One to watch: Simon Schama’s The Power of Art

Sky Arts' new series begins Tuesday, 6 January

Focusing on eight iconic works of art such as Caravaggio’s David With the Head of Goliath, David’s Death of Marat and Picasso’s Guernica, this powerful series places great art at the centre of great moments in human history.This series is not a stroll through a gallery, nor is it a demure tour through a museum, instead it takes us on an extraordinary journey to the centre of human struggle and the dark heart of history. A combination of dramatic reconstruction, spectacular photography and Simon Schama’s unique and personal story telling transports the viewer back to the intense moments eight great works of art were conceived and born.

Each programme takes us where only art can go; into the vortex of Turner’s murderous seas; the light Guernica shone on fascist slaughter; and into the deep gravitational force fields of Rothko’s pulsing planets of colour. See Bernini’s thumbprint impressed on the kneaded clay of an old man’s beard and the slather of Rembrandt’s pigment crusting on his canvas. The Power of Art is the epic story of an unfolding force, a chance to witness the power of the individuals who changed the way we view the world.

The eight works of art included in the series are: Caravaggio’s David With the Head of Goliath; Bernini’s The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, Rembrandt’s The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis; David’s Death of Marat; Turner’s Slave Ship with Slaves Thrown Overboard; Typhoon Coming On; Van Gogh’s Self Portrait; Picasso’s Guernica and Rothko’s Seagram Building Murals.

One to watch: Jazz: The Gift

Sky Arts new jazz series begins Monday, 5 January, 2009.

Jazz: The Gift explores the evolution and the genius of America’s greatest original art form. Not simply a chronicle of musical fact or lore, Jazz shows this remarkable music in the context of the complicated country that gave birth to it and shows how this remarkable art form became a part of world culture. Jazz raises questions about race and class, art and commerce, virtuosity and collaboration, the individual and the community, the confluence of cultures and the universality of experience. Jazz: The Gift introduces jazz legends like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, employing engaging and detailed portraits of the great men and women of jazz to demonstrate how and why they make their music.

A Twisted Affair

Twisted Christmas, Barbican Hall, 11 December
Jarvis Cocker was the headliner at the Barbican’s alternative yuletide celebration but unfortunately for the audience the former Pulp frontman wasn’t the highlight. After two and a half hours of a bewildering mix of music, comedy and shadow puppetry – some of which worked, some of which didn’t - Jarvis sloped on stage to perform two brief and forgettable songs. Luckily, there were other revelations to enjoy.

Illinois-based singer-songwriter Daniel Knox was one of them. His deep melancholic vocals called to mind cold winter nights in front of the fire and were perfect for his heart-warming rendition of the classic, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Blues-folk duo The Smoke Fairies were ubiquitous on stage, and proved to be even better on their own than when performing back up for others. Patrick Wolf, a piano playing ex-chorister turned art-rocker, was sensational while unbilled songstress Camille O’Sullivan was reminiscent of a pre-tabloid era Amy Winehouse.

As well as the eclectic there was also the eccentric. Canadian singer Mary Margaret O’Hara and American Sandy Dillon provided much needed light relief, though it wasn’t entirely clear whether this was intentional.

What was intentional, however, was the wry comedy of Radio 4 presenter Jeremy Hardy, who ably steered proceedings from one fragmented act to another. But the night belonged to the shadow puppetry and accompanist Matthew Robbins who together earned plaudits in an otherwise borderline show.

Mother Ghana

mother ghana, originally uploaded by ^ mAyAkA ^.

this is my ghana; the ghana where women build the nation balancing work, motherhood and responsibility with feminine grace. the ghana where the infinite inner strength of its women reigns with the peace and tranquillity of their confidence of success. the ghana that carries all her burdens and never gives up, but just keeps looking ahead.

Drum magazine Ghana 1969 collage covers

Drum magazine Ghana 1969 collage covers, originally uploaded by amaah.

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 live at Cargo

I'd been looking forward to seeing Seun Kuti live with such anticipation that the show was in danger of being a massive anticlimax. Luckily for me, Seun and his father's original Egypt 80 had tuned in to my expectancy and delivered a storming performance that left all in awe.

Playing at Cargo in Shoreditch, the former warehouse was the perfect venue for Seun's highly politicised Afrobeat, a blend of high-life, jazz and traditional African rhythms. Reminiscent of his father Fela, Seun emerged from the shadows of his legacy to put his stamp mark on the scene despite performing much of Fela's most famous back catalogue. In fact, the highlight of the night was the title track from Kuti's new album Many Things, a bold, original anthem that puts the world to rights.

Having played at the Barbican earlier in the year to a sell out crowd, Cargo was an intimate setting for the ten man band - the hot, sweaty atmosphere was thick with the sound of the solid brass section with rythmically pulsating bodies jamming shoulder to shoulder to the beat. It was standing room only and those who couldn't dance were forced along by the push of the crowd.

