Festival Coverage: Love Supreme Jazz Festival
- Written by Rob Crozier
This weekend we were fortunate to attend the Love Supreme Festival. Nestled snuggly into the sleepy Sussex village of Glynde this is rapidly becoming one of the best small festivals around. With our VIP wristbands and smug faces we descended on the site.
Saturday is a blustery overcast start but we are uplifted by the skanking sounds of the Riot Jazz Brass Band. This is exactly what we need to get the blood flowing. Now hungry, we turn our attention to the host of food outlets and plump for a hearty Mexican burrito.
There is a wonderful laid back vibe as we wander the various market stalls and catch little performances at the bandstand where we chill and drink for a while. We then turn our attention to the main stage where Ibrahim Maalouf, a wonderful French jazz musician who restores our connection to the continent. He is followed Syke and Ross formerly of Morcheeba. They don’t disappoint and provide the perfect nostalgic trip hop sounds we all remember. With a new album in the offering we hope to hear much more from them. We sip our fruity cider and can feel the warmth of a strange yellow thing in the sky.
The festival is supported by a host of great names. We are now embraced by the wonderful vocal talents of Lianne La Havas who has consistently delivered since her explosion via BBC Sound a few years back. With the sun setting we bask in her sumptuous vocals along with her laid back grooves that have the crowd swaying and swooning. We get now why it’s called the Love festival, and it's clearly not just because of the Coltrane album. The sea of smiling faces and wonderful vibes restores our faith.
Aside from the main stages the festival has an arena for a more dance related vibe. Top of the bill is Mr World Music himself the wondrous Gilles Peterson. We feel like we want to dance and he does not disappoint with his Brazilian themed set he gets the whole tent jumping. We also catch the incredible a talents of bassist Stanley Clarke
We close the first night with the enigmatic Grace Jones. If you have never seen her live it is a spectacle to behold. Scary, engaging and a hugely impressive talent she delivered a simply wonderful set.
Sunday arrives a little fuzzy headed but we are excited as we feel this is the best line of the two days. Our spirits are immediately lifted by the incredible vocal talents of Avery Sunshine. Her beautiful soulful jazz voice invigorates the crowd. A few Aretha Franklin covers engage the crowd before she dazzles us with a few of her own numbers. We are charmed by the straight up jazz piano of Anthony Strong as we make full use of our VIP passes as he gives us a short private show.
Other notable highs that blast away our blues come from the wonderfully named GoGo Penguin who signed to Blue Note records and now the success of their album Man Made Object has catapulted them to a wider audience. To compliment this we see the legendary Average White Band whose string of disco and funk hits get the whole festival moving as the pump out there hits we ‘Pick up the Pieces’
The Sunday main stage is dominated by two of the most exciting songbirds around with Caro Emerald and Kelis. Kelis has had a huge musical transformation. Forget her milkshake days, since her amazing album Food released in 2014 she has transformed her sound and her soulful groove is wonderfully received. She is decked in white and look simply fantastic. She belts out some of her latest stuff and is even a reworking of milkshakes to great applause.
Caro is a stunning performer whose jazz vocals and distinctive sounds go down a storm. The Dutch Queen of swinging jazz is a perfect crossover act as she belts out her hits which allows hundreds of impromptu jive and lindy hop dancers who although have had clearly one too many glasses of Pimms provide us with great entertainment.
The festival is complete by the smooth sounds of the wonderful Mr Burt Bacharach closing the show. Our only gripe is that this is rather too laid back after the previous acts and we would have preferred him in a sunnier crooner slot earlier in the day.
However is does allow us to wind down and collect our thoughts as we trudge through the masses reflecting on a wonderful uplifting festival which simply gets better and better.