Yazz Ahmed has had a busy Saturday. Following two sessions of Jazz Yoga at the Southbank Centre, the British-Bahraini trumpeter played London’s Grand Junction on the second night of the 2024 EFG London Jazz Festival.
Based in the neo-gothic St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Grand Junction was a beautiful venue to play host to Ahmed’s electrifying style of psychedelic Arabic-infused jazz – even if the cavernous space meant that, during louder moments, some of the finer details were lost.
That’s perhaps a pedantic criticism. It was immensely impressive to see Ahmed’s mastery of the trumpet and flugelhorn all the while fiddling with various electronic effects like delays, spacey reverb and psychedelic synth sounds. Also noteworthy were solos from George Crowley on bass clarinet and Ralph Wyld on vibraphone, while Josh Blackmore (drums) and Dave Mannington kept down a strong groove.
The first half of the set featured familiar tracks from Ahmed’s (recently reissued, I might add) back catalogue: “Jamil Jamal” from La Saboteuse (2017), “Lahan al-Mansour” Polyrhymnia (2019), and the 2019 single A Shoal of Souls.
A preview of new material was reserved for after a short interval, and guest vocalist Randolph Matthews was invited on stage to accompany three tracks inspired by traditional Bahraini music and maritime culture (the upcoming album A Paradise in the Hold, which is due for release next February,takes a lot of inspiration from the songs of pearl divers, juxtaposed with Bahraini wedding poems). Matthews has a strong and versatile voice, with falsettos and unique vocal techniques almost mimicking whale song and other deep sea sounds.
This slight change of direction made in the second half was a highlight for myself, and I’d say we’ve got a lot to look forward to from Yazz Ahmed and Co next year.