After a somewhat brief hour and a half set we were left eagerly wanting more but the pre and post show DJ set was the perfect antidote. All in all, a near perfect night that will go down as one of the shows of the year.

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 performed at Cargo in East London on Monday, 15th December.

Clive Rowe: Nothing Like A Dame

Clive Rowe is the consummate pantomime dame. Oh yes he is! Described by The Guardian as "one of the greatest ", the Lancashire-born thesp has become a Hackney institution. In the seven years he's been playing here, Rowe has cultivated a loyal local following who turn out in force each Christmas to see him camp up his dramatic chops. Last year it was in Duke Whittington; this year Rowe stars as the lead in the Empire’s production of Mother Goose. It’s the tenth anniversary celebration of panto at the Empire and is a comic caper of epic proportions. Written by Susie McKenna, who’s been responsible for a number of the Empire’s Christmas hits, the show incorporates high-jinks and high drama to charming effect with Rowe the shining star in a stellar cast. He explains: “Mother Goose is about what happens if somebody is given what they believe they want, what happens to them when they get it and how they deal with it. It is what it says on the tin, a family panto.”

Rowe is an accomplished actor whose dedication to panto has brought credibility to the genre. He’s appeared in some of theatre’s best loved productions, including Carousel and Guys and Dolls, for which he won a coveted Olivier Award. “To have your peers that are people that you respect, who are above you and have been doing it for longer than you look at you and say, “we think what you’ve done is amazing”, is an amazing accolade”, he says.

It’s not just the theatrical establishment who've taken Rowe to their hearts - Hackney has too. I suggest it must be his Northern charm. “Init!” he jokes in a sketchy east London accent. “One of the things I’ve always felt about theatre, but is even more true with the Hackney Empire, is the show starts the minute you walk through the front door, not the minute you sit down in the auditorium and the lights go on. The minute you’re received here you’re part of the panto and everybody is working towards a fantastic night”.

Rowe has appeared in television, film and on radio but says he feels comfortable on the Hackney stage. Panto for him is as much a craft as any other kind of acting. “There’s a difficult balance to get where you’re keeping everything panto level because you’re playing to the five year olds but real. The trick is finding that core of it where you may be upset about something but you’re not doing Greek tragedy, you’re not doing Chekov, it’s panto”.

And Rowe loves it. “My thing is I have a great time. I spend all year being told what I can’t do on stage and I get five weeks to do what I want to do. The fact is I’m having a good time.” And so are we.

Mother Goose is on at the Hackney Empire until 10 January 2009.

Brian McKnight, Dave Scott... and more!

Robert Glasper: Live at Cargo

Doo-rags, hoodies and baseball caps aren’t the usual attire of jazz aficionados but Robert Glasper’s crowd is as notable for its youth as its urban fashion sense. He, himself, is dressed like one of his tribe – oversized T-shirt, baggy jeans and obligatory glass of liquor in hand. “Don’t let this jazz thing fool you,” he jokes mid-gig as he threatens to break in to a rap after seizing the mic from guest MC, Kashmere. And it wouldn’t have been out of place if he had. For Glasper, it seems hip hop is as intrinsic to his being as his first love, jazz. The fact that his show is taking place in a smoke-filled nightclub rather than a venerable jazz venue is testament to his street cred. His warm-up act isn’t some young pretender polishing his bebop chops but a DJ whose vinyl cases are crammed with Soul and Old Skool Hip-Hop. It could so easily be a cliché if Glasper wasn’t the real deal.

Website: www.myspace.com/therealrobertglasper

Getting Personal with Eric Benet

Last night I had the pleasure of speaking with none other than soulful R&B crooner Mr Eric Benet! Eric's been out of the recording studio, but not out of the spotlight, for four years and has come back strong with a new album, Love and Life, and a number 1 single, You're The Only One. I have to admit, I didn't know what to expect from a man who's been through such a high-profile and messy public situation but Eric was nothing but open, honest, personable and charming, and definitely one of the nicest people I've interviewed all year! Look out for my revealing conversation with Eric Benet in the December issue of Clutch magazine, online on 1st December, or sign up at http://www.sylviaarthur.co.uk/ to receive updates. In the meantime, go out and cop Love and Life and visit http://www.ericbenet.net/ to hear snippets from the new album.

The John Akii-Bua Story, An African Tragedy

At the Munich Olympics of 1972, Ugandan John Akii Bua powered round the inside lane in the 400m hurdles, past English favourite and reigning Olympic Champion David Hemery, to win the gold medal, 10m clear of the field. The clock showed 47.82, an astonishing new world record.

