Q. What do Gil Scott Heron, Herbie Hancock, Mulatua, Astake, Lee Scratch Perry, D’Angelo, Lana Del Ray, Bobby Womack and Amy Winehouse all have in common?
A. They’ve all performed at Camden’s Jazz Cafe, which is reopening after a £3million renovation project.
By the looks of the announced line-up, it’s not just the 25-years-old venue that’s had a face-lift. The programme packs a punch, with established quality lining up alongside emerging sounds on the scene. For example, you can get down there to see the likes of Dave Harrington or Portico. How about Mammal Hands with a smattering of soul and hip hop options to broaden the palate? It’s tasty.
With a vibey new look and feel, here’s to London regaining a venue equal to its history and famous name.
If that maths makes sense to you, 10 – 20 March 2016 is going to be a rather enjoyable period for you London music calendar. Convergence is back for its third edition with a line-up celebrating musical pioneers, visual artists and technologists. Highlights include saxophone maverick Colin Stetson and a celebration of Gil Scott-Heron featuring Kwabs, Jamie Woon, Dave Okumu, Nadine Shah, Loyle Carner, Gwilym Gold.
Convergence Sessions adds a discursive dimension to the programme — a series of talks, workshops, panels, performances and installations take place from 17-19 March at Ace Hotel Shoreditch (full sessions programme).
Dan Deacon has also been announced as the festival’s first artist in residence in a role combining workshops, sessions and gigs — a neat embodiment of Convergence’s raison d’être. Get on down.
Convergence runs 10 – 20 March at venues including Barbican, Roundhouse, Scala, St John on Bethnal Green, Village Underground, Troxy and KOKO. Full line-up here.
Now in it’s fourth year, Love Supreme once again affirms itself as the UK’s leading greenfield festival celebrating jazz, funk and soul. Legends and icons across all three genres occupy top billing from 1 – 3 July: Burt Bacharach, Grace Jones, Lianne La Havas, Giles Peterson and Kelis. As if these stellar headliners aren’t reason enough to seduce your attendance, here are some choice pickings from the remaining wealth:
Schofield / Mehldau / Guiliana: Mehliana (the port-manteaud Mehldau and Guiliana) are joined by guitarist John Scofield for a UK exclusive. Reassuringly, they’ve resisted temptation and exercised their better judgement by not rebranding for the occasion as Scomehliana. Individually, these three are electric. Combined, this supergroup demands your ears’ attention.
Cécile McLorin Salvant: In a nod to Bacharach’s attendance, Salvant’s set must inevitably include Wives and Lovers from her 2015 album For One to Love. Her elastic range soars across octaves with a story-telling charm that captivates and dazzles the listener. Truly a virtuoso, Salvant delights in every note and syllable.
Jacob Collier: His extravagant harmonies, extraordinary chops and polycephalic-hydra visual displays have catapulted Collier from YouTube star to being heralded as ‘jazz’s new messiah’. He’s got Quincy Jones on side and if his projection continues, he’ll be romping up the billing in subsequent years. Read the review of his EFG London Jazz Festival performance here.
Love Supreme Festival. 1 – 3 July 2016. Glynde Place, East Sussex. See you there.
It is surprising when someone who does not identify as a ‘lover of musicals’ enthuses so whole-heartedly about something in the genre — this happened to me multiple times on a recent trip to the States.
Believe it or not, the musical event that is sweeping a multitude of music-lovers in the USA (beyond the usual Broadway pilgrims) is a biography of American founding-father Alexander Hamilton. Fusing hip-hop, rap, R&B, british pop (as well as musical theatre), if the soundtrack is anything to go by it won’t be long before Hamilton and its revolutionary notions find their way to British shores.
Musical history has never had such flow — props to Lin-Manuel Miranda and his dope compositional chops.
Casually Here — South London-based producer Nic Nell — is releasing his debut album Kept, a record of nocturnal subterranean ‘night bus music’. He describes it as ‘a record evoking liminal states of mind between warmth and safety and experiences of coming home alone in South London at night’. The Prickle describes it as ‘really rather good’.
See it live with cellist Tom Pickles at the album launch on Tuesday 6 October hosted by the edgily delightful Rye Wax in Peckham. Oh, and it’s free (both the launch and the record) because Casually Here is casually ace.
Maz — trumpeter from musical-joy-explosion Snarky Puppy — has got a soulful set of pipes on him. This is a charming and groove-filled session featuring his kind vocals accompanied by some of the Pups along with Talia Billig who curates the rather excellent Orchard Sessions. How do you like them apples?
Jessica Biel’s naïve roller-skating waitress Alice is seconds away from accepting a proposal from her copper boyfriend, Scott — a man obsessed with expressing his emotions in percentages, played endearingly by James Marsden — when an accident involving a nail gun sees poor Alice struck down with a new, but not fatal, hair accessory. What ensues is a crusade upon Washington DC for healthcare for all.
Coming soon (Friday 19 June, to hit the head on the nail).
GoGo Penguin’s acoustic-electronica sound meets at a pulsating melting point. Fans of New Cowley Trio and The Bad Plus will revel in their take on break-beats, soundscapes and piano-led creations that led to a Mercury Prize 2014 nomination.
Catch them at KOKO on 12 June is an opportunity to see the band in full flight.
Sylvan Esso are the queen of tranquil indie-electro-pop-whateveritistheydo. Check out their mellow majesty in the internet’s definitive session series, the Tiny Desk Concert.
Not everyone creates a method for harmonizing and symphonizing real life. Not everyone is Chassol. This new audio-visual project — Big Sun — takes us to his family’s birthplace of Martinique, where his encounters form the basis for another surreal and hypnotic journey into the world of Chassol.
The Prickle 