Seven vocalists, some emerging, some established. Oh, and Seal, newly jazzified, scatting, clicking his fingers and flicking his heels through Luck Be a Lady.
Mica Paris, exploring her sublime lower registers, had earlier likened singing with Guy Barker’s 42-piece orchestra to lying on a bed of roses, a luxury revelled in by Tony Momrelle, whose take on the Donny Hathaway/Leon Russell classic A Song For You shimmered with soulful beauty.
Incognito’s Vanessa Haynes was all thrilling dynamics; British jazz treasure Liane Carroll was impressively effortless; Danish star Mads Mathias delivered a breezy Fool For Love.
LA–based singer/double bassist Miles Mosley, reinterpreting Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine with effects pedals and innovative vocals, brought edge to proceedings that sometimes felt too staid. And indeed, too non-diverse: it was hard to overlook the irony that came with Angelique Kidjo’s fiercely powerful version of Sam Cook’s civil rights anthem A Change Is Gonna Come, delivered in front of a largely white crowd.
A guitar-wielding Seal unleashed a show-stopping Kiss From A Rose but sat out the group encore, an elbow-jostling rendition of Respect.
The EFG London Jazz Festival continues all week