Akii Bua was the first African to win gold in an event under 800 metres. He was also the first man to break the 48 seconds barrier in the 400 metre hurdles, an event so gruelling its nickname is 'The Mankiller'. But, while David Hemery retired to respectable fame and fortune, Akii Bua returned to a Uganda carving the name of its military 'President', Idi Amin, into genocidal notoriety.

After the glory of 1972, John never found prosperity in his country, beautiful but blighted by the Amin slaughter, tribal rivalries and poverty. Akii Bua's tribe, the Langi, were the primary victims of Amin's slaughter, and John's national popularity could only protect him for so long. In 1979, Akii Bua fled for his life to Kenya. In the trauma, his wife gave birth prematurely, and the baby died. The couple did not even have the money to bury him.

Shortly afterwards, Akii Bua presented his former coach, Englishman Malcolm Arnold, with 12 foolscap notebooks. Arnold, astonished, found they contained Akii Bua's life story, written in longhand, in pencil, in English, his third language.

In 1983, with Amin ousted, Akii Bua returned to Uganda, his achievements and place in history seemingly forgotten. This is a film about the pinnacle of athletic achievement - and the search to discover what followed. The John Akii Bua Story is the story of one man, and of Africa itself; its glory, potential and tragedy.

The John Akii-Bua Story, An African Tragedy, was shown on BBC2 on Sunday, August 10, at 10pm
Click here for more

Catching Up With the King of Shoes, Jimmy Choo

Hackney can claim many famous fashion alumni but none are as synonymous with style as shoemaker to the stars Jimmy Choo. A-listers from the worlds of film, music and the arts all flock to Choo’s swanky Central London boutique to get their mitts on his unique handmade shoes for everything from glitzy parties to glittering premieres. But when Jimmy Choo arrived in London in the 1980’s he couldn’t have known how important a role the bustling creative Hackney would play in his life. The borough gave the Malaysian his start in the fashion world, which would see him go from a struggling student to a multimillionaire.

As an apprentice at the prestigious Cordwainers’ Fashion Technical College, Choo perfected his craft as a shoemaker, his family trade, while working part-time at restaurants and as a cleaner at a shoe factory to help fund his education. “During the eighties I was in London for a holiday and a friend of mine told me there’s a special shoe college in Hackney called Cordwainers’”, Choo recalls. “Although I had training from my father, it’s always good to have an education and I didn’t have a certificate. So I enrolled in the college to learn more and get more advanced.”

At the time, as is today, Hackney was a hub of offbeat creative talent. The artistic energy that buzzed through the borough’s streets inspired Jimmy to stay local and in 1986, after leaving Cordwainers’, he opened his first workshop, renting an old hospital building. “Hackney was a fantastic place, very peaceful and very relaxed in those days,” Choo says, nostalgically. “All types of designers and artists were in Hackney, and a lot of music stars as well. There was also a lot of factories and manufacturing, especially shoe manufacturing. It was a great place.”

Jimmy’s craftsmanship and designs were soon noticed by those in the know in the industry and it didn’t take long before Jimmy Choo shoes became the must-have brand for serious fashionistas. Patronage from celebrities and royalty, including Diana, Princess of Wales, led Jimmy to become an international fashion icon and in 1998 his success was crowned when he scored an incredible coup when his creations were featured in a record eight pages of Vogue magazine. In 2000 Jimmy was awarded the Malaysian equivalent of a Queen’s honour for his achievements and two years later he received an OBE from the Queen herself in recognition of his services to the shoe and fashion industry in the UK.

But even though he’s mingled with the world’s top names and continues to ply his stylish trade Jimmy’s love and respect for his Hackney roots remains as strong as ever. “Hackney is a multicultural place. You have the Chinese, people from Jamaica, Ireland, Holland, all sorts of people who love to be in Hackney. I get my inspiration from that because it’s very important that I love what I’m doing and I mix with people and get an idea of how they dress. It’s fantastic. Hackney is a special place.”

1968 Olympics: The divided legacy of black power

Forty years ago Tommie Smith and John Carlos risked everything to stand together and deliver the salute that shook the world. So why are they no longer on speaking terms?
Guy Adams reports
The Independent

Black Power Salute, BBC Four, 9pm

A New Era / Changing of the Old Guard

About time too!
(See also...)

Still Black, Still Proud: An African Tribute to James Brown

The Barbican was the setting for a thrilling night of funk and frolics as legendary saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis led an all-star tribute to his long time collaborator, James Brown, at Still Black, Still Proud: An African Tribute to James Brown.

Proving that good music never dies, celebrated musicians including Senegalese guitarist Cheikh Lo, Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen and Vieux Farka Toure joined trombonist Fred Wesley and others to salute the Godfather of Soul. And what a night it was!

