The Jazz Café

Festival '24

Date Taken: Sunday 15th September

Recipes Used:

Kodak Portra 400, Kodak Vision3 500T & A Recipe coming soon…

I have been waiting months to craft this post and we're finally here!

This was one of the first Photo Passes that I got – the first festival one I've gotten to date – and of course it had to be a festival holding the same logo of my favourite place on Earth.

The good people @ The Jazz Café hooked your boy up and with a blue "Production" wristband, I entered Burgess Park with intent to empty the clip. (Load the clip? Fill my SD Card is what I'm saying…)

I came via the Jubilee Line, walking from Bermondsey station:

After walking around the entire thing to find the correct entrance, I made it in, immediately behind the main "Parkway" stage.

I made it on time for the first act I wanted to see but it was clear that it was going to be a while since it looked like they were only beginning to set up the instruments.

So I took a walk to familiarise myself with the area. I was happy that it didn’t take long as the festival area was significantly smaller than that of Brockwell Park (Cross The Tracks) & Victoria Park, (All Points East) but it’s a nice spot nevertheless.

Above is "The Plant Room" stage I frequent the most during the day. At that time it was some Resident DJs playing Hip-Hop to two women but they provided great energy regardless of numbers.

Whilst I frequented the spot the most, I didn't take the most photos there but that's for later.

Now, we can finally get into our first act over at Parkway: Independent Singer/Songwriter Cherise who's album "Calling" made my End of Year Albums list last year.

I'll split this into two and start with colour; I got very trigger happy at the start of the day compared to the end so expect a bit of a deluge here.

Next is the monochrome mini-set for Cherise:

Even though I got a ton of photos enough for a full show, I dipped midway for the first performance in The Plant Room: Versatile rapper BXKS

2 for 2 so far! Cherise & BXKS were definitely on the “see live” list that only exists in my head and they didn’t disappoint.

Being in the pit for these performances really encouraged me to take photos of the people watching but you’ll see those near the end.

We head back to Parkway to be greeted by the host Erica McKoy who held the main stage down.

Had a chat with her later in the day, cool person!

Alright, onto R&B crooner Baby Rose.

At this point I had some time to kill so I walked about, debating whether to eat or not.

I instead went back to The Plant Room to catch the back end of Qendresa with a very interesting jacket!

It wasn’t long a wait until the next artist I had on my list in Ojerime.

And just before I dipped I caught a couple of Moonchild Sanelly with a fit! Double cheeked up, on a Sunday afternoon!

But this is where the day started to become one of those odd special days. Those days where you have an idea of what a great day this can be – and you get that – but not in the way that you imagined it.

I feel that a day that is great and unexpected are rare in life but I’m logging this one.

Next was back at Parkway for the instant dance band in the Buena Vista All-Stars. A group I wasn’t planning on seeing but man did these lot get me moving.

I really wished I caught their whole set. I’ve never seen such infectious energy on a stage. And the music. I’m a new fan of Afro-Cuban.

This is where I went to get food and for this day my pick was The Duck Shed who were doing burgers, wraps & rice bowls with three national flavours and a vegan option.

I went for the British wrap and boy was that a mean wrap. Absolute beauty.

Anyways – with the food review done – back to The Plant Room for an artist I saw in 2019 and have been waiting to see again since: Rapsody featuring Niko Brim.

Her performance was so different compared to 2019 in The Jazz Cafe. A maturity & poetic freedom wrapped in hard Hip-Hop steel.

Also, I left a couple pictures of two people beside me. I didn’t get their names but they travelled from the US just to see Rapsody that day. Big respect to them.

This was where they day went not as expected. After Rapsody was The Alchemist, Roc Marciano & Earl Sweatshirt.

I wasn’t able to see any of those three…

Once Rapsody finished, everyone in the pit were ask to leave. I assume it was on Alchemist’s request? Who knows, I didn’t bother to ask.

Besides… Just because they said we weren’t allowed in the pit, doesn’t mean we have to leave backstage.

Caught a nice candid of Baby Rose. Shout out to Niko Brim who I had a quick talk with and then took a couple portraits of him. Rapsody as you can imagine just had people around her all the time so it was hard to get a clean pic and/or a word of appreciation from me.

So with The Alchemist being anti-me-taking-pictures, I went where I was welcome – to the Parkway stage – to see an act I’ve never heard of but still enjoyed: Arc De Soleil.

Their music is as eclectic as their gear!

After that I travelled for the first and only time to The Four Corners! Which – as a stages/crowd spaces go – is one of my favourites ever. Who else but Gilles Peterson was on the decks with vinyl and people all around him.

You can see what I mean right?! What a beautifully constructed space. And shouts to the amazing moment where Gilles put on a live version of “Mas Que Nada”. RIP Sergio Mendes.

I went back to The Plant Room to see if there was any opportunity of seeing Earl but in the time between I left and came back, the amount of people backstage was absurd. Why Roc Marciano needs 15 dudes with him blows my mind.

So yea, security had their hands tied and unlike artists they could say ‘no’ to me.

So onto the last act of my night: ELIZA

Shout out to Cyn on guitar who I took pictures of in one of my earliest posts!

And that was my day pretty much over! But I wasn’t done snapping. I got a bus to Bank a little after I left and I rarely take buses in London. So I wanted to see what I get in the night on the top of a double decker and other stuff en route.

This was an experience I’ve never had before… And I like it. That little bit of extra access got me everything I want when doing Photography: Taking photos, seeing artists I want to see and just basking in the moment.

I leave you with pictures of the people around me that I caught throughout the day.