It was the first Soho Session at Pizza Express Jazz Club last night, a special invitation-only affair when the club went to some pains to put on a fine array of talent.
Tucked away behind the somewhat forbidding Wood Green shopping mall, the Karamel isn't a known jazz venue but it is a spacious, genial restaurant where striking photographs of political protest, right down to far left militants booting fascists out of Brick lane, give the décor a steely edge.
“What time is it?” David Fiuczynski (pictured) quizzed the audience well into his set at the outdoor Arena del Mare as boats on the water twinkled enticingly behind him.
Jazz will be a prominent feature among a vast pan-global of styles in what’s shaping up to be a marathon set of pre-Olympics concerts as part of the BT River of music festival this weekend.
In 1938 Barney Josephson (1902-1988), the son of Latvian Jewish immigrants, borrowed $6,000 to open a club in Greenwich Village called Cafe Society.
Live music producers Serious have just confirmed two new additions to this year’s London Jazz Festival, with the Robert Glasper Experiment to perform at the Royal Festival Hall on the opening Friday night, 9 November, and legendary American folk musician Rodriguez also appearing at the RFH on Saturday 17 November.
London-based jazz singer Georgia Mancio has announced the line-up for the third edition of her highly successful ReVoice! Festival, last year’s event having featured outstanding performances by Norma Winstone and Karin Krog, and four sold-out nights from Gregory Porter.
The frequently riotous, and defiantly non-conformist collaboration between Neneh Cherry and The Thing (pictured) hit London’s Village Underground with some thump last night, as part of its fast wheeling European tour.
This year’s Manchester Jazz Festival starts in earnest this evening, initiating nine busy days of local, national and overseas talent at concerts across the city in a variety of venues.
To celebrate the Olympics coming to London’s east end later this month, the Grand Union Orchestra (pictured) will be performing ‘The Golden Highway’ at the Hackney Empire on 18 July.