Interspersing traditional African music with Brown’s extensive back catalogue, the band - accompanied by singer Fred Ross, vocalist and dancer Wunmi and UK rapper Ty - put in a pulsating performance that had the audience dancing in the aisles, bringing the house down with interpretations of classics like I Got You (I Feel Good) and Say It Loud: I’m Black and Proud. But it was Cheikh Lo’s (above) hauntingly beautiful rendition of It’s A Man’s World that was the highlight, combining awesome musicianship with Brown’s signature showmanship. South African songstress Simphiwe Dana’s bluesy homage was also a revelation.

With each band member a star in their own right, Still Black, Still Proud was an awe-inspiring evening that’s testament not only to Brown’s indisputable legacy but also to the rich vein of African musical talent. It may be nearly two years since he passed away but the spirit of James Brown truly lived on in this wonderfully captivating show.

___

Still Black, Still Proud took place on Saturday, 14th June as part of the Barbican's Groove Nations Season.

Not Digging the Beat: John McWhorter

BY SYLVIA ARTHUR

Say what you like about John McWhorter, the controversial conservative thinker notorious for his provocative views on race, but he’s nothing if not articulate.

In his new book All About the Beat, McWhorter dismisses the popularly held belief that hip-hop is the savior of black America, doing for African-Americans today what the civil rights movement did in the Sixties. Taking particular issue with conscious rappers who, he says, chronicle the community’s problems without offering solutions, McWhorter insists that the answers to this generation’s troubles lie in political activism not lyrical vandalism against the powers-that-be.

Read more...

Destiny's Child: Solange Comes of Age

BY SYLVIA ARTHUR

Life could be so easy for Solange Knowles, the little sibling with the big family name. As Beyoncé’s kid sister and Matthew and Tina’s baby girl the burden of expectation on this young woman’s shoulders would be enough to bury even the broadest of frames. But there’s so much more to this multi-talent than meets the eye.

Read more..

Ayo: Help is Coming and Down on my Knees

Young, Gifted and Brown (GMaG)

Sylvia Arthur gets the low down from the UK's premier female saxophonist, a sister who’s doing it for herself

Rising star YolanDa Brown is out to prove that beauty, brains and artistic bent can be a marketable combination in a mainstream music celebrity. The 25-year-old PhD student is set to create waves in the industry with her saxed-up versions of Pop R&B and diversity is her U.S.P. A self-taught saxophonist, Brown is not what you’d expect from your typical instrumentalist. Not known for their intellect, less still for their good looks and worse for their sobriety, fewer still stand out because of their gender. YolanDa Brown is the exception.

The East London born child of Jamaican parents began playing sax at the age of 13, having studied a number of other instruments previously. But there was something about the saxophone that held her attention, keeping her captive for the last twelve years. “I played the piano and the drums but I wasn’t getting the same satisfaction from them as they’re things that you play on whereas the saxophone is something you blow in to,” Brown says. “I put a lot of myself in to the sax. It’s my voice.” Here she explains what it’s like to be young, gifted and YolanDa Brown trying to make it on the UK music scene.

How would you describe your music?
My music is conversational because I play a lot on emotion. I play by ear. When I started learning the saxophone I was taught for the first three years but since then I’ve taught myself. So I play by ear. What I say is that the saxophone is my voice. If I could sing then I’d sing almost how I play. It’s music for everybody, something that everyone can understand. And it ranges from genres – R&B, soul, reggae, classical, jazz – so there’s a bit of everything in there.

Who’s your audience?
That’s a hard question because when I did my last solo concert there was such a wide range of people there. When I joined Black Grape Productions, the entertainment company that manage me, two years ago, I did a lot of comedy shows, charity events and big theatre events mainly in the Afro-Caribbean community. So I had quite a big following from that. Having promoted the concert we had people there who were jazz lovers, gospel people from the churches that I play at and also people of all ages. The youngest person there was about 6 all the way up to people’s grandmas. So, it’s everybody really. I play a range of music from the oldies to the new to my original pieces so it’s for everybody.

How do you choose what songs to perform?
I do sometimes look at the audience that I’m going to play to but I also like to take people out of their comfort zone. For example, I grew up at school playing a lot of jazz and I like the jazz standards – Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, really moody. When I joined Black Grape that’s the kind of feel I was playing with and they were like, “Why don’t you try playing some R&B songs?” So I played Ne-Yo So Sick and My Love by Justin Timberlake and remixed those kinds of songs with my tip on it. Because I was going to all these comedy shows I’d play that for them, along with a jazz standard. You can imagine going to a comedy show playing a jazz standard and everyone’s like, “What’s going on here?” then playing an R&B track that everyone can identify with. So I always like to put some jazz in to anything I do.

How would you sum up the UK jazz scene?
I’m not involved in it as heavily as I could be. For me, I’ve taken the saxophone to places where it’s not usually seen or heard. I do play in jazz clubs like the 606 but the jazz scene for me is very underground. I’m a bit more contemporary and out there with the music. I’m not really following a scene. I’m just doing me.

