Saturday at North Sea Jazz 2024
I’ve been in for some very exciting treats yesterday on the second day of this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival. Mostly playing tracks from his beautiful LP “An Ever Changing View”, Manchester-based trumpeter, composer, producer and label owner Matthew Halsall and his 7-piece band opened the proceedings on the Darling stage. This whole show more or less seemed like a 60-minute meditation, with all the moves on stage very deliberate and calm, like the last time I saw the group in Berlin’s Passionskirche last fall. Matthew’s music sometimes reminds me of Pharoah Sanders, sometimes of Lonnie Liston Smith. The combination of the sound of his trumpet with the harp playing of Alice Roberts is really soothing and oozes tranquility and peace. Jasper Green switched between acoustic and electric piano, and the warm flute and saxophone playing by Matt Cliffe added to the overall serene sound which never came close to the ordinary, but rather really gelled exceptionally well. Especially with pieces like “Calder Shapes”, “Triangle In The Sky”, or the title track.
It was a pleasure to witness British singer Elmiene. The 23-year old soul/r&b crooner, who just released the really beautiful single “Sweetness” back in May, is equipped with a wonderful falsetto. I think we will hear a lot more from him. Abdala Elamin, his real name, played a solid 60-minute set with tracks from his “Marking My Time” EP from last year, such as “Mad At Fire” or “Mama”, most of them staying in lush, midtempo mood and it all looked so easy the way he phrased and crooned and caressed the words. “Crystal Tears” is another one of those bittersweet tunes. It looks very promising to have such a young and talented singer starting out now. I also loved his witty chatter in between songs. Great guy!
Vibraphonist Joel Ross released his fourth Blue Note LP “nublues” back in February. Together with Maria Grand (tenor sax), Jeremy Corren (p), Kanoa Mendenhall (b), and Jeremy Dutton (dr), he played some of the tracks off that particular album. His post-bop approach can be extremely thick and compact, but then again opens up into a wide and vast area and really lets his bandmates shine on each individual instrument.
I also had the chance to bump into the concert of two heavyweights: John Scofield and Dave Holland had such a strong, sometimes very affectionate rapport it was really sweet and fascinating to watch. And you can’t go wrong with Lizz Wright. I have seen her so many times over the years and she never ceases to amaze me. Even though I had seen the same programme last fall at Columbia Theater in Berlin, the energy level, especially on the first three songs, was just astounding last night at the Amazon hall. She has become a little rougher in the upper registers which sounded amazing and she is such a strong force behind the mic. There are not a lot of singers in her category. But she can smooth things out of course and then her voice is this velvety, utterly sensitive instrument. Which she proved again with “Circling”, the most satisfying track from her new album “Shadow”. And she seems to be the only one who can deliver the old standard “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You” the way it’s supposed to be. As a proper and deeply felt love song. One of her signature songs, the old Neil Young classic “Old Man”, simply proves why she is one the most treasured and adored voices around these days. If you’re in the area, check her out on the remaining leg of her tour in Perugia, Kraków, Stuttgart, and London.
As much as I like the idea behind “Black Rainbows”, inspired by the objects, books, and artworks at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, singer Corinne Bailey Rae didn’t resonate with me. Not because of her stories which are highly interesting and vulnerable, but it was her voice which simply didn’t get through to me. I don’t know. Maybe I already had the 44 bus in mind which I wanted to catch to get home.
