With Love Supreme Festival just two weeks away with a mouthwatering lineup to get fully excited over, it’s time to have glance at the five artists that I recommend are worth checking out. If you are still yet to book your tickets, weekend and day tickets for Friday 5th of July through to Sunday 7th of July are available for purchase here.
Chick Corea: The Spanish Heart Band
Performing at the festival for the first time ever is world renowned Latin Jazz composer Chick Corea with his Spanish Heart Band. With a back catalogue including collaborations with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, as well as participating in the birth of Jazz Fusion during the late 60s, Corea has been a major influence for big band composers throughout his extraordinary career. In addition, his jazz standards such as ‘Spain’ and ‘500 mile high’ have been arranged for Big Band and piano, with the former being a staple in current Big Band repertoires around the world. At the age of 78 he is still wowing audiences with his jazz improvisations and sold-out concerts. Having not played in the UK since 2015, this is sure to be a very special set from one of Jazz’s living legends.
You can catch Chick Corea and his Spanish Heart Band on Saturday at 6:45pm at The Big Top.
Snarky Puppy
Although the so called “Empress of Soul” in Gladys Knight is headlining the main stage on Saturday night, I will instead be checking out the headliners at The Big Top in the shape of Grammy award winning instrumental ensemble Snarky Puppy. Led by bassist Michael League and hailing from Brooklyn, New York, these guys still produce some of the most exciting instrumental albums in music today and with a lineup that continuously rotates with every performance, it always feels fresh and never gets dull. Returning to Love Supreme for the third time in the conjunct with the release of Immigrance (their 11th studio album!), League and Co. are expected to get the crowd grooving and whooping with their infectious onstage chemistry, their ear-worm instrumental melodies, and some irresistible improvisation solos. I can’t highly recommend this group enough!
Don’t miss Snarky Puppy when they perform at The Big Top on Saturday at 8:45pm.
The Cinematic Orchestra
Another Jazz ensemble who precede Saturday’s headliner, The Cinematic Orchestra have had a 12-year hiatus since their third studio album Ma Fleur which featured their most recognisable track to date, ‘To Build a Home’ featuring Patrick Watson. This unique music group fronted by electronic artist Jason Swincoe return with their fifth studio album To Believe and have just completed three nights at The Roundhouse in Camden in prep for this. Combining live band with electronic elements such as samples created by Swincoe, they still defy category and convention with their music, so don’t expect the ordinary with their set.
Be sure to check out The Cinematic Orchestra at 7:30pm on the Main Stage on Saturday.
Jamie Cullum
Having headlined Love Supreme in 2014, jazz-pop singer Jamie Cullum returns to the festival and precedes Sunday night’s headliner. With his recently released album Taller, Cullum provides a mix of original compositions and covers of old numbers that I’m certain will go down well with the festival crowd and, although he doesn’t have the chart success which he had in the early 00s, he still is a very likeable and charismatic singer who will draw a large audience before the main headliner of the weekend.
Jamie Cullum will be on the Main Stage at 6:30pm on Sunday night.
Ms. Lauryn Hill
If you have already booked your tickets for this year’s festival, it will be highly likely that Sunday night’s headline act in the shape of legendary RnB singer Ms. Lauryn Hill would have been a big draw. Performing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury next Friday, along with headlining Boomtown later in August, Hill is having a remarkable comeback world tour in celebration of her universally acclaimed, influential (and only) album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill being over 20 years old. With a scheduled 2hr set that is bound to feature hit singles and some rumoured new material, there is an almost certain guarantee that Love Supreme 2019 will go out with a bang with a career-defining set from one of RnB’s sorely missed talents.
Head towards Main Stage to see Ms. Lauryn Hill on Sunday night at 8:45pm.