Jazz musicians, instrumentalists at least, are predominantly male. What’s it like being a woman in the industry?
Its been interesting. I wouldn’t label myself as a jazz musician. I’ve been embraced more in the R&B and hip-hop industry than the jazz. The jazz scene, because it’s so underground, can be quite competitive and it’s more about what chops you have, what technique you have, who you’ve played with and things like that. I haven’t been embraced as warmly but now that I’m doing my second concert at the prestigious Cadagon Hall people are taking me for me. They’re not thinking, “She plays the saxophone, she should be playing like this.” They’re saying, “Wow, she’s doing this. This is her branding, this is her sound, this is her music, this is what she’s trying to communicate and we’ll embrace her like that.” I’ve got Soweto Kinch, who won the MOBO for Best Jazz Act, performing with me and he’s really open. That to me is a testament to how far I’ve come because at my first show I called many musicians that I wanted to appear on stage with me and they weren’t as open. Now everybody wants to take time to get to know me, which just proves that you just have to do it yourself and then the people will come to you.

You’re very well-educated. Why did you decide to pursue academia to such a high level?
This is a dilemma I’m going through at the moment. I love studying Management Science. It’s a passion and an interest that I have. I did my Masters and at the end of my dissertation I felt that there was so much more that I can do with this, that I still wasn’t finished. I applied to the Funding Council to get funding for my PhD and they said yes. I wasn’t doing it thinking I want to become a doctor or I want to lecture. I just felt that I haven’t finished with the work I’d started. With the music, after university I auditioned for Black Grape, which was a band at first that fragmented and they chose to market me as a solo artist. I went there not thinking that anything would come of it and all of a sudden out flourished this career. So both of them are my passions and interests but it’s always a struggle, a hard balance and a double-life sometimes. For me, I need to finish the PhD but I’d love to pursue the music after that and then maybe go back in to it.

Are you working on an album and when can we expect it?
Yes. I’ve released an EP which is called Finding My Voice and I’m working on an album at the moment. There are a lot of ideas that I’ve been writing but it’s also about finding the right producers to work with as well. It’s all in the pipeline at the moment but I’m working with people that complement my sound. So, we’ve been moving forward with it and it’s going well so hopefully mid-next year I’ll have something out there.

Soul Survivor (GMaG)

Sylvia Arthur talks to soul singer Rahsaan Patterson about his new album, surviving the music industry and coming out stronger.

The Real Thing
If you haven’t heard from Rahsaan Patterson in a while that’s because you’ve not been listening. The prolific singer-songwriter - an old-school favourite on the neo-soul scene - has recently released his fourth album in ten years, not bad going for an artist who’s been independent for the last three. With immense vocal talent and the ability to perform live like no one else, you’d think Patterson’s story of life in the music industry would read like a fairytale. Not so. His ascent up the industry ladder has taken many twists and turns.

The highly-respected vocalist and producer has been in the spotlight for over a decade with his 1997 major label debut Rahsaan Patterson introducing his unique sound to the soul-loving masses. The release produced the moderate hits Stop By and Where You Are but what the album lacked in sales it made up for in quality. This helped secure Patterson a fan base that has remained loyal throughout the years. After releasing his sophomore set Love in Stereo two years later, which featured the radio-friendly jam Get Here, Patterson again impressed critics with his Stevie Wonder-influenced style but failed to dent commercially. Seven years after first signing with the label, Patterson parted ways with MCA but instead of wallowing in self-pity he decided to take control of his own destiny.

In 2004 he independently released After Hours on Dome Records in the UK and on his own label Artistry in the US. “I really had no choice but to go the independent route at the time,” Patterson concedes, “because when MCA was no longer a label under the Universal banner I had to figure out what I was gonna do with my manager at the time. Luckily MCA gave me my master of the After Hours album so that really gave me the incentive to do it independently. After seven years with MCA I felt a need for a fresh start. The record industry and the major labels and all the shit that comes with it was pretty annoying and I wasn’t looking to do that again.” On this third album - After Hours - the music only got better with Patterson achieving new heights in his quest for musical distinction. Free from the burden of major label sales expectations Patterson was uninhibited and excelled at doing what he does best – making honest, eclectic soul that’s as tight and varied as anything that his contemporaries are producing. And he’s remained consistent. Patterson is one of the hardest working men in the business. While many of the artists he started out with ten years ago have been lost in ether – some shunning the industry altogether and others suffering the same fate as he initially did – Patterson has managed to continue writing, producing and releasing new music. “I don’t really think about what everybody else is doing. I’m just me,” says Patterson. “I just stay on my path and when I’m inspired I make music. And I’ve been lucky enough to have a path that allows me to continuously make music and have it released. I persevere and keep it moving and I try to constantly be inspired.”

