It may only be the second day of this year’s Leeds Jazz Festival, but the fourth edition of this annual event is already in full swing. Across the West Yorkshire city at a number of different venues, a diverse and vibrant programme of workshops, talks, jams, listening sessions, art exhibitions, and concerts is taking place. The Howard Assembly Room is one of those venues and their first contribution to the 2025 festival is an eagerly anticipated appearance by the Nigerian-born, British saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and innovator, Camilla George.
On the stroke of 19:45 hours – at the Howard Assembly Room everything works like clockwork, always on time, always a smooth operation – Camilla George and her band of Renato Paris (keys and vocals), Jihad Darwish (electric bass) and Rod Youngs (drums) take to the stage and ease themselves into ‘Tappin the Land Turtle.’ Taken from George’s second album, 2018’s The People Could Fly, it positively soars. With its shades of modal jazz, the piece suggests early 60’s John Coltrane Quartet. It also highlights her generosity as a bandleader as she gives each of the three musicians an early opportunity to highlight their individual talents. They are given ample space for a solo, and in Paris’s case he also gets the chance to demonstrate some very deft wordless scat singing.
The title track from that same album speaks of slavery and emancipation and the four musicians play with suitable freedom and hope. The following song ‘Ekpe’ is drawn from Camilla George’s third and most recent album, Ibio-Ibio, a record which relates to the Ibibio people of Southeastern Coastal Nigeria and is a strong reminder of her fiercely proud heritage. The influence of West African music on this refreshing exploration of contemporary jazz never feels too far away. The song is rhythmic, free-flowing, hard-swinging, and melodious. As ‘Ekpe’ glides into ‘Long Juju’ – the last song before a short intermission – the band hit a lovely mellow, meaningful groove.
Back after the interval Jihad Darwish heralds the arrival of ‘How Nehemiah Got Free’ with an audacious bass solo. The minor blues of ‘Mami Wata’ – from Camilla George’s 2016 debut album, Isang – takes the form of a West African spirit that assumes the identity of an evil mermaid. The free-floating structure of the song is underpinned by vaguely sinister undertones. The band then stretch out on the mercurial ‘Abasi Isang’ before the spirit of ‘Mami Wata’ makes one last slight return ahead of the four musicians taking their final bow.
Camilla George has put together a quartet of expressive, sensitive partners and together they are making a beautiful explorative sound that pushes even further the boundaries of contemporary jazz.
Photos: Simon Godley
More photos of Camilla George at Howard Assembly Room in Leeds
