Bristol Funk: Love Supreme : 4th

Love Supreme, 4th- 6th July

Tucked away in a beautiful village in Sussex, England is a fledgling Jazz and Soul festival called 'A Love Supreme'. It's sponsored by Jazz FM and for the second year played host to some international stars of the genres as well as some local heroes.

Upon arrival you can tell it's all pretty plush. The grass is green, you walk under an villagey clock tower and of course, there is a country manor in the background - although it was fenced off to the riff raff, aka me, of course.

Despite the over-zealous bag searching and security, once inside it was a decent experience. The campsite was not over crowded, you could pick a spot, and the people all seemed very friendly and laid back.

During Friday night's initial perusal of the site i bumped into an old friend working at the Rough Trade shop and we scarpered off site to watch the Brazil quarter finals.

Saturday morning and some delicious columbian coffee was served from one of the stalls. It was good stuff, i had to go back Sunday morning!

So to the music. Midday Saturday and the first act i saw was Matthew Halsall. It walked straight into one of my gigs of the year. As a live experience his band play what Mojo mag described as if “Grooving through time on the spiritual sunship.” It's modal, it's spiritual jazz, there was a harp, the musicianship was incredible and to be honest, nothing else could top this moment. When the band took it in turns for their solo's i would smile at the summit. Even the drummer gets involved on Patterns taken from new album 'When the World Was One'. Buy the album, it does not disappoint. That's what I did after the gig.

After that the Computers came and conquered the event stage with their rollicking, sweary Rock & Roll that had the whole audeience dancing. Not jazz but well done them.

Incognito on main stage got the crowd up and remembering some of their hits and later on the Saturday Lalah Hathaway (Donny Hathaways Daughter), was okay but such a slow pace, she seemed slightly pre-occupied at times. The 15 minute version of Gershwins summertime was just too long to hold attention. I needed something more upbeat ahead of Earth Wind & Fire so i snuck out after 45 minutes.

Earth Wind & Fire ripped through some of their classic songs which had the crowd dancing whilst Laura Mvula i thought was a bit dull, though pulled a huge crowd to sign her album afterwards.

After 11pm i went dancing in the jungle/dub reggae tent before Ty and Harleigh Blu played. 2am and exahusted i crashed.

Sunday started off with the playback of the Miles Davis Jazz classic 'Feeling Kinda Blue' which was presented by the Jazz writer for the independent and a Jazz FM DJ, a good start to the day.

Later on Brighton local Alice Russell got the crowd going ahead of sets by Courtney Pine, Jose James and later on Gregory Porter.

All in all a super festival and one which will only get better!

http://www.lovesupremefestival.com

★★★★