Soweto Kinch - B Is For Birmingham
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Multi-award wining alto saxophonist and MC Soweto Kinch burst on to the jazz scene in 2003 when his album Conversations With The Unseen was released. It marked an updated twenty first century consciousness for a new generation of young black British jazz musicians who were in the process of identifying their own musical identity. The Birmingham-based player openly name checked and drew upon the pre-Windrush generation and beyond of jazz musicians who played in British clubs and dance halls in the 1930s and 40s. The world of Ken “Snakehips” Johnson, and Coleridge Goode suddenly did not seem so distant. Joe Harriott, only known to a hip few, was now an aural role model. Since his groundbreaking debut and win at the Montreux jazz festival world saxophone competition and endorsement by jamming pal Wynton Marsalis, Soweto has became known internationally for his postbop style, and his rapping, particularly for the deliciously ingenious rap, ‘Jazz Planet’. For some time he has been preparing for a new two part follow up to Conversations. The first instalment of his two-part urban soundscape is out this month, the second next year. Interview: Andy Robson
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