Over 1,000 musicians will come together in Rotterdam for the North Sea Jazz Festival, the largest festival in Europe for the genre. Not just solely focused on jazz, a diverse range of acts will be playing world-jazz, swing, Latin, African, soul and funk rhythms. Initially founded in the ‘70s, the festival started with immediate flair as the first year alone saw Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz share the stage.
The full line-up has not yet been announced for 2018. However, the program is already laden with stars as we see contemporary talent mixing with jazz royalty. Here we shine a light on a number of stand-out acts who will be appearing on this year’s line-up.
Pharoah Sanders is a spiritual master and is cited as one of the best tenor saxophonists in the world. Having played with John Coltrane and Sun Ra’s Arkestra, he combines sheer dexterity with a higher sense of connection that binds your soul. He is now in his late seventies and plays shorter sets but will still challenge any other player with his depth of sound.
Oumou Sangaré is a commanding Wassoulou songstress from Mali who brings traditional music with a modern twist all the way from the banks of the Niger River. Sangaré is a powerful voice incorporating her fight for female equality with contemporary production effects, pushing boundaries in all directions.
Representing the British jazz movement will be Shabaka Hutchings with his project Sons of Kemet. This group of musicians will blow you away with their fast, ferocious and funky rhythms. Unafraid to explore new territories musically, this is a band that merges new world influences into their own jazz form.
Other notable acts performing at the festival include Cécile McLorin Salvant, an American jazz vocalist who has won numerous singing awards, including a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album. She brings a tongue-in-cheek playfulness to her standards renditions.
BADBADNOTGOOD will bring their hip-hop infused jazz, showing that new music does not need to conform to outdated traditional styles. Jazz supremo Christian Scott will bring New Orleans flavours on his trumpet, calling on Native American and African-American traditions to form his own interpretations.
As the largest indoor jazz festival in the world, this is a time to get your organiser out. No amount of agility training will prepare you for the overlapping performance times, so get ready to leave that FOMO behind and find the strength of conviction to choose which acts you really want to see.
Every month, we bring you a collection of the best world music-related videos. That’s our way to give value to too often overlooked, rich and diverse artistic expressions. Listen with your eyes! Watch the full playlist:
Artists: Badbadnotgood , Ben Lamar Gay , Black Flower , Bomba Estereo , CHEB , Imarhan , La Chica , Leon Bridges , Little Simz , Matata , Nneka , Philippe Cohen Solal , Portico Quartet , Sevdaliza
Every month, we bring you a collection of the best world music-related videos. That’s our way to give value to too often overlooked, rich and diverse artistic expressions. Listen with your eyes! Watch the full playlist:
Artists: Charlie Parr , Dj Format , Esinam , Galathea , JARR , Joseph Ray , Kishi Bashi , Lakou Mizik , Lucidvox , Manudigital , Sons Of Kemet , The Funkin' Machine , WUJIDAT , Yokai
Breakout is the title of Echoes of Zoo‘s debut album, on which animals literally break out their cages on a soundtrack made of adrenaline fuelled jazz infused with an eclectic range of western, oriental and African influences, made in Brussels. Album of the week on Radio Mukambo. We also listen to…
Artists: Ayuune Sule , Azmari , DJ Tudo , Echoes of Zoo , Èkó Afrobeat , Guedra Guedra , Krak In Dub , Muito Kaballa , Okwei Odili , Radio Mukambo , Rumble , Sons Of Kemet
London-based jazz quartet Sons of Kemet are back with ‘Hustle’, featuring Kojey Radical. The song is the first single extracted from the band’s upcoming album Black To The Future, out May 14 via Impulse Records. “In ‘Hustle’, two dancers represent the duality present within any struggle to transcend internal…
Artists: Kojey Radical , Sons Of Kemet
New Bandcamp Friday and new shopping tips… As we often do on the first Friday of each month, when Bandcamp lifts its fees redistributing all sales profits to artists and their labels, also today we give you some suggestions on how to spend your money on music effectively supporting musicians….