Freedom
Patterson’s independence from MCA couldn’t have come at a better time. With the advent of iTunes and the digital music revolution allowing greater freedom for both consumers and artists it became easier to get music to the people. For artists like Patterson, who choose or have no choice but to be independent, the arrival of new technology has changed the game for the better. “Its been a blessing because it’s great to have another outlet rather than just the retail stores that can be difficult to get in to. But I think the industry has changed to a point where it’s forcing the music industry to pay attention to independent artists who are doing it themselves. And it gives us an opportunity to be heard and to do more shows and let our music reach people.” Ironically, Patterson has re-entered the world of big industry business through the back door. “I’m actually on Sony BMG with my group, SugaRush Beat Company in the UK,” he admits. “But major record companies are really all the same. Thus far I’m already seeing and feeling the same shit that I used to go through with MCA but what’s different now is that I know the difference so I don’t react to it. I don’t let myself be affected by it and just take it as it is. It’s interesting. I don’t know if I’d sign to a major as a solo artist though. Doing it this way just kind of makes it fun because I’m also in a group with other people and I don’t have to take all of it alone.”

Child star
Patterson was born thirty-three years ago in the Bronx, New York to a religious Pentecostal – Baptist family. He started singing in his church choir at the age of six before moving to California to pursue a career as a child actor. In 1984, after being discovered performing in a school play, Patterson was chosen to star in a leading role in the television series Kids Incorporated, which featured other young entertainers who would grow up to be big names in show business including Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, singer Shanice and Saved by the Bell star Mario Lopez. But it was music that was Patterson’s real passion. When his time on Kids came to an end he began working as a session singer, performing back-up for various artists. But it was as a producer that Patterson really came to the fore. Having produced hits for the likes of teenage superstars Brandy and Tevin Campbell, as well as industry vets including Jody Watley and others, Patterson caught the attention of executives at MCA and showed himself to be as good outside the booth as inside. And so began his journey to where he is today, to his fourth album Wines and Spirits, a wholly different proposition to his first, musically and spiritually. “The difference between Wines and Spirits and previous albums is just life experiences,” Patterson reveals. “I started writing my first album when I was 18 and it was released when I was 23 and that album pretty much captured those experiences from 18 to 23. Love in Stereo captured 23 to 25. After Hours captured 25 to 29. This album showcases a bit of the last 3 to 4 years of my life but also the last ten years of being a recording artist and the trials and tribulations that all come with it – the perks, the downsides and all that stuff.”

Wines and Spirits
On Wines and Spirits, his latest release, Patterson hooked up with his old songwriting partner, Keith Crouch who assisted with duties on his original effort ten years previously. Although they hadn’t worked together since 1997, the synergy between the two was instant. The partnership was heightened by a personal bereavement that both men suffered. Patterson lost his father during the recording of his After Hours album while Crouch’s father had also passed during the pair’s songwriting hiatus. The double tragedy was the catalyst for their renewed songwriting partnership. So was it a case of coming full circle on this record? Patterson thinks so. “Yeah, that was definitely the idea in working with Keith Crouch again,” he says. “He and I hadn’t worked together since the first album in ’97 and he had suffered the loss of his father as well. And I knew that whatever we would do in the studio would allow us to resonate and connect on another level from having had that experience that we would connect in a way which we hadn’t before.” The pair’s re-connection obviously worked, the result of which is an expansive and engaging twelve track album that critics and fans alike agree is Patterson’s best yet.

Legendary comparisons
On Wines and Spirits Patterson confirms his status as a musical powerhouse and his vocal versatility continues to draw comparisons to legendary artists from Stevie Wonder to Al Green. In probably the most famous accolade to have been given to the singer during his career, writer Jason King called Patterson the “supernatural love child of Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau.” So, how does it feel to be compared to two of the genre’s most celebrated living legends? “It’s extremely flattering, an honour and at times it feels obvious that it should be that way because they have basically affected my entire being and have taught me how to do what I do. But I don’t walk around thinking about it and allowing those comparisons to dictate what I’m doing or how I feel as an artist. That’s not really the point. And I think I’m also related to those people because of the art of it and the way I communicate through my art. It’s a little more than just the voice. That’s the surface level and the obvious part but when you go deeper again all of those artists have taught me how to be the artist that I am.”

Rahsaan’s alter ego
And that artist is a diverse one. Patterson is clearly a man who likes to keep himself busy. Aside from the constant writing, recording and touring of his own material he also finds time to perform with his group, SugaRush Beat Company, which is made up of Australian music producer Jarrad ‘Jaz’ Rogers, Danish soul singer Ida Corr and Patterson. The music, like the group, is an eclectic hybrid of funk, soul, new wave, pop and dance and has been compared to Outkast and Prince in terms of style. And Patterson loves the variety. Being in SugaRush allows him to indulge a side of his personality that he only scratches the surface of with his own music. “SugaRush probably goes deeper in to the area in which this album Wines and Spirits goes to. Vocally it’s a lot more aggressive. Definitely it’s a lot more fast-paced. It gives me another opportunity and vehicle to showcase my songwriting and keeps me broad as far as genre is concerned. And it’s fun. It’s artistic and something else to do outside of the ordinary. It keeps it exciting for me and hopefully it will keep it exciting for people who are interested in what I’m doing.”

