London's Kokoroko and birthday boy Avishai Cohen set pulses racing as Cully Jazz hits 40

As the Alpine snows on peaks across the vast lake turn pink in the dusk and the lights of distant Montreux began to twinkle, sell out crowds gathered for this mid-sized festival now in its 40th year and still gaining in programming confidence, and international pulling power. 

Access to the festival is made easy by the frequent train services from Lausanne and Vevey that continue well beyond the end of the final gigs and a maximum effort is made to ensure Cully (pronounced ‘Coo-wee’ I eventually work out) is kept as pristine as a traditional Swiss wine growers' village should be.

The two main venues, both indoor, are the 950-seat Chapiteau, hosting the main headliners, and, a few metres away, the Next Step, with a standing capacity of around 500. Several smaller rooms, often in “caveau” wine bars put on smaller gigs, many of which are free, and the Cully village church – rebranded as “Temple” – was beautifully lit for solo performances this year by the likes of brilliant South African guitarist Derek Gripper and veteran Malian pianist and former Fela Kuti associate Cheick Tidiane Seck. Some 13,700 tickets were sold at the two main venues over the week with the festival attracting 62,000 visitors overall.

Kicking things off in the Next Step on the first Friday were US hiphoppers Slum Village who were joined for a one-off collaboration by young nu-jazz oriented Swiss musicians including Arthur Donnot on tenor sax, guitarist Erwan Valazza and trumpeter Zacharie Ksyk. Despite limited rehearsal time, it was clear instant connections were made and the boys from Detroit found their reflective lyrical flows truly enhanced by the empathetic locals.

New Zealand-born but London-based drummer Myele Manzanza, whose father was a Congolese master percussionist, delighted the enthusiastic crowd at Next Step the next night with his band's genre-bending hiphop, improv and house, illuminated by the warm, soulful voice of Zola Marcelle.

Also London-based was the magical Sona Jaborteh, the world's first female kora professional from a west African griot family (traditional families of musicians). Her accessible and sensual set with her rich effortless singing, fluid kora and guitar playing at its centre quickly won over the sell out crowd in the Chapiteau. To explain her music, she switched to French delivered in an urgent whisper and punctuated by lots of words like “d'accord!” “donc!” and “voila!”. She turned to percussionist Mamadou Sarr for help when stuck on a certain word and joked about instructions she'd received to end the concert punctually, quipping she thought she was playing in French Switzerland, not the German part. Sona's stage presence and relaxed, confident control of her band and set left a lasting impression as did the sheer beauty of her music.

Following Jaborteh was Cheick Tidiane Seck’s trio featuring the incendiary drummer Paco Séry and Jaco-influenced Cameroonian bassist Guy Nsangué Akwa. This wonderfully loose (in a good way) trio improvised around a series of funky grooves lit up by Séry's inventive and exciting fills. Many in the audience continued singing the trio's final riff long after the final encore finished – football crowd style.

Thursday's headliner was bassist Avishai Cohen's brilliant trio, featuring Roni Kaspi on drums – a 22 year old with lightning hands and a feather touch – and another young player of rare ability, pianist Guy Moskovich, himself just 26. The intense, emotionally riveting set explored tunes from the Shifting Sands recording such as ‘Intertwined’ and older material such as the poignant ‘Remembering’ – each track full of extraordinary rhythmic interplay between the players, crystal clear piano solo development and Cohen's own committed muscular approach on double bass. 

Before the gig, which took place on Cohen's 53rd birthday, the bassist tells me how invigorating he finds it to play with young musicians like Kaspi and Moskovich. “I love the hunger of younger musicians,” he says. “They already know a lot of my music and it pushes me to stay on top of what I've written. They have their own requests - they come to me and say ‘Man I love this tune, can we play it?’ I can honestly say I could play just carry on playing the material I've composed so far and never get bored. We invent new music every night - the written part is just the trigger to all these other expressive moments from every one of us.”

Cohen's next album, he says, is the most different he's yet made. Called Iroko, it just comprises congas, bass and vocals with no chordal instrument. The recording has a lot to do with his “rhythmic DNA and my influences from New York.” His partner for the session was percussionist Abraham Rodriguez who Cohen used to play with in the streets of NYC early in his career. The duo will be augmented by musicians including former Cohen associate (from the Vamp Band) Diego Urcola on trumpet for a run at the Blue Note in New York until 30 April. 

Rocking the house at the Next Step on the same night as Cohen's gig was a very different act: Summer Pearl. Reggae, nu-jazz, hip-hop and funk were all on the agenda in a really well considered set that just kept developing and surprising. Pearl is not one to be pinned down to any genre, her excellent use of her low register, humour and dynamic variation enhancing a confident stage presence and direct message of feminism and anti-racism. She tells me post soundcheck that Jill Scott and Erykah Badu are among her inspirations but her set is very much her own. “War” was among the standout tracks with superb backing vocalists, sisters Makeda and Kandaka Moore, bringing the gloss and added sass to the performance. On bass and drums respectively Ryan Windross and Charles Hall provided the power and Sahil Batra brought a serene, reflective vibe on keys. Expect big things from Summer Pearl in the months and years ahead.

Another British act making waves at Cully was London Afrobeat Collective, led by charismatic vocalist Juanita Eukade and lighting up Next Step with the West African funk vibe and sheer energy. 

The final night of the festival saw a wonderful double header in the Chapiteau, now with seating removed, with Ethiopian jazz legend vibist Mulatu Astatke’s band (featuring Byron Wallen on trumpet and James Arben on saxes) supplying the aural dopamine before a rousing set by Kokoroko, the hugely popular UK-based eight piece led by vocalist and trumpet player Sheila Maurice-Grey. Kokoroko's exciting riffs, tightness and collective approach brought the house down in the venue, making full use of the Chapiteau's excellent lighting and brand new state-of-the-art sound system. 

A final word for brilliant Cully house band KUMA, once again delighting free audiences in the Caveau with super hip funk and soul of the highest quality. The band, led by Arthur Donnot and keyboardist Matthieu Llodra, recently launched a brilliant debut album, Honey & Groat. KUMA’s late night sessions at Cully under the Alpine stars often feature special guests from the main gigs – seeing Roni Kaspi do her thing close-up was an added bonus after Avishai Cohen’s wonderful concert.

The next Cully Jazz festival will take place over the week of 5-13 April 2024