Artists: Arooj Aftab , Floating Points , Guedra Guedra , José Carlos Schwarz , La Muchacha , Le Cobiana Djazz , Nubiyan Twist , Pharoah Sanders , Soothsayes , Ziad Rahbani![Album Review: Oumou Sangaré – Acoustic [No Format!; June 2020]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/oumou-sangare-acoustic-cover-620x620.jpg)
Acoustic is a rootsy reimagining of Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré’s 2017 album Mogoya, but where Mogoya used a palette of beats and synths, Acoustic says more with less. Opening with ‘Kamelemba’, a song of counsel warning women away from sweet talkers and playboys, Oumou’s majestic voice converses with the jittery…
Artists: Oumou Sangare
At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…
Artists: 3ma , Afrikan Boy , Ballake Sissoko , Driss El Maloumi , Gaia Mobilij , Hot 8 Brass Band , Irreversible Entanglements , Kallemi , Kampire , Let Drum Beat , Melt Yourself Down , Oum , Princess Nokia , Princess Prada , Rajery , Riobamba , Saronde , Shabaka Hutchings , Simo Lagnawi , Simo Lagnawi & Gnawa London , Sudan Archives , Tarabband , Wara
At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…
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An inaugural festival is always going to be packed with risk and suspense, and after the downpour that Friday night experienced, a breath was held in anticipation of Saturday’s events. However, it is with sheer delight I report that the proceedings seemingly went ahead seamlessly. Saturday I have to jump…
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At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…
Artists: Afrikan Boy , Afriquoi , Amadou & Mariam , Amira Kheir , Amy True , Blue Lab Beats , Bumi Thomas , Carthnage , Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra , Dj Jigüe , Elpeche , Emicida , Ezra Collective , Fatima , Femi And The Inrhythms , Gianni Denitto , Imperio Bamba , Kamaal Williams , Koroleko Moussa Dembele , La-33 , Lua Preta , Marcelo D2 , Mayra Andrade , Merca Bae , Nané , Naphta , Neneh Cherry , Onra , Renegade Brass Band , Sons Of Kemet , Stella Chiweshe , Tássia Reis , The Blind Boy of Alabam , The Bongo Hop , Xylouris White , Zara Mcfarlane
At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…
Artists: Awalé , Brother Culture , Calibro 35 , Gerald Toto , Hailu Mergia , Horseman , K.o.g And The Zongo Brigade , Kokoko! , Koral Society , Krar Collective , Lafawndah , Midori Takada , Oumou Sangare , Prince Fatty , Psychedelia , Que Vola? , Soom T , Steam Down , Terakaft , The Heliocentrics , The West African Blue Project , Yelfris Valdes![Album Review: Various Artists – We Out Here [Brownswood Recordings; February 2018]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/we-out-here-620x620.jpg)
Colours rise from dark contours as a London jazz renaissance takes form. Feeling both early and late, We Out Here captures the tones of this evolving shape. Tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings directs the way, bringing together a collection of his most in-demand friends on the new-jazz scene. Familiar names such…
Artists: Ezra Collective , Joe Armon-Jones , Kokoroko , Moses Boyd , Nubya Garcia , Shabaka Hutchings , Theon Cross , TriForce
It’s not hard to believe that Farrell Sanders was given his nickname ‘Pharaoh’ for his ability to channel heavenly song through his improvised architecture of sound on the tenor saxophone. He started out performing with Sun Ra in California – who gave him this nickname – and later became better…
Artists: Pharoah Sanders
For the 3rd year running, vintage drinks brand Drambuie is running its Brass and Crimson series, an event aiming to showcase both the finest in contemporary jazz sounds and meanwhile raise the profile of its brand for a new generation. Where once cocktails were consumed in smoke-filled rooms to the…
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The concept of an outdoor jazz festival hardly conjures images of glitter-filled Glastonbury excitement, a young hip crowd and dance-fuelled elation. However, previously exclusive jazz appears to be undergoing a fashion revolution and the grounds of Glynde Place hinted at this. Love Supreme, the UK’s only three-day greenfield jazz festival…
Artists: Camilla George Quartet , George Benson , Herbie Hancock , Hot 8 Brass Band , Kansas Smitty’s House Band , La Mambanegra , Lauran Mvula , Miles Mosely , Nubiyan Twist , Shabaka and the Ancestors , Shabaka Hutchings , Sons Of Kemet , The Comet Is Coming , The Jacksons , The West Coast Getdown , TriForce
The 19th May 2017 saw the release of Mogoya (check our review), Grammy award-winning Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré’s seventh album. Her tour has just passed through London with a show at Village Underground on 17th May, and Rhythm Passport was lucky enough to get this short interview with one of Africa’s…
Artists: Oumou Sangare![Album Review: Oumou Sangaré – Mogoya [NØ FØRMAT!, 19th May 2017]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/0.46752100-1486119148.jpg)
Oumou Sangaré was long ago crowned musical royalty in Mali. Known for her formidable vocals and fearless messages, she is celebrated for both her feminine sovereignty and her integral depth of traditional style. In the late 1980s she garnered popularity with her rendition of Wassoulou music, a regional style based…
Artists: Oumou Sangare
Sons of Kemet are no longer a fresh faced new group on the London music scene. After five years and two successful albums, their name has spread far-and-wide becoming a sought after act. Their music is more eclectic and harder to define than ever, but that doesn’t prevent it is enthralling. In…
Artists: Shabaka Hutchings , Sons Of Kemet
Indulgent, complex, studied and immediate. Sons of Kemet’s criminally conceptual rhythms belie the overriding catchiness of a sound that dishes out hooks a plenty. Ominous lighting introduced the band who kicked things of with Tom Skinner and, newly cropped, Seb Rochford battering syncopated West African rhythms. This was tribal jazz…
Artists: Sons Of Kemet
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