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| (© Dave Sayer) |
This was my first visit to Cobalt
Studios and I am, unusually for a concert venue, sat in a leather Chesterfield
six feet from the lip of the stage. This is good, close, intimate.
There seems to be a raging debate among members of the Tyneside jazz cognoscenti about whether Ubunye are jazz or not. On the one side, among the doubters, is Paul Bream, compiler of Jazz Alert, and on the other, those who think they are, or at least might be. Adding fuel to this latter argument is the award this week from the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group to Ubunye of their ‘Best Jazz Ensemble’ accolade. They just missed out on ‘Best Jazz Album’ as well for their self-titled debut with its striking Gina Southgate cover. Myself, with splinters in places they don’t usually belong, am sitting on the fence, and would say that the band can easily be categorised as an Afro/Soul/Jazz/Funk (A/S/J/F) hybrid and I love a good hybrid, me.
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| (© Ken Drew) |
They play most of
the album in the order that the tracks appear on CD which means their full
musical spectrum, (A/S/J/F remember), gets a run out. A
new song, Let Me Stay Here, sounds like it should be the last
encore on a soul review and should be rush released to be the hit of summer
2023. It’s what Radio 2 should be playing. It combines soaring vocals with a
guitar solo that matches them step for step. I know that they were running
through some clichés but it’s very effective, very moving, for all
that.
I’ll Sing For
You always reminds me of
Gil Scott-Heron’s I Think I’ll Call It Morning From Now On with
it’s opening relaxed, lazy drawl. It turns into a piece of rolling, rollicking
soul with an audience participation section. I joined in, though my voice will
probably be erased from the live recording in the interests of public
safety. Meet You In The Morning gives us clattering drums and
beautiful vocal harmonies before it scales back to allow for an elegant piano
solo and an equally elegant Pastorial turn on the bass from Sam Dutton-Taylor.
The musicianship is
excellent throughout and Nik Svarc (no jazz slouch) is worthy of special
mention in a band that would really work well with its own brass section.
Perhaps a Goddess Collective/Ubunye hybrid would work. Hey Now is
afrobeat with a clicking and popping vocal opening. It’s a bit
‘Pearl and Dean’ in places with a Steely Dan guitar solo. The way that Mbatha
and Zondi sing loudly over the guitar solos just adds to the energy in the
room.
It’s a cheerful, easy humoured night; at one point Mbathi explains that he and Zondi wear these costumes because they come from so far away, he pauses “Leeds”, he says. He celebrates their recent award and their near miss for the album and points out Chi Onwura MP in the crowd (she had presented the awards the night before.)
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| (© Dave Sayer) |
Earlier, The Goddess
Collective who, according to Facebook, are ‘a
Leeds based jazz band made up of a women/non-binary majority’ from Leeds. They
are a loud, in your face, horn driven Stax/Ska mash up. They reminded me of
seeing the original Dexy’s Midnight Runners over 40 years ago. There was bits
of jazz, bits of dub, (notably during Ocean Ride) and a lot of
trombone inspired by those classic 60s Don Drummond Trojan Records tracks, plus
some psychedelic guitar soloing that shouldn’t have fitted in, but did. Fee
Buckton is the clear leader and cheerleader for the Band and plays some
blistering trumpet, especially during (I think) Smash the Crash, a
bold swinging, Kenny Dorham-esque swinging bebop number with an added slinky
guitar interlude. They even chuck in a bit of surf rock for the opening
to Ode to Wenzel which also includes a thunderous, building
drum solo. Ones to watch.
All in all a
cracking evening of A/S/J/F or whatever in the end.
Ubunye are back in Newcastle On Sunday October 8 supporting the Zoë Gilby Quintet at the Globe. Tickets are available HERE. Dave Sayer
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