On his CDs and in live performance Soweto Kinch is loud, lively and forceful. You wouldn’t review his audio CV and think ‘That’s the bloke we need to present a late night jazz programme that takes us from the last minutes of one day into the wee small first half-hour of another.’ However, it turns out that Mr Kinch has a mild mannered alter-ego and that’s the one that signed the contract to present Round Midnight, the new, imaginatively titled Radio 3 show that goes out round midnight.
It’s
a show about the music with Kinch providing some information about the tracks
he plays (about 12 or so on each hour long programme) but largely his
contributions are ‘That was this’ and ‘This is that’ with no waffle about
anything distracting and unrelated. There is a good mix of old and new music
from the UK, Europe and elsewhere though there is an avowed focus on new
British jazz, and it does tend towards the mellow and nocturnal. For example,
the show I’m listening to now has music from Jasper Høiby, Sir John Dankworth, Nikki
Iles, Wayne Shorter, Arild Anderson, Alabaster dePlume, Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos and a lovely version of God
Bless The Child by Liverpool’s Ni Maxine.
Thankfully,
for those of us who come in when the street lights come on and are quaffing the
last of our cocoa by 10, you don’t have to wait until 11:30 to listen in as all
episodes (or at least the last 22) are available on BBC Sounds through the
Radio 3 website. Well worth the extra nowt you have to pay for it. THIS
LINK will take you to the
show’s homepage. Dave Sayer
1 comment :
Yes, good programme, but as you observe, often linear listening is shortened by sleep!
Soweto Kinch also used to have a prime presenting slot in the much lamented Jazz Now which used to go out at 11pm on Saturdays on Radio 3.
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