So what’s next for everyone’s favourite soul singer?
“I’m gonna be back in the UK at some point because the SugaRush album is coming out in March and we have to do promotion for that. And then in the States I’ll be touring at the top of the year and I have to go to Japan for a tour there. So just continuously working, doing shows, feeling vibes, making records, challenging myself musically and growing as an artist and growing as a musician.”

Fire in the dark: Mos Def live

Dante Smith, the brilliant rapper that is Mos Def was in town last week to showcase some tracks from his forthcoming album The Ecstatic and run through a selection of his greatest hits. Playing two sold-out shows at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and Islington Academy, Mos worked his knowledgeable crowd in to a frenzy with classic cuts like Umi Says, Ms Fat Booty and Sex, Love and Money. Despite coming on stage at approx. 10.30pm on a Sunday night, Mos gave a solid performance in front of an audience that was clearly in awe of the talented Brooklynite. After the poorly-received The New Danger and True Magic Mos appears to have returned to form as one of the finest and most credible MCs in the game. Support was ably provided by London's own Pyrelli and Swedish-American hip-hop group OneSelf.

On another note, today I had the pleasure of interviewing an unusual rising star in the shape of British saxophonist YolanDa Brown. Brown is different because not only is she a black female instrumentalist in a male-dominated genre but she's also highly-educated. The 25 year old musician is studying for a PhD as well as regularly performing on the tour circuit and working on her debut album. Check out http://www.sylviaarthur.co.uk/ for more info on this woman to watch.

Until next week...

Wow! What a week its been...

Hello Peoples!
How're you doing?
This past week has been mad busy for me but that's just how I like it.
Over the course of the last seven days I've had the privilege of interviewing the cream of the crop of soul and jazz for the December issue of Clutch, the best online magazine in the blogosphere. Rahsaan Patterson, Amp Fiddler and Eric Lewis all feature so don't forget to check out http://www.clutchmagazine.com/ on December 1st to see the outcome of my conversations with black music's finest. Bookmark Clutch today.

BBC Electric Proms f/t Estelle and Kano

Lessons in transcendence: Rahsaan takes it to another level

Picture the scene: It's 9.30pm on a mild October Wednesday. A hardcore contingent of soul music aficionados are gearing up for a short but satisfying gig from one of the genre's most gifted artists. By 11 o'clock it'll all be over and we'll go our separate ways, content until we meet again. Job done. Now for what really happened. Enter the world of Rahsaan Patterson:

In Rahsaan's world there are no worries about getting up for work in the morning or how to make the long journey home when the underground shuts down. No. In Rahsaan's world, where he is the Pied Piper and we are his followers, time stands still as he guides us through his outstanding collection of finely-crafted material, from his eponymous 1997 debut through to Wines and Spirits, his latest offering. Locked in transcendence for two-and-a-half hours of pure musical ecstasy, Patterson's rapt audience are consumed by the sheer force of his talent. If heaven were a sonic construct this would be it.

Patterson's voice is the central tool in a superior six-piece band that features two fine backing singers and a keyboardist who's notable, not as the lone white guy in the ensemble, but as a brilliant multi-instrumentalist. With undertones of Prince that speak of admiration not imitation, Patterson is an exceptional vocalist who epitomises soul. He simultaneously provides a lesson in artistry for wannabes while raising the bar for his peers.

At a time when it's the norm for artists to race through a set with little regard for their audience, Patterson is an utterly unselfish performer who clearly sees his role as paying his dues to his loyal fan base. And we were certainly repaid in full. Extended renditions of Sure Boy, Don't Run So Fast and the Van Hunt After Hours collaboration The Best were particular peaks in an evening full of highs. This is a man at the top of his game. There's Rahsaan Patterson, then there's everyone else.

At the end of the night I was disappointed to be leaving the Jazz Café. Forced back out in to the real world, the problem of getting home and being at work in just a few hours brought me back down to earth with a thud.

But I, like the rest of the crowd knew that for a time we were in the presence of greatness, treated to a very special show from a consummate artist who's truly out of this world. I can't wait for Rahsaan to return. "Earth to Planet Patterson... Beam me up Scotty!"

Wines and Spirits is out now on Dome Records.

Review: Joe Guy is the man!

