Sunday, 17 November 2019

London Jazz Festival - 2

After just 24 hours at home, back down to London.  Once again the on-going works on the railways caused us to adopt new travel plans - Leicester to Narborough and then Narborough to Euston.

A straightforward journey and a short walk along Euston Road to the St Pancras Premier Inn.

Home for the next three nights:


A quick lunch at the nearby Pret a Manger and then a cab ride to Charing Cross Station, from where we walked down to the Embankment and then across the Golden Jubilee Bridge:








The first of today's two concerts:






After a great concert featuring music from their new album, Julia and bandmates took their bows:



and we headed out into the foyer:



Out, and down the side of the main Festival Hall building to Honest Burgers for an early dinner:





and then into the main Festival Hall building and into the Clore Ballroom:


A young audient makes himself comfortable:


and the band takes the stage.  Yes, it's the Julia Hülsmann Quartet playing a free 30-minute set, to be broadcast the following Saturday on Radio 3:



After the set, Julia was joined by BBC presenter Kevin Legendre for a short interview:



Out, and along the Thames towards Waterloo Bridge:





OK, it's the wrong bridge, but for me, when it comes to the London skyline, Wordsworth really got it right:

Earth has not any thing to show more fair:



Across the bridge and up to the Strand, from where we caught a cab to the Barbican:



We were there to see (for the first time) funkmeister Herbie Hancock:



It's not a Herbie gig until he straps on the keytar:


On bass, James Jenus - who we had last seen supporting pianist Makoto Ozone at the "Porgy and Bess" jazz club in Vienna in 2018:


On vocals and flute, 24-year-old Elena Pinderhughes was as impressive as when we had seen her supporting trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah at the Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham in 2015:


Guitarist Lionel Loueke and drummer Justin Tyson with the others for their curtain call:


Out, to find that our troubles with public transport were continuing; the Barbican underground station was closed for the whole weekend.  A walk to St Paul's station and a tube ride back to St Pancras, from where we walked across Euston Road to the Premier Inn.

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