Gilles Peterson’s ‘Impressed at Ronnie Scott’s‘ weekend.
The British jazz institution we all know to be Ronnie Scott’s is celebrating its 50th birthday.
From the Impressed compilations, master curator, Gilles Peterson presents us with a set of one-off live shows to commemorate the occasion. Once again, he has smashed it by selecting an array of jaw-dropping artists and DJs. All participating artists are reputable in their own right and yet again, this is a classic example of the impresario drawing the prize cow from each genre he infiltrates. The weekend is set to be an absolute blinder.
From Thursday 17th till Saturday 19th September, each day is classified by “series” and each act is categorised by their associated genres (loosely speaking).
On the Thursday night, Nostalgia 77 open up the weekend with their experimental jazz-driven sounds from the ‘Nostalgia Sessions‘ LP. Their casting comes as no surprise considering Gilles Peterson has been championing Benedic Lamdin’s movement since its humble post-millennium beginnings on the Tru Thoughts imprint. What puts the icing on the cake is that, supporting them will be Keith and Julie Tippett. Earlier in the year, they collaborated with the octet to release Nostalgia Sessions which embraces a more folksy, mellow and symphonious style. Considering the Tippetts are British free-jazz royalty (as the Independent put it), this will be a rare chance to catch a refreshingly unpredictable experience as they perform possibly out of their comfort zone and into Lamdin’s… or vice versa.
Friday night ups the ante once more via Gilles’ quality casting. Naming this episode the “Hip-Hop Series,” we have co-headlining the night arguably one of the greatest rappers to come out of the British Isles, Rodney Smith aka Roots Manuva. The south-Londoner will spitting his lyrical s**t alongside 2009 Mercury Prize winner Speech Debelle. Expect both these Big Dada artists to prove exactly why they are as acclaimed as they are. If you’re merely expecting a few standardized rhymes over looped pre-recorded backing tracks, well expect more. These innovative wordsmiths will combine live backing with fresh performances that will dare to challenge your perceptions of exactly what hip-hop is. And if that isn’t enough, afrobeat’s second son, Tony Allen will be doing his thing on the same night too. Putting the rhythms in Fela’s work – Tony Allen never wallows in his former glories but rather, continues to push himself and his drumming into new dimensions. Big tings.
The grand finale on Saturday night, has been titled the “Electronica/Nu Jazz Series.” The line-up is impeccably handpicked and frankly the most risky for the venue. Bugge Wesseltoft, a pianist and electronica jazz composer headlines the night with Henrik Schwarz who’s deep house/minimal techno compositions and stripped down organic production style has kept his listeners continuously on their toes. Whether releasing new material, spinning at superclubs such as Fabric etc or in the depths of dingy warehouse raves, car park parties and other underground gigs, Schwarz never fails to impress. Supporting them will be downtempo dubsteppers, Mount Kimbie. I’ve personally been dying to see this crew live for a while now. Their reputation for having an innate ability to mash up the most beautiful sounds and yet not destroy them is something I hope will not be dwarfed by the other electronic giants of the evening.
All three nights are set to be big ones, I couldn’t choose between them if I had a gun to my head – looks like its plain bread water for this month… Again.
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