OK, I admit it. I was apprehensive about seeing Joe Guy, the new Roy Williams play currently in residence at the Soho Theatre. "Yet another production exploring the historically difficult relationship between Africans and Caribbeans, yet another vehicle for exposing our ignorance in public," I thought. Blah de blah, blah! And it’s themed around football to boot. Not my idea of a great night out. How wrong could I be.

This is not a play about football. Nor is it a clichéd or gratuitous attempt to cash in on the neuroses of black Britons. Rather, Joe Guy is an intensely engaging story of a young man wanting desperately to fit in to a society at odds with, and occasionally hostile to his culture and skin colour.

Joe Boateng is a successful Premiership footballer who arrives in the UK as a twelve-year-old from Ghana. Displaying a talent for hard work and the beautiful game doesn’t insulate him from schoolyard taunts about the thickness of his accent or the darkness of his skin. So taking solace from the adage that success is the best revenge he sets his mind to making it big as a way of getting back at the bullies.

The epicentre of the play is crystallised in a stirring and impassioned monologue which sees Joe transform himself from a harassed, awkward-speaking teenager in to a streetwise, slang-talking man. This marks a turning point in Joe’s evolution to wild egocentric, which ultimately sees him charged with rape.

The beauty of Joe Guy is in the detail. The dialogue is sharp and witty, delivered by a group of wholly identifiable characters that could have been drawn from any school or street in London. A stellar ensemble performance from an energetic cast makes it almost churlish to single out individuals. However, Abdul Salis in the lead role of Joe Boateng is a revelation and Mo Sesay, whose turns as a dim-witted bodyguard, an aging footballer and Joe’s curmudgeonly father are all equally utterly convincing. This combined with the fast-paced direction and simple but effective set makes Joe Guy an action-packed hour and a half of intelligent and compelling self-examination.

My one criticism of an otherwise excellent production is that some scenes were overly long, with a tendency to labour an already emphasised point. But this is just being finicky.

Williams’ unique powers of observation are evident through the crisp clear way in which he translates an otherwise overplayed subject in to a captivating cultural narrative of our times. All in all, Williams manages to encapsulate the complexity of a vexed and taboo topic without either trivialising or romanticising the

2007 has been a relatively good year for black British theatre but this is by far the best production I’ve seen all year. You have until 24th November to judge for yourselves. You have been warned. 4½ / 5.

Joe Guy is on at the Soho Theatre until 24th November. Book online or for more info, visit http://www.tiatafahodzi.com/.

Tourist jailed 'for being black'

A man wrongly accused of being an illegal immigrant may have been singled out just for being black, an Equality Commission spokeswoman has said.

Frank Kakopa has been paid £7,500 after the Immigration Service wrongly held him in prison for two days.

Mr Kakopa, originally from Zimbabwe, was on a short break with his wife and young children in 2005, when he was stopped at Belfast City Airport.

He had proof he lived in England but was still strip-searched and jailed.

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Bringing it home

Kwame Kwei-Armah
Published 25 October 2007 (New Statesman)

The debate over the exodus of Britain's black actors has finally begun. Now it is time to start talking about solutions

On 15 October at the Screen Nation Awards - dubbed the "black Baftas" - the founder of the awards, the distinguished Ghanaian producer Charles Thompson, bemoaned what he called a "talent drain of British actors running off to the States". I was both saddened and pleased by his comment: saddened because, as a black British actor and playwright, I know how serious the problem is, and pleased because, at last, people are actually starting to talk about it.
The overwhelming majority of black actors of my generation have found that their only hope of a career lies in America (an old maxim states that "in Britain, white actors have careers and black actors have jobs"). Rather than passing on tips about auditions, my contemporaries exchange advice about the "01 visa", the document that "provides admission into the United States of persons with . . . extraordinary achievement in motion picture and television production". I once read a very interesting comment referring to the former US general and later secretary of state Colin Powell. "It is his good fortune that they [his Jamaican-born parents] took the New York rather than the Southampton boat. If they had, he might have made sergeant." That sentiment increasingly appears to apply to the television and film industries, too.

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I urge you to read this

'I spend my days preparing for life, not for death'
Laura Smith
Thursday October 25, 2007

SCI Greene County Prison on the outskirts of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, sits low in the rural landscape so that it's easy from the restaurants and petrol stations on the main road to miss the barbed wire coiled in endless circles. Inside, the plush leather chairs that squat on shiny floors make it feel more like a private hospital than a maximum security institution. But the black men in prison jumpsuits cleaning the floor, eyes downcast, dispel any such illusions. Signs spell out the rules: no hoods, no unauthorised persons, only $20 in cash allowed.

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More on the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal campaign

Spike Lee in the New Statesman

Rebel without a pause
Stephen Armstrong

Published 30 August 2007

Once Hollywood's enfant terrible, Spike Lee is now directing blockbusters and TV shows. But, he tells Stephen Armstrong, he is still fighting for black cinema.

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