What a year it’s been for London’s young jazz scene, globally touted for its collaborative spirit and genre-blurring ingenuity. What a year, too, for singer Zara McFarlane, whose relentless touring on the back of third album Arise — a jazz-minded exploration of her Afro-Caribbean roots — has honed a live act that is, on this final tour date, A-list worthy.
A five-piece band including pianist/musical director Peter Edwards and tenor saxophonist Binker Golding, all gutsy tones and popping harmonics, were given space to stretch out while McFarlane, in Christmas sequins, grinned and marvelled.
Freedom Chain, one of a clutch of originals, featured promising young sax player Kaidi Akinnibi. The slow-burning City Nocturne by drummer/Arise producer Moses Boyd, who was in the crowd, had a raw, lo-fi melancholy.
McFarlane’s voice, however, was the star, particularly when lending gravitas to Nina Simone’s Plain Gold Ring, or soaring through Allies or Enemies. A new track, East of the River, echoed the potent dub reggae of Fussin’ and Fightin’ and Junior Murvin’s Police and Thieves; Aretha Franklin’s A Natural Woman, one of two encores, was heartfelt, uplifting — and world-class.
