Bringing power and grace to Hampstead Jazz Club _ Ineza [Jonathan Cuff]

YOU have probably never heard of Irene Higginbottom. She was a prolific composer from the late-30s on and worked with the likes of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and, notably, Billie Holiday. Her repertoire included chamber pieces and larger-scale orchestral works, often written under a pseudonym.

Like Nina Simone, she had ambitions to be a concert pianist, but, as with Ms Simone, racist institutions and individuals put paid to that.

I mention her here because one of her lyrics (Good Morning Heartache) is on the recent album Women’s Words, Sisters’ Songs by Belgian-Rwanda singer Ineza, with Alex Webb and the Copasetics, who bring the project to the Hampstead Jazz Club at the Duke of Hamilton pub on February 21 (yes, it’s a while away, but it’s a small club and sells out fast).

The record itself is a fine, refined piece of work – Ineza has both power and grace and can bring a fresh palette to familiar songs. Not that they are all well-trodden standards – the work of Jazzmeia Horn, Rachelle Ferrell, Abbey Lincoln and Dorothy Fields stand out. Alex Webb’s arrangements are deft and involving and the band includes well-known names on the London scene, such as Maddy Coombs on tenor, Rosie Turton and violinist Johanna Burnheart (Alex sports the only Y chromosome here).

One reason the record works is because they extensively road-tested the material before recording and it’s an excellent live show. If vocal jazz is your thing, book it soon.

Hampstead Jazz Club has a healthy slate for the next few months. For example, I have never seen alto saxophonist Donovan Heffner (February 20), but I hear good things about his quartet and his pedigree includes being mentored by bassist Gary Crosby and fellow saxman Binker Golding, both tutors with Tomorrow’s Warriors, the crucible for so many important young players over this last decade or so. So, he’s well worth checking out. And on February 22, Georgia Mancio celebrates 25 years as a (consummate) pro jazz singer with long-term musical partner Kate Williams on piano.
Details of the whole programme and tickets on: https://hampsteadjazzclub.com/whats-on/

Donovan Haffner is also on at Jazz at the Parakeet on January 27, breaking the usual January hibernation for the Kentish Town club. It demonstrates how the intimate, unadorned space above the pub can still pull in top contemporary names. The full every-Monday menu starts again in February. More details: https://jazzattheparakeet.com/

Emma Rawicz, no stranger to this column, was scheduled to be at the Parakeet on January 20 but the gig has been moved to The Old Queens Head, Essex Road, N1, (https://wegottickets.com/event/645583) with an unusual vibraphone/bass combo behind her, before she brings her full orchestra to Ronnie Scott’s on January 30.

Another pub/venue that has long been an integral to the London jazz scene is The Spice of Life in Soho. It still has jazz nights (with jam sessions on Sundays and Mondays – see www.spiceoflifesoho.com/) but its Spice Jazz slot has decamped to the rather plusher surrounding of Crazy Coqs, part of Brasserie Zedel, just of Piccadilly. This small, smart room is mostly home to cabaret and tribute acts, but there is a decent jazz element in the calendar. Glebe launched their album Gaudi there.

Glebe is yet another group of recent graduates who have precocious mastery of their instruments. Rather than the grime or drum’n’ bass or figures like Dilla and Madlib cited by many new combos, the quoted influences here are Kenny Wheeler, Pat Metheny and Maria Schneider.

On the record I also hear the lightness of Bob James and even a Harry Beckett-like jauntiness in You Can’t Write Tears, although the band isn’t afraid of an exhilaratingly noisy coda (Kirkstall Abbey). There’s also an earworm, and skilful scatting, on Ruby and sophisticated Metheny/Mays-like piano and guitar interplay on Il Ragno Della Tomba. Guests includes harpist and vocalist Tara Minton (who ran jazz nights at the Spice of Life) and excellent soprano work from Tom Smith.

It is invidious to single out one from the group, as all acquit themselves admirably, but I love the way guitarist Kieran Gunter can keep faithful to the melodic core of a solo while turning up the intensity. Buy the album (OK, Spotify if you really, really must) and look out for them live.

Other jazz nights coming up at Crazy Coqs include vocalist Zoe Francis, guitar icon Jim Mullen and top-drawer Hammond player Ross Stanley (Feb 1) and, on Feb 13, two always entertaining singers, Ian Shaw (first show) and – another Spice Jazz presentation – infectious Brazilian rhythms with Luna Cohen for the second. More at https://www.brasseriezedel.com/calendar/

Hotly tipped young tenor player Maddy Coombs, who is a guest on the Ineza album and a Tomorrow’s Warriors alumnus, is also part of a Jazz Re:freshed showcase at the Jazz Café on January 24. The Sounds of 2025 show also includes fiery drummer and producer Mackwood and brass duo Bad Influence and several Jazz Re:freshed DJs. And it’s a tenner to get in. A tenner. Both Jazz Re:freshed and Tomorrow’s Warriors deserve your support to help keep London’s peerless jazz gumbo bubbling. https://thejazzcafe.com/event/jazz-refreshed-sounds-of-2025/

Even cheaper – ie, free – is The Woodman pub in Highgate (see www.the-woodman.com/
news-events/), right by the tube, which has jazz nights on some Wednesdays. On January 29 there is Rory Ingham on trombone leading a handy quartet that includes Dom Ingham on violin and guitarist Will Arnold-Forster, who used to run Jazz at the Oxford, before the Parakeet landed.