Soweto’s Blues
Guy Oddy checks out Soweto Kinch live at the Jam House, Birmingham, UK
Soweto Kinch has a problem. He wants to be part of both the hip hop and the jazz scenes. While the jazzers have embraced his take on the bebop/hip hop nexus, as witnessed by Kinch’s nomination for Album of the Year by the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards, the hip hop community remain largely indifferent.
Kinch is convinced that his lack of recognition as a hip hop artist, as much as a jazzer, is down to “high street record stores [which] still refuse to allow the album into the Urban music section”. But, in reality, how many artists sell lots of CDs while straddling two musical genres? Especially when one of them is jazz.
Kinch, however, is a genuinely interesting musician. His sound is reminiscent of Courtney Pine at his funkiest, but much more ‘street’, or perhaps Charlie Parker up on stage with Roots Manuva.
His second album, ‘A Life in the Day of B19: Tales of the Tower Block’, is a concept album (steady there!). It presents the tale of three individuals, as they face up to career disasters, romantic entanglements, the downside of celebrity and the problems of claiming welfare benefits while attempting to pursue a musical career. It is an interesting stew of rappers, producers and bebop, which unfortunately has the smell of a radio drama – something that is only emphasised by the narrative, provided by BBC News presenter Moira Stuart. Even so, this is no worse than many of the ‘humorous’ skits that appear on so many hip hop albums. In Kinch’s words, “whereas ‘Conversations With The Unseen’ [his first album] took hip hop to a jazz audience, B19 aims to take jazz to the hip hop audience”.
Unfortunately, the failure of Kinch’s self-proclaimed mission to convert itself into huge sales has led to a delay in the release of B19’s long-planned sequel, ‘Basement Fables’. This gig was billed as the launch of the new album, but its failure to appear in the shops meant that we were treated to a rendition of ‘Tales Of The Tower Block’ album in its entirety instead. But without Moira Stuart.
While we didn’t get to hear anything from ‘Basement Fables’, Kinch did not disappoint and was ably backed by Abram Wilson, Michael Olatuja, Femi Temowo, Troy Miller and a couple of local MCs. From jazz to hip hop to poetry and back again, the band put on a terrific show with a narrative structure that still allowed for the kind of jazz improvisation that would have had Jack Kerouac on his feet (‘A Friendly Game Of Basketball’), MCs battling (‘Everybody Raps’) and a club full of jazzers, chanting, “It’s all about the M-O-N-double E” (‘Padz’). All amidst projections and computer-generated graphics that would have Coldcut taking notes.
This was jazz, but it was hip hop too and it was certainly something original that was capable of moving your hips. Thegig, however, took place in a jazz club and did not pull a hip hop crowd. While this remains the case, I fear that Soweto Kinch is destined to remain in the jazz ghetto. However unfair that may seem.
