‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – ‘LOVE SUPREME’, GLYNDE PLACE, GLYNDE 5.7.24
Europe’s biggest outdoor jazz festival ‘Love Supreme’ returned to the beautiful countryside setting of Glynde Place in the South Downs from 5th to 7th July.
The annual three-day Love Supreme Jazz Festival highlights the best of Jazz, Funk, Soul and Blues.
This year’s event included headline shows from Olivia Dean, the legendary Dionne Warwick, and the equally legendary Chaka Khan. Also on the line-up for the acclaimed three-day festival were UK artists, Funk Soul Brothers, Mahalia, Joel Culpepper, Joss Stone, Galliano and Alice Russell.
Other artists such Kool and the Gang, Black Pumas, Noname, Hiromi, Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Balimaya Project and Cecile McLorin Salvant to name a few, arrived from different parts of the world adding a global perspective to the festival.
There were too many acts to cover in just one article, so we have split them up in date order. This article refers to artists who were covered only on Friday 5th July. Part 2 on the acts that performed on Saturday 6th July can be found HERE and Part 3 on the acts that performed on Sunday 7th July can be found HERE.
‘Love Supreme’, as more than one artist said this past weekend has become an iconic event in the music calendar attracting music legends including the likes of Grace Jones, Erykah Badu, Sister Sledge and Shalimar. This year was no exception with the legendary Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan who is celebrating her fiftieth year in music, a milestone seldom contemplated, let alone celebrated.
You don’t need to be a fan of Jazz to revel in ‘Love Supreme’, there is so much musical choice, and indeed so many different forms of Jazz to be had in general that there is no need to be fully appraised of the oft-lampooned and maligned form of music, which alongside Blues underpins most modern music, yes even Punk can trace some lineage to Jazz and or Blues, but I am not here to convince you of the validity of Jazz, there are many better placed and more learned than I do to that.
I am reporting back from 2024’s ‘Love Supreme’s line-up, which was groaning with the finest of current musical choices from the UK and across the globe, some steeped in old school Jazz, some playing with the genre and some who are rightly considered to be legends of all genres of music, not just Jazz. There was something for everyone no matter their taste.
Friday 5th July:
JAMES BRANDON LEWIS
SUPREME STANDARDS STAGE 8:30pm – 9:30pm
We luckily made it on site slightly earlier than expected, having whizzed up from Fink’s instore performance at Resident in Brighton (Review HERE).
On arrival, at Glynde Place we managed to catch some of the set from tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and his quartet.
Now I won’t lie I am a sucker for a saxophone and even started to learn alto myself for a while there. As such I have nothing but admiration for a sax player. It takes some mighty lungs, (which sadly don’t possess) and breath control to get the best out of the instrument. Sax isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I was keen to experience what James Brandon Lewis and his quartet would do with the instrument before we had to leave for Mahalia’s set across the site.
The American Jazz composer and saxophonist plays tenor sax, a more rounded, earthy, atmospheric and evocative sound at its lower end, but almost abrasive and strained at the higher end. It’s the sound most people associate with ‘traditional jazz’. For those not used to a ‘harder’ jazz sound the occasionally discordant, experimental and ‘modern’ jazz set from James Brandon Lewis could be a little too much to ease into the weekend. But for those who LOVE a little experimental, ‘punk’ style Jazz the set was a real treat.
His latest and fourth album, ‘Transfigurations‘ was released earlier this year. Featuring eight tracks of thundering experimental Jazz the album, like his set, could come across as meandering or ponderous. During the set, the songs seemed to merge seamlessly into each other. Piano, drums, bass, and of course sax parried with each other sonically sometimes cordially, others confrontationally. It was exciting to witness such a talented group play with the genre and experiment in front of us. I would have loved to see more of the set, but the South Downs stage beckoned.
MAHALIA
SOUTH DOWNS STAGE 9:00pm – 10:00pm
To say that the Twenty-six-year-old Mahalia (aka Mahalia Burkmar), is currently enjoying a moment of popularity is a slight understatement. The artist is what is known as a ‘triple threat’. She’s a singer, songwriter and actress, (she more than proved she can dance as well during her set). The crowd went wild when the performer took the stage. Teenage girls ran to the front when the opening bars of the performers’ familiar sounds drifted throughout the tent.
Grinning from ear to ear, Mahalia greeted the crowd “Cheers, Hi!” The brief interaction resulted in yet more screams, as did the end of every subsequent song throughout the set. As the initial song continued the screams from within the tent lurred a larger and larger crowd from other stages. The demographic of the audience was wide-ranging. Families sang along to her hits as did groups of teen girls, the odd stray middle-aged gentleman and everything and everyone in between, it was all a bit much to take in given the unexpected speed at which the tent went from moderately full to fit bursting.
At the end of the first track the artist took the opportunity to greet the audience properly, “Hello everybody! My name is Mahalia. I want to explain how this feels. Last time I was here was a year ago…”. Her words were drowned out by the screams of the audience, but I gather she was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the audience, how far she had come since the last time she had performed at ‘Love Supreme’ and the success that had ensued.
The next clear interaction I picked up was, “I’m a Leicester girl and I am a chatty Cathy”, as she signalled that she would interact frequently with her adoring fans.
She also confirmed that her set would be a mix of all the material that she has released to date during her nine-year career. She confirmed that this would include EPs as well as singles and albums much to the audience’s obvious joy.
“This one’s about how I am a bit of a ‘love girl’, it’s called ‘Plastic Plants’”. A particular highlight during this song was a mum signing along word perfect as her partner and daughters entered into a call-and-response family rendition of the track near us. Far from being annoying, it was an endearing bonding moment for the family concerned who were all smiles and hugs, singing rather tunefully as a group.
After this track, Mahalia excitedly informed the audience that her Mum and Dad could be found among them, “Hi Mum and Dad!” She continued, “I cannot explain how much I love this festival! This time I won’t hold back, we’ve got such a tight band!”. Cue more screams from the audience, “You’re very lovely, aren’t you?!”, she continued as soon as the crowd had quietened a little, “The next one is the title track…”, again her words evaporated into the crowd’s screams before I could decipher them.
This exuberant honesty and likability are I think the key to her cross generational appeal. That and the down-to-earth relatability of her songs and their subject matter. The combination draws cuts across all ages, brings them together to enjoy a young artist currently experiencing a well-earned upsurge in popularity and success, long may it last.
From day one we knew that it was going to be impossible to cover all of the musical talent on offer over the weekend. With three main stages, North Downs, South Downs and Supreme Standards and an additional seven smaller stages including, One Jazz x Jazz in the Round, Blue in The Green, New Generation Jazz, Jazz Lounge with one Jazz, Bands and Voices, and South Supremium we decided to sting mostly to the main stages and bands only. While these decisions meant that we missed out on covering many of the smaller and newer acts we did find some absolute gems throughout the three-day festival.
‘Love Supreme’ will be returning to Glynde on Friday 4th to Sunday 6th July 2025. You can find more information HERE.
