Melanie de Biasio at Jazz Cafe, London, gig review: Time-suspending performance is a welcome diversion
She sets out to explore spaces between the notes in her music; pausing languidly over a piano note like fingers over a chocolate box
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Perhaps it’s part of the magic that Melanie de Biasio weaves; but never has a London audience been quite so hushed.
In the newly refurbished Jazz Cafe she opens on the single track from her upcoming release, ‘Blackened Cities’, a 24 minute epic that weaves seductively through flute solos, shimmering drums and disjointed piano chords.
Her vocals are undulating, celestial even, and really her exquisite voice requires a more intimate venue than this; somewhere with clustered tables, ideally where people sip whisky on the rocks and smoke cigarettes in elegant holders.
Maybe that’s too cliched for her tastes, but here, disruptions like the clatter of a drink being made at the bar and, excruciatingly, the fire alarm going off during ‘Blue’, go some way in disrupting the spell the Belgian artist casts over her audience.
In her sassier moments De Biasio recalls Peggy Lee, snapping fingers and all, and while she seems to eschew such comparisons to such iconic jazz singers, it’s not difficult to make the leap. Then on Nina Simone’s ‘I’m Gonna Leave You’ she throws this attempt to draw parallels right back in your face - making the song her own.
Lauded in traditionalist jazz circles in 2013 for No Deal, she now sets out to explore spaces between the notes in her music; pausing languidly over a piano note like fingers over a chocolate box.
“All we do is work all day long… Nature unveils another way,” she sings on ‘Blackened Cities’, evoking streets emptied of people, where leaves scatter along the pavement and the sun appears, cautiously, over the grey roofs of buildings.
In these turbulent times, this time-suspending performance is a welcome diversion from the incessant chaos that’s rumbling on outside.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments