Nov 5, 2024 1:00 AM
In Memoriam: Quincy Jones, 1933-2024
Quincy Delight Jones Jr., musician, bandleader, composer and producer, died in his home in Bel Air, California, on…
Meshell Ndegeocello performed a powerhouse set at north London’s KOKO theater.
(Photo: Courtesy Meshell Ndegeocello)Every November for the past 32 years, London has transformed itself into a haven for improvisers. Over 10 days, venues across the city — from lofty concert halls to intimate basement clubs and makeshift pop-ups — host a sweeping selection of the world’s jazz talent. The occasion is EFG London Jazz Festival, a remarkable feat of planning and purpose that has expanded in 2024 to encompass more than 350 shows from artists spanning the breadth and depth of jazz-referencing music.
This year’s themes were typically wide-ranging, spanning celebrations of Louisiana as the birthplace of jazz with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, as well as a retrospective to mark 30 years of post-Apartheid rule in South Africa featuring the country’s boundary-pushing improvisers like Thandi Ntuli and Bokani Dyer, and headline performances from American greats including Pat Metheny, Billy Cobham and Charles Tolliver. Yet, one captivating and somewhat unexpected through-line was the presence of moving and powerful jazz vocals across the vast selection of programming.
Celebrating the release of her lauded 2024 album marking the centenary of James Baldwin’s birth, No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin, bassist Meshell Ndegeocello performed a powerhouse set at north London’s KOKO theater. Backed by a seven-piece band, Ndegeocello showcased her unrivaled capacity for establishing downtempo grooves that sit deep in the pocket, immersing the listener in their languorous swing. Blending effortlessly with bassist Kyle Miles and drummer Abe Rounds, Ndegeocello sank into the syncopations of tracks like “Travel,” “Trouble” and “What Did I Do?,” exploring the yearning themes of Baldwin’s social-consciousness writing. Yet, it was featured vocalist Justin Hicks who stole the show with his deeply expressive, vibrato-laden lines that brought life to the moving balladry of “Eyes” and the triumphal encore of “Love,” where he merged with Ndegecello’s groove to produce a euphoric experience of group harmony that reverberated long into the night.
If Hicks’ vocals ventured into emotive self-expression, it was the intimate performance from singer Dawn Richard and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn at the gorgeous Union Chapel that pushed the vulnerability of vocal performances to its most raw edges. Performing material from their two tender records, 2022’s Pigments and 2024’s Quiet In A World Full Of Noise, Richard frequently found herself in tears onstage while working through the personal lamentations of her experimental R&B collaborations. Accompanied by Zahn on bass and piano, as well as a saxophonist and violinist, Richard produced subtly expansive versions of her intimate work. Her voice reverberated through the church space on “Stasis” to produce a sound so delicately gentle it barely registered, while “Life In Numbers” and “Traditions” featured just Richards and Zahn on piano, showcasing their intuitive connection. Bravely leaving room for silence between their instrumental phrases and Richards’ vocal acrobatics, the duo highlighted the emotive punctuation of space amid instrumental flourishes.
On the other end of the spectrum, the dynamic ferocity and power of the voice was equally showcased in a series of shows throughout the festival program. Pianist Robert Glasper played two shows at KOKO, transforming the 1,500-capacity theater into what felt like an anything-goes late-night jam band performance. Accompanied by DJ Jahi Sundance triggering samples of everything from Erykah Badu’s soulful melodies to Yebba’s longing balladry, Glasper and his quartet played through intricate instrumental versions of his two-decade back catalogue and covers of R&B and hip-hop hits. Surprise featured vocalists stole the show, though, with Cynthia Erivo producing a stunning display of vocal control on her version of Christmas standard “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” while rapper Common freestyled with typical verbosity and charm over a classic ’90s boom-bap beat before launching into an ecstatic rendition of his 2000 fan-favorite track “The Light.”
In the grandiose concert hall of the Barbican, meanwhile, trumpeter and Strata East co-founder Charles Tolliver performed a celebration of drummer Max Roach’s centenary. Opening the first half of the show with a sextet playing through several fiendishly complex bebop compositions, including his collaborations with trumpeter Clifford Brown and the sprightly track “Effi,” it was a reworking of the Cole Porter Standard “I Get A Kick Out Of You” that broke into new territory thanks to the dual vocals and tenor saxophone playing of Camille Thurman. Doubling between fast-paced scatting and mirrored melodies on her horn, Thurman pushed the group to a fierce crescendo, while in the second half of the performance when she was backed by a formidable big band of London players, it was Thurman’s sweeping vocalizations that gave form and emotive dynamics to Tolliver’s all-encompassing 45-minute Suite For Max Roach. For a show honoring one of the great drummers in jazz, it was Thurman’s voice that unexpectedly shone through, producing welcome melody and feeling throughout the rhythmic intensity.
Rounding out the festival’s programming back in the majestic setting of Union Chapel, spiritual jazz-influenced Tamil singer Ganavya produced perhaps the finest vocal performance of the week. Combining yearning intimacy and whispered softness with technical displays of vocal complexity and soaring, full-throated power, the Quincy Jones, Esperanza Spalding and Wayne Shorter collaborator cemented her status as one of jazz’s most in-demand talents. Accompanied by a trio of harp, piano and bass, Ganavya performed a spiritual repertoire of classical Indian carnatic singing, Tamil hymns and folk songs, improvising seamlessly across leaping phrases to touch on the journeying work of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as much as her own South Asian heritage. Inviting both her mother and father onstage at points to sing in unison, as well as closing on an audience-led group singalong to the remarkable words of the late poet and death row inmate Marcellus Williams, Ganavya’s performance was not only a demonstration of her virtuosity but an important homage to the one instrument we all possess and its capacity to move us innately. As the festival drew to a close, Ganavya’s show felt like a call to action for everyone with a voice to make theirs heard: to improvise in their own way and to carry their song forward into the days and months to come. DB
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