Thundercat, KOKOROKO and Alpha Mist pounce on Nile Rodgers’s Meltdown
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Fiery funk-soul-fusion bassist and singer Thundercat, aka Stephen Bruner, will headline the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 4 August as part of Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers’ edition of Meltdown.
The annual event’s history goes back to 1993 with Robert Wyatt, David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, and perhaps most notably Ornett Coleman in 2009 among its diverse former curators. Opening for the LA bass star will be experimental New York avant jazz unit Onyx Collective, with another current bass hero, Felix Pastorius, joining their ever-changing line-up for this rare London showing.
Other jazz-related artists performing this year include trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey’s KOKOROKO (QEH, 5 Aug) and keyboardist Alfa Mist (QEH, 7 Aug) alongside the likes of former Smiths guitar icon Johnny Marr, transatlantic trio Radiant Children, Franco-Israeli singer-songwriter Yael Naim, the emotionally-charged South African singer, Nakhane, and Nile Rodgers himself with his funk hit-machine, Chic (RFH, 3 Aug). Further Meltdown shows take over various Southbank Centre spaces including the Purcell Room and the Riverside Terrace, with Studio 54 and Disco Wonderland DJ sets plus the Meltdown Mardi Gras featuring the high-energy 11-piece group, Dat Brass.
For full details visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk