayed the mettle of these formidable musicians. (Paul Pace – Promoter, SpiceJazz at the Spice of Life/Ronnie Scott’s booker)
Jean Toussaint
Jean Toussaint Sextet
Two thirds of the way into their set at Cadogan Hall, Jean Toussaint announced bassist Daniel Casimir’s The Missing of Sleep, written for his now one-year-old daughter, only to find that Trumpeter Byron Wallen could not find the part in his thick pad of music. Forced backstage to search for it, pianist Andrew McCormack filled with an elegiac introduction for several minutes before Wallen returned with the missing part. What followed was a gorgeous tender ballad. Note, no Art Blakey tunes were heard in the performance of this concert marking his centenary. Strange. (Paul Kelly)
Jason Yarde
Jason Yarde’s Acoutastic Bombastic
The concert at The Cockpit Theatre started with three wonderful short improvisations from quartets and quintets from the large ensemble with the instruments nominated by random members of the audience cued by Jason Yarde. All members of the group doubled on at least two instruments so that, for example, violinist Emma Smith also played a short solo on saxophone, Rosie Turton played percussion as well as trombone and Julian Siegel played saxophone, bass clarinet and double bass. Jason’s writing for the ensemble was absolutely brilliant. (Tony Dudley Evans)
Hakan Başar (Photo by Monika S Jakubowska)
Hakan Başar Trio
A 15-year-old Turkish piano prodigy, who had never ventured outside of his country before, plays to a full house in the opening show for this year’s LJF, leaving young and old mesmerised with his iron-clad grasp of the American songbook. Expect great thing from this exceptional talent.
(Martin Hummel, Ubuntu Music record label representative for Hakan Başar)
Andrew McCormack, Yason Yarde (Photo by Monika S Jakubowska)
McCormack & Yarde Duo And Cecile McLorin Savant
What an exceptional pairing of artists in one show. Andrew McCormack (piano) and Jason Yarde (soprano sax) clearly demonstrated that, after a decade together, their music is as fresh and as innovative as ever. Vocalist Cecile McLorin Savant, accompanied by the incomparable pianist Sullivan Foster, took the audience through a delicious menu of varied music, serving up a captivating performance.
(Martin Hummel, Ubuntu Music record label representative for McCormack & Yarde Duo)
sarah Tandy, Daniel Casimir, Camilla George, Winston Clifford. (Photo by Martin Hummel)
Camilla George And Christian Sands
Alto saxophonist and ‘Golden Girl’ Camilla George--with her playing, leadership and comportment--continues to go from strength to strength. Her opening slot at Cadogan Hall proved the point once again. Christian Sands, in a trio setting, clearly reminded us why he is where he is, at an equally young age, delivering pure, unadulterated entertainment. Another excellent, strategically guided selection of complimentary performances.
(Martin Hummel, Ubuntu Music record label representative for Camilla George)
Shane Forbes, Tom Farmer, Joe Webb (Photo by Martin Hummel)
Joe Webb Trio
Welsh pianist and unsung jazz talent Joe Webb, best known for his work with the Kansas Smitty’s house band, Rob Luft and Hailey Tuck, stood firmly on his own two musical feet, accompanied by stalwarts Tom Farmer (bass) and Shane Forbes (drums), delivering an exceptional performance of mostly his own material to a deeply appreciative audience. There is much more to come, from this young man.
(Martin Hummel, Ubuntu Music record label representative for Joe Webb)
Rob Luft, Scott Flanigan, Dave O’Higgins, Rod Youngs (Photo by Martin Hummel)
Dave O’Higgins & Rob Luft Play Monk & Trane
One of the hardest working bands this year treated the students of LCCM to an exceptional masterclass, followed by an air-tight performance, at the college’s state-of-the-art facilities. Sax supremo Dave O’Higgins, who teaches there, delivered the goods. Guitarist Rob Luft duelled with O’Higgins every step of the way, providing spellbinding interplay from two at the top of their games. Add organist Scott Flanigan and drummer Rod Youngs, and you have a mesmerising musical offering. Monk and Trane would be proud.
(Martin Hummel, Ubuntu Music record label representative for O’Higgins & Luft)