London Jazz Festival - Highlights

Naturally7 & Marcus Miller, hip-hop jazz fusion & intricate polyphonic free-jazz...and that's just some of the highlights from the fraction of the London Jazz Festival I managed to make it to in November last year. So that you don't shoot yourselves (or me) I won't review the lot, but here's some of the most fantastic stuff I simply have to share.

Look these people up. Find out when they (or similar artists) are playing live next. Listen to new, innovative music and realise jazz is alive; it didn't die with Davis & Coltrane.

Naturally7
If you haven't heard Naturally7 yet then, firstly - welcome to this blog, and secondly - you'll want to check out this infamous video. Every show starts with the thrilling "every sound you are about to hear is produced by the human voice alone"...but it would be fantastic even if that weren't true.

They're a vocal-play group from New York City, that started off singing in Church together and still show their evangelical roots in their shows; whilst also being complete rock-star showmen. Everything was perfectly choreographed, fantastically tight and still left room for improvisation and humour.

After a medley of Rapper's Delight; Saturday Night; Billy Jean and; Startin' Something there was quite literally a full five minutes' applause which the band couldn't stop (I'm sure we missed a song thanks to that). It wasn't all covers, but the overriding memory I'll take from that gig is hearing The Sound Of Silence in 7 part vocal harmony...amazing.

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Sorry, I went on a bit there, I'll try and trim it for the rest...

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_{Louise Golbey - the nicest person on the UK jazz scene}

Jay Phelps - find this man playing live, go and listen to him. A gorgeous sound from an old and battered trumpet, simply and elegantly composed.

Rebirth of the cool - an East London youth project. 2 DJ's, 2 rappers, 3 singers/choral backers and a jazz quartet from Trinity College playing together. I can't even begin to describe how fantastic this was; but this is a distinct, new sound I've heard fragments of elsewhere that I'm looking forward to hearing more of.

Louise Golbey - a soul/jazz singer with just the right mixture of poppy joyfulness, musical intellect and technical skills to make it in both the jazz and pop worlds, I see great things for this girl. A fantastic voice and superb backing band - all that's wanting is a bit more confidence and maturity before we hear her on Radio 1. Go listen.

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There's more, much more, that I'd love to talk about. Buy me a drink sometime and I will - for now though, I'll leave you with a show where I thought I'd see one of my favourite musicians, and ended up finding a new favourite instead.

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Marcus Miller (feat. Christian Scott)
The gig itself was actually just billed as 'Marcus Miller' (one of my favourite bassists), playing from the Tutu - the last album he wrote for Miles Davis.

"Miles never looked back, never played the old stuff", Marcus told us, "so the only way I thought I could do this tribute is if we got a whole bunch of new young musicians together to play it".

The support act (Gary Husband's Drive - also worth looking up) finished. Marcus walked on stage, and played an impossibly technical - but also beautiful - bass solo. A world-class drummer joined him, and a tenor sax player ran on to play a fantastically passionate and elaborate solo for at least a minute.

Christian Scott swaggered onto the stage.

There really is no other word for it, this was the most laid back entrance I've ever seen a musician make - of any standard and on any stage. The rest of the band looked at him, he waited. And waited. And played two notes. And paused.

The standing ovation was so loud I have no idea what happened on stage for the next minute or so. This is the best trumpet player I have ever heard, including any old recording. He's 24 years old and he's going to be massive - keep your eyes out.