Branford Marsalis and Kurt Elling - Barbican - London

Wimbledon Men's Final day, but we were off down to London, to see Kurt Elling and the Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Barbican Hall.  We had seen both before, but separately, so this would be a first.  The collaboration started a year ago, with a well-received album, Upward Spiral, so the indications were that this would be something special.  

To combine the concert with some shopping we had booked a night in the St Pancras Premier Inn on Euston Road.  This view from our room shows The British Library and, behind it, the roof of the amazing Francis Crick Institute.  On the left, beyond the cranes and on the horizon, is the greenery of Hampstead Heath.

To the right can be seen St Pancras station itself:

But we had no time to admire the view - we were on a mission; the programme:

The stage:

Two slightly over-excited audients in a state of anticipation:

So how was the concert?  In a word - superb.  When two major artists come together like this, there is always the possibility of a clash of egos.  No such worries here - each left plenty of space for the other to shine, and on a number of occasions, both men took to the shadows while the rhythm section worked up not just one storm but a succession throughout the night.  

The gorgeous first encore, "I'm a Fool to Want You" - partly composed by Frank Sinatra - involved just the two principals, with Marsalis's saxophone and Elling's voice swirling around each other almost interchangeably.  I found the second encore, involving guests from the audience (pianist Julian Joseph and vocalist Cleveland Watkiss) less entertaining - though this was not a view that seemed to be shared by the rest of the crowd, who went wild for it.

For me, though,  musically and emotionally the high spot of the evening was the performance of the Sting song "A Practical Arrangement" - performed here in the more intimate setting of the New Morning club in Paris.  (Trivia note: Marsalis's connection with Sting goes back a long way; anyone who watched Sting at the 1985 Live Aid concert will already have seen a collaboration between these two, probably without even realising it.  To close the loop - here are Sting and Jo Lawry performing a slightly modified version of "A Practical Arrangement").

For anyone who'd like to read a professional review,  these in the Financial Times and The Prickle are worth a look.

And so, by Tube, back to our hotel.