Stacey Kent and Ledisi at Zig Zag Jazz Festival
The first ever Zig Zag Jazz Festival, presented by the Zig Zag jazz club and Ella Radio, started last Monday with a concert by Dee Dee Bridgewater. We visited for the first time on Wednesday, for the double bill of Stacey Kent and Ledisi. It’s a pretty cool location, the Gasometer in Schöneberg, and easy to get to because the nearest S-Bahn stop is just a few minutes away. But anyway, Stacey Kent opened the night early with a new LP in tow: on “A Time For Love”, she continues to churn out another ten classics with her pretty distinctive voice. During her 75-minute set, she sang seven of those with immaculate ease and caress. Even worn-out standards like “The Shadow Of Your Smile” were rendered with intimate, longing readings. One of the things I really like about Stacey, apart from her voice, is her wide-ranging repertoire. She can drift from Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows” to “Trains And Boats And Planes”, one of the most beautiful pieces from the vast Bacharach/David oeuvre.
With her husband, Jim Tomlinson, on flute and sax (and vocals too), and longtime pianist Art Hirahara as well as Tom Hubbard on bass, she had a comfortable support and surrounding. Stacey also included a couple of tracks with lyrics by famous Japanese writer Kazuo Ishiguro, like “Breakfast On The Morning Tram” (from the album of the same name from 2007) or “Postcard Lovers”. And she sang in French and Brazilian too, both with much conviction and aplomb. Whether it was “La Javanaise” by Serge Gainsbourg or “Carinhoso” by Pixinguinha or “A Felicidade” by Antonio Carlos Jobim, she delivered. For a change in sound and rhythm, she came up with a wonderful arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s “As” (also on the new album), where Art changed to electric.
Next up was Ledisi, the powerhouse vocalist who celebrated the music of Dinah Washington. Her 2025 LP “For Dinah”, co-produced with Christian McBride, was the main force. And here it was once again, the proof that she is absolutely confident and surprisingly clear and grandiose on jazz, gospel, blues, or soul tunes. Her wonderful rendition of the ballad “You Don’t Know What Love Is” was spell binding. As was the equally haunting “You Go To My Head”. But she also belted out blues pieces like “If I Never Get To Heaven”, “Soulville”, and “Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning” (the latter two not on her album, but on Aretha’s 1964 tribute to Washington) with amazing power and driving force. One of the most staggering moments was her deep and soulful version of “This Bitter Earth”, which came with a divine arrangement and her interpretation oozing out hope and yearning.
Ledisi also inlcuded three original pieces and it was a delight to witness them with her excellent trio of Brandon Waddles on piano, Brandon Rose on bass, and Joshua Watkins on drums (all from Detroit). On her beautiful ballad “Love You Too”, with its signature and urgent piano lines, she displayed not only her overwhelming vocals, but also her incredible writing. She also included “Blkwmn”, her ode to black female positivity, and evening closer “Alright”, which became her first Grammy nomination back in 2007 (from her album “Lost & Found”), another of her compositions which cries out for always keep holding on.
Fotos and videos were not allowed during the concerts.
