The Liège International Jazz Festival is currently taking place for the 33rd time in the old city of Liège. What is so great is that the festival has managed to maintain its extremely sympathetic image all these years. The official program, which takes place in the most beautiful theaters in the old city center of Liège, all of which are within walking distance of each other, has a ‘spontaneous’ counterpart in which operators of catering establishments in the old city center have also started programming jazz around the festival. It has now become self-evident for jazz lovers. In the spring, Liège is the place to be, whether you want to admire the biggest names in international jazz or get to know breathtaking new acts. Uhoda Jazz Liège has it all.
Maxazine, which also visited Uhoda Jazz last year, was in the old city center of Liège for the first time on Friday this year. The program was packed with acts that we all wanted to see, but even with smart planning the jazz hunger could not be completely satisfied. A luxury that we like to take for granted.
Robin Verheyen Trio
The evening started with a performance by the Robin Verheyen Trio, who presented their latest album ‘Zabonpres Sessions’ to the public in the new location added to the festival, the Regina Club at the festival headquarters. What is striking is that there is never enough audience at a Verheyen performance. Even though the saxophonist from Turnhout already has a lot to his name, including the new album, which is once again excellent, people are not standing in lines of hundreds at the door, and that is a shame, because it will not be due to the music . While last year’s ‘Playing the Room’ was breathtakingly beautiful, the new trio album, which is a live recording, once again shows how good Verheyen is. Work from the new album also came into the spotlight in Liège. Everyone should listen to ‘Roscopaje’, more than worth it and jazz at its finest. Unfortunately, the self-imposed schedule forced me to perhaps the most beautiful venue in Liège, ‘Le Forum’, just two steps away, where the sold-out performance of Snarky Puppy was on the agenda.
Snarky Puppy
The arrival of Snarky Puppy in Liège led to a long line of people wanting to enter ‘Le Forum’, the beautiful art-deco theater in the center of the old town. When the Texans come, it’s sold out everywhere. With no fewer than five Grammy Awards in their pocket and their latest album ‘Empire Central’ to promote, the Puppies played their last concert of the European part of their tour in Liège.
The band kicked off with four pieces from their latest album. ‘Keep it on your Mind’ represents the sound of Snarky Puppy well. It is certainly jazz, supplemented with a nice mix of the best of American music culture, with a good dash of world music mixed in. The hall sound was of top quality. When percussionist Nate Werth moved his woodblocks from the left to the right microphone, you could hear them going from left to right in the hall. Such a wonderful detail. The same applied to the brass and woodwinds, which added great color to the band’s overall sound.
The nine Puppies played a perfect set led by band leader Michael League. Pure music in service of the whole. You won’t hear League playing excessive bass solos. With its Puppies, League seems to have remembered what the great Miles Davis once said about jazz: “Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.”
One of the highlights of the set was ‘Grown Folks’. A quintessential Snarky Puppy piece if ever one could go for that title. Fine melodies stewed in a hearty casserole of steaming grooves.
During the set, room was made for solo pieces from almost all players in this musical baseball team of nine top musicians. Drummer Larnell Lewis and Bobby Sparks II on keyboards in particular got the audience in their seats. It was nice to see how Michael League himself was enjoying himself as the pitcher in his baseball team. The set should have lasted hours, but unfortunately at a festival the length of the set is fixed. People have to move on. Snarky Puppy in Liège met all expectations and more.
Makaya McCraven
The evening ended with a performance by Makaya McCraven in the Reflektor. Makaya McCraven brought a compelling evening full of musical discoveries to the Reflektor in Liège. McCraven, a talented jazz drummer and composer, took center stage during this unique performance, with his idiosyncratic blend of jazz, folk, hip-hop and other genres enchanting the audience. The stage was shared with talented musicians: Anisha Rush on saxophone, Matt Gold on guitar and Junius Paul on bass. Their interplay was stunning, with Rush shining in her improvisations and Paul impressing with his raw, unapologetic bass sound.
McCraven’s repertoire drew mainly from his last album ‘These Times’, albeit in a more subdued, electronics-free version. Songs such as ‘Seventh String’ and ‘This Place, That Place’ were beautifully performed, with the musicians effortlessly maintaining the tension and taking the audience on a musical journey. A worthy ending to this Liège jazz evening
Photo by Urko Dorronsoro is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
