Venus Warriors rise up at Hideaway
Friday, March 21, 2014
It’s almost 30 years since some of the best black British musicians enfranchised themselves as Jazz Warriors, and now its lynchpin Courtney Pine has become the non-playing catalyst for a further step forward: the all female nine-piece, Venus Warriors.
Their debut gig at Hideaway in Streatham is also a benefit for the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue – on its way to making the Crimea War nurse the first named black British woman so commemorated.
Repertoire, sound and individual styles are unpredictably diverse. Acoustic Ladyland veteran Ruth Goller, a late, valuable recruit, pulls Indian-sounding chords from her electric bass before switching to upright. Steel pan virtuoso Delphina James and Rosie Turton’s ska-inflected trombone both add a Caribbean flavour, and there’s a strong strain of latin funk from the rhythm section, while Jazz Warriors alumnus Juliet Roberts sings new soul-jazz compositions.
The saxes are contrastingly excellent. On alto, Camilla George leans back to take Horace Silver’s ‘Nica’s Dream’ on a sunnily full-toned, unhurried bop stroll. Tenorist Nubya Garcia is romantically cool and almost cockily off-hand on Joe Henderson’s ‘Jinrikisha’. “This is a project that I hope to see arise,” Pine says, concluding a warmly satisfying, significant night where every player delivered.
– Nick Hasted
– Photo © Roger Thomas