Chaka Khan’s Meltdown brings Nu Civilisation, Speakers Corner and Balimaya Project and more to London's Southbank Centre
This summer will see London’s Southbank Centre present
This summer will see London’s Southbank Centre present Chaka Khan’s Meltdown, from Friday 14 June to Sunday 23 June with plenty of jazz names among the vocal diva’s specially curated programme, which also encompasses R&B, soul and more to reflect the musical diversity of her own 50-year career.
The 29th curator of Meltdown, Khan will perform at the Royal Festival Hall twice – opening the festival with a hit-packed retrospective (14 June) and then closing the 10-day event with the first ever live performance of her 2004 ClassiKhan album with the renowned Nu Civilisation Orchestra (23 June). Recorded at Abbey Road Studios,
the album is a string-laden celebration of the Great American Songbook, featuring classic jazz standards and iconic film anthems, including ‘Hey Big Spender’, ‘Stormy Weather’ and ‘Diamonds Are Forever’.
Further names announced include the Brixton-based jazz-rap group Speakers Corner Quartet (17 June), whose 2023 album Further Out Than the Edge received much critical acclaim and they appear here in a special collaboration with the Guildhall Orchestra. Popular acid jazz group Incognito (19 June) celebrate 45 years of their debut album Jazz
Funk, while up-and-coming vocalist Lady Blackbird (20 June) will give a preview of material from her eagerly anticipated new LP, due out in the autumn. Trip-hop duo Morcheeba (22 June) showcase their signature electronic sound while the Queen Elizabeth Hall hosts special appearances from Rahsaan Patterson (16 June), Mica Paris (19 June), Judi Jackson (20 June) and the House Gospel Choir (23 June).
Meanwhile, jazz-and-percussion powered West African ensemble Balimaya Project (21 June) will stage a high energy show in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer. Further names for Chaka Khan’s Meltdown, including the full free programme, club nights and more will be announced in the coming months. For full details and tickets, visit: www.southbankcentre.co.uk
BACK IN THE DAY... From the late 1940s until his death in 2017, John Jack had his finger firmly on the pulse of Soho's jazz and bohemian scene. From playing trombone and working at Dobell's from 1956; promoting early be-bop gigs at Lichfield Street's Cottage Club and other Soho haunts and running Ronnie's Scotts Old Place; to managing Mike Westbrook and co-running the Cadillac and Ogun Record labels, John Jack was dubbed the 'Zelig of British Music' by his colleague Mike Gavin, and was invariably in the right place on the right day. One short-lived haunt was Club Bohemia, a Saturday jazz all-nighter during 1957 in Russell Quay's basement Skiffle Cellar at 49 Greek Street. A main draw at Cafe Bohemia was alto saxophonist Bruce Turner, a softly-spoken man with a huge love of the captivating swing and sensuous balladry of Johnny Hodges, while being labelled a 'Dirty Bopper' by the trad-bores. Back in May 1957, Turner's All Star Sextet kept the midnight to dawn ravers in motion with trumpeters Terry Brown and Dave Kier, pianist Al Mead, pianist/drummer Stan Greig plus and Dave Kier, pianist Al Mea spec up fo very folk c of th Bert Nick Dav guit Jon special guests, while illicit substances madeup for the dry bar. From the mid-1960s this very same basement would host Les Cousins' folk club's legendary all-nighters, the crucible of the widely influential new folk scene, where Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, John Martyn and Nick Drake drew equally on jazz as they did Davy Graham's exhilarating blues-to-eastern guitar technique. Jon Newey
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(Flyer courtesy of Mike Gavin/Cadillac Archive)
6 Jazzwise May 2024
6 Jazzwise May 2024
FUTURE MOVERS
NAME: Yumé NET (Mei Miyazaki Kirby) INSTRUMENTS: Piano/Keys/Electronics EXPERIENCE AND INFLUENCES: Although Yumé NET started out on classical piano at the age of six, her current style is difficult to pin to any specific genre, fluidly melding influences from jazz, experimental electronic music and a myriad of other approaches. In her music she crafts coruscating, glitchy soundscapes that explore what it means to be human in an increasingly online society. Her debut EP, WORSHIP THE FEEDING HAND, comes out later this summer.
THIS FUTURE MOVER SAYS: “I love exploring the possibilities of a sonic space and what I can add to it. Could this moment use some harmony? Maybe textures? What if I just leave space? I guess it's quite a playful approach but it's usually very intentional. It's about figuring out what will add to the story we're trying to tell, in the moment.” See Yumé NET play Ronnie Scott’s Future Movers Late Shows on 3 and 4 May, led by Phil Meadows (alto sax) and featuring Gabriel Taylor (trumpet), Kielan Sheard (bass) and Jack Thomas (drums).
More info at www.ronniescotts.co.uk
