Jazz breaking news: Love Supreme Triumphs with Hot Music and Weather
Monday, July 8, 2013
Much like Andy Murray’s hard fought victory at Wimbledon this weekend, there was a lot riding on the first Love Supreme Jazz Festival – perhaps the most ambitious high profile UK jazz event in recent memory.
Yet with stunning weather, a bill that was stacked with quality across the board – from accessible to adventurous jazz, funk and soul sounds – and a simply glorious setting at Glynde Place among the rolling countryside of the Sussex Downs, everything came together to create a highly memorable first edition.
Having got underway on Friday night with a series of DJ sets, early bird revellers were reportedly right into the festival spirit from the word go, Jazz FM DJ Chris Philips even dropping tracks from Gregory Porter’s new album Liquid Spirit that sent them wild. Saturday night headliners Chic were doubtless the big name that pulled in a lot of day-trippers but many chose to make a full weekend of it with thousands camping. There were plenty of other bands that got daytime listeners into the spirit of things – not least Manchester piano trio, GoGo Penguin. With their streetwise blend of memorable melodic hooks and slamming bass and drums theirs is a winning formula that served as a perfect afternoon entrée for a packed Big Top stage. Kairos 4tet also drew a decent crowd on the opposite side of the festival site in the Arena tent; once again their pastoral melody-laden instrumentals and exquisite songs, sung with poise by Emilia Mårtensson, got a great reaction. The main stage also got off to a flying start with charismatic a capella crew Naturally 7, with their all-vocal ‘instrument impressions’ and close harmony vocals, and the stomping New Orleans street-funk of Soul Rebels Brass Band, both engaging the audience with dynamic performances. Soul survivor Charles Bradley delivered too with his emotion-cracked voice set against sharp soul-funk backing.
Things were hotting up in the Big Top as well, with Courtney Pine steaming through his House Of Legends set with its crowd pleasing ska grooves and Pine’s winning ways with the audience. Yet it was an all-too-brief appearance by US nine-piece Snarky Puppy that really set the bar for group interplay and extraordinary virtuoso ensemble playing on an explosive set that merged funk and fusion into heavy electronica and prog-rock. Bassist Michael League leads this band from the front, conducting each new section with mile-wide grins and his own darting bass work, as horns, keys, drums and guitars all charged up the audience. Up against Chic in barnstorming post-Glastonbury mood, bass guitar icon Marcus Miller inevitably lost a few audience members but nevertheless played a superb set of his own expansive brand of electric jazz – letting his young band deliver sparkling solos on his wide-ranging material. Later on Robert Glasper took to the stage announcing he’d be releasing Black Radio 2 later this year, the follow up to its Grammy award-winning predecessor – while he delivered a moody bass-heavy set that kicked off with his twisted take on Radiohead’s ‘Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box’ before morphing into deeper dance club vibes.
With late night partying going on until dawn, Sunday’s music eased the audience gently back into the swing of things with a sonorous jazz-folk set in the Big Top from Gwyneth Herbert, who performed songs from her recent Sea Cabinet album. The baking temperatures were matched by a riotous Main Stage performance from Soweto Kinch who unleashed a wild alto sax-and-beats opening salvo before one of his notorious freestyle raps that linked words suggested by the audience, all taken from letters in the word ‘supreme’. Someone suggested ‘Esperanza’ for one of the ‘e’s and to his credit Kinch seamlessly worked that into his rhyming flow, to huge cheers from the crowd.
With the audience numbers swelling it could only mean the much anticipated arrival of Gregory Porter – appearing with his US band, and wearing a flowing white shirt with natty red bow tie – the towering singer seemingly couldn’t wait to get stuck into music from his new album Liquid Spirit. With its title tune being a sister song to ‘1960 What?’ – that later provided a perfect high octane finale – and other pieces such as ‘Free’ and ‘No Love Dying’ already sounding like Porter classics, the singer more than commanded the stage with his characteristic “Hey!” ringing out as a clarion call for this hugely atmospheric setting under blue skies and bright sun. Other US big names Terrence Blanchard and Branford Marsalis (pictured above) reminded festivalgoers of the more intense, serious side of contemporary jazz but audiences listened intently and seized every moment of every solo – absorbing and amplifying the improvisational energy.
Thus Esperanza Spalding (pictured above) provided a more glam answer to the question of how to make this heady music appeal to hips and heart too with an impressive bass and vocal display with her dynamite band. While Brand New Heavies, Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and Melody Gardot proved big crowd pleasers on the main stage and Big Top, Roller Trio concluded things in the Arena tent with a ripping rock-edged set. Their sound signposting a new confidence among young UK jazz musicians that leapfrogs old attitudes to what constitutes jazz, connecting emphatically with young audiences hungry for new sounds.
Love Supreme therefore seems to have been a huge success, with audiences not just turning up in their thousands but also succumbing to the intoxicating atmosphere of the highly conducive setting, stunning weather and embracing the free spirit of jazz. This durable music easily showing that it can move from niche nightclub or concert setting to a field in the heart of the English countryside. Yes the weather helped but it was all part of special weekend that many will hope will be repeated next year. Bring it on.
– Mike Flynn
– photos: Sisi Burn – copyright Sisi Burn - www.sisiburn.com