Exciting - Pharoah Sanders inspired – missive from the rich London jazz scene
A Liveurope concert:
The first pan-European initiative supporting concert venues in their efforts to promote emerging European music.
Ever since AB celebrated the 100th anniversary of the very first jazz album with a tsunami of successful jazz concerts (under the banner JAZZ 100) in 2017, our love of the genre has only increased. We have already presented a number of unique jazz scene reports with the focus on London (from Shabaka Hutchings via Kamaal Williams to Nubya Garcia), Manchester (from GoGo Penguin to Matthew Halsall), Chicago (from Makaya McCraven to Ben LaMar Gay) and, of course, Belgium (from BeraadGeslagen via Steiger to Glass Museum).
‘The Rebirth of Jazz’ is a fact. Jazz continues to reinvent itself, the stream of interesting releases is now unstoppable, and the genre attracts a notably young audience. All good reasons to commit to jazz this fall, with concerts by Theon Cross, Angel Bat Dawid, Oscar Jerome, Ezra Collective, TaxiWars, Joe-Armon Jones, Ill Considered, Sarathy Korwar and Nérija (with members of KOKOROKO, SEED Ensemble, …).
The umpteenth superb missive – there seems to be no end to them – from the London jazz scene. Ill Considered feels strongly about freedom. Structure is experienced as claustrophobic. Recordings and concerts? Nothing is planned in advance. No arrangements. No discussion. Inspiration and energy are the primary considerations. The result? ‘Free jazz’ à la Pharoah Sanders with serious bursts of afrobeat, Ethio jazz and echoes of grime and dubstep. King Shabaka Hutchings is a fan too and invited them to the famous Le Guess Who? festival when he served as curator in 2018.