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Musik Jazz/Blues Urbanlife at Stockholm Jazz Festival 2009
Musik Jazz/Blues Urbanlife at Stockholm Jazz Festival 2009
| Urbanlife at Stockholm Jazz Festival 2009 |
| Skrivet av Christian Hofverberg |
| 2009-07-24 00:45 |
 This year’s Stockholm Jazz Festival ended on Sunday with an intoxicating performance by Erykah Badu. Urbanlife of course was there all five days, soaking up the atmosphere on Wednesday, meeting Swedish jazz sensation Kristin Amparo on Thursday (separate interview to come), and enjoyed performances from artists like Estelle, Raphael Saadiq, Leela James and Timbuktu through Friday until Sunday. We also had the privilege of getting the thoughts and opinions from music legends Gilberto Gil and Guru. The Jazz Festival had new owners for this year, and with that, also a new concept. Previous years the festival has blended different genres of music over the same day. This year, Wednesday was dedicated to blues oriented music, Thursday and Friday let the jazz get its moment in the spotlight with Saturday and Sunday devoted to soul, R’n’b and hip hop.  Three stages set on the island Skeppsholmen, with the main stage beautifully positioned with the watery landscape behind it, let the audience be entertained in sunny weather over the first three days. Only the last two days cooled visitors with some heavy showers, but that failed to dampen the enthusiasm and spirit of the fairly mixed crowd. On Thursday, the Urbanlife team was irresistibly drawn into the fabulous performance of the Kristin Amparo Band, headlined by singer, musician and songwriter Kristin Amparo. This young woman had the whole crowd stunned with her dark powerful voice, something one rarely hears among Swedish jazz singers, and her fantastic yet simple ways of conveying her emotions through the lyrics of her songs. Friday had the jazz enthusiasts waiting for jazz legend Sonny Rollins to step on stage as the last act of the day. While waiting, the audience had a chance to feast their eyes and ears on artists who represents the crème de la crème when it comes to the different forms of jazz. First it was four incredible songstresses, under the tour name Sing the Truth, who both individually and as a group, gave us their own unique versions of jazz legend Nina Simone’s music. Angelique Kidjo, Lizz Wright and Nina Simone’s daughter Lisa Simone Kelly all sang magnificently, enhanced by the experience, power and sheer quality of Dianne Reeves. With Dianne’s bombastic version of “Be my husband” she took a firm grip of the audience and she wouldn’t let us go. To me, this was one of the best performances of the festival in tough competition with Leela James, Estelle and Erykah Badu. Next up was the slap bass trio, SMV; better know individually as Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wotten. All of them are of course exceptional bass players on their own but when playing together they take, and took, the performance to new heights. Marcus Miller shone the brightest with his multi-instrumentalist skills, playing a giant saxophone with the same ease as he plays his bass guitar. Moving on to Saturday, we first see a strong performance from Meshell Ndegeocello, vocally smooth and backed up by excellent musicians. But it was the raw energy of Leela James that threw us and the rest of the crowd into full speed chase, only slowing down when she sang “Music” and “Don’t speak”. Her performance was so strong you were almost afraid that she was going to run out of breath but she kept it going until the end. Having witnessed the high-powered concert by Leela James we directed our focus to the next performing artist, a man who is a living hip-hop legend. Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, better known as Guru, sat before us at the press conference alongside his new producer and collaborator Solar.  Covering the festival, Urbanlife noticed that many people within the urban community in Sweden didn’t attend the festival, which we concluded was due to the ticket prices. This is of course a concern to us and we asked Guru (left) for his opinion.– Well that’s the thing about jazz festivals; they are pretty prestigious so bringing us here is a start. I was probably the first hip hop artist to perform at the jazz festival circuit and I know that the arrangers know that hip hop is the voice and pulse of the youth. So they have to bring hip hop in to these types of festivals. We’re going to have to take it step by step and eventually more people from the urban community will come. Communication is the key though. But both me and Solar is definitely concerned about what happens in the urban community, says Guru. We were however somewhat disappointed later as Guru, Solar and The 7 Grand Players gave a somewhat tired performance on the new stage at Stockholm Jazz Festival, only really taking off when they did a version of John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things”. The last press conference of the day offered a meeting with an artist whose career spans over 46 years. As a pioneer of Tropicalism, the cultural movement that blended traditional Brazilian music with modern pop, Gilberto Gil has continued to be one of the most important musicians of our time.  At the press conference he first tells us that winning the Polar Music Prize in 2005 was recognition of a life dedicated to music and culture. He also said that the digital revolution in music and the internet allows the broader public to get access to local music in South America and Africa, which he thinks is a good thing. Because his music career is so long Urbanlife asks Gilberto Gil which one of his own albums he recommends to someone who’s not familiar with his music. – It’s hard for me to say. It may not be the best but it’s an album called Quanta, Gilberto Gil replies. Finally, on Sunday, Urbanlife sees strong performances by Raphael Saadiq, the one man show Raul Midón and our own Pauline. But the whole day is really a long wait for a certain Ms.Badu. She starts her concert half an hour late (true divas do) but when she finally appears she has the whole crowd, yours truly included, mesmerized and ready to follow her every move. Whether preaching the gospel of New Amerykah, converting the non believers to Baduizm or shooting us straight in the heart with Mama’s Gun, she is in total control and she brings it to us with a seductive force that seems to leave us all in a daze. Her name is Erykah Badu and she truly lives up to, and exceeds, any expectations we might have had.  
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