A Few Days Along the Southbank

My second trip was to check out one of the many shows at The London Jazz Festival. I was priveleged to catch The Roots and Ornette Coleman perform at
last year's festival so I was expecting nothing but greatness from this year's
lineup - I wasn't dissapointed.

After seeing the amount of shows there were on, and realising I couldn't afford to see all of them, (I'm thinking of starting up a little "concert
fund" for myself in the future) and having spoken to a friend of mine who
plays the double bass - he suggested I checked out Christian Scott's
performance, as he was billed to perform with UK Jazz Legend Courtney Pine.

I usually have a problem with men who wear sunglasses in dark environments –
the night of the performance at The London Jazz Festival, the air of coolness that surrounds
Christian Scott and his band as they walk on stage clouds my usual thinking (plus he took them off afterwards so it was okay, lol).

After he introduced the audience to his band, he introduced two very important guests
– his trumpets, both unique in design, they’re named after his mother and
girlfriend Isadora, who he then plays a song about – it was beautiful, as the few
jazz songs I’ve heard written about women seem to be. He ends the set with a song based
on what seemed like a scene from the TV show Cops in which he was pulled over
and harassed by two Police Officers – the song is aptly titled Klu Klux Police
Department.

I leave the festival with a lasting thought – I really should have stuck at my
music lessons.

photo by Emile Holba