Photograph of Chad Lefkowitz-Brown by Pam Mann

EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025

DAY ONE, FRIDAY 14th NOVEMBER 2025

The first day of my annual visit to the EFG London Jazz Festival found me investigating the music of two very different New York based tenor saxophonists at two of London’s premier jazz clubs.

Tomoki Sanders, who led his quartet at Ronnie Scott’s, is the child of the late, great Pharoah Sanders (1940-2022) a legend of both the spiritual jazz and fee jazz movements. Tomoki draws on Pharoah’s legacy, updating the music for the 21st century by adding rock and hip hop elements and drawing on contemporary musical and technological developments.

By way of contrast Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, commonly known as Chad LB is a defiantly ‘old school’ player rooted in the mainstream and bebop traditions. He appeared at the Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club in Kennington, accompanied by a London based trio led by pianist Matyas Gayer.

TOMOKI SANDERS QUARTET, RONNIE SCOTT’S

Tomoki Sanders – tenor saxophone, drums, percussion, keyboards, vocals, Ian Fink – piano, keyboards, Keyanna Hutchinson – electric guitar, Christian Napoleon – drums, percussion

Aged thirty one Sanders is based in Brooklyn and prefers to use the pronouns they / them. Tonight’s date represented the last event of their first European tour as a leader and this London date was in part facilitated by Tomoki’s links with Gilles Peterson and his Brownswood organisation.

Tomoki is due to release their debut album in 2026 and tonight’s set included a mix of original compositions written for the forthcoming recording, plus a smattering of jazz classics composed by artists such as Geri Allen, Alice Coltrane and, of course, Pharoah Sanders.

Tomoki is more than just a saxophonist and composer, they are a genuine multi-instrumentalist and tonight’s performance began with Tomoki at the drum kit for an extended percussive work out, before eventually handing over to regular drummer Christian Napoleon.

Tomoki then took up the tenor as the band played the original composition “The Third Eye”,  a tune written during the isolation of the Covid era. This represented an updating of the spiritual jazz tradition with Tomoki’s playing during the course of a marathon solo exhibiting something of a North African / Middle Eastern influence and also an element of the rawness and intensity that once typified Pharoah’s output. Tomoki then played additional keyboards during the course of a fluent and inventive guitar solo by Hutchinson that exhibited a readily discernible rock influence.

Arpeggiated guitar introduced “Virtual Warrior”, a second Tomoki original, with the composer stating the theme on tenor and taking the first solo. A freely structured passage featuring the spacey sounds of guitar and keyboards paved the way for an extended drum feature from the hyper-active Napoleon, who also deployed a wide variety of small percussive devices.

Tomoki is eager to champion the work of female composer and the next item proved to be “Unconditional Love”, written by the late pianist Geri Allen (1957-2017). Introduced by Fink at the keyboard and with Tomoki playing percussion in the tune’s early stages, this was ostensibly a ballad but nevertheless the music became increasingly forceful once Tomoki had switched to tenor for an emotive and expansive solo. Fink was then featured on acoustic piano for a lyrical and unhurried solo as Napoleon switched back to brushes. Fink’s solo was augmented by Tomoki on additional keyboards. Hutchinson’s melodic guitar solo was followed by a drum feature from Napoleon, with Tomoki now assisting on various percussive devices.

Continuing the female composer theme we next heard Alice Coltrane’s “Blue Nile”, a piece from her 1970 album “Ptah, The El Daoud”, a recording upon which Pharoah Sanders played. Tomoki offered a contemporary take on the tune in an arrangement featuring the sounds of electric keyboards and clangorous guitar. Tomoki stated the familiar theme and delivered a powerful tenor sax solo, followed by a soaring electric guitar solo from Hutchinson that introduced a pronounced rock influence. Fink’s acoustic piano solo, again augmented by Tomoki on additional keyboards, restored a degree of calm. Tomoki’s closing theme statement was followed by a brushed drum passage that marked the transition into Tomoki’s own composition “Tranquil Memories”, a gentle piece featuring mellifluous sax melodies played above a backdrop of brushed drum grooves and ‘Shaft’ style rhythm guitar. This was a beautiful piece dedicated to the memory of Tomoki’s friend Rodney James and also to the memories of some off the jazz legends that have left us this year, among them Jack DeJohnette.

The final item was unannounced but saw Tomoki and the band upping the energy levels once more with Tomoki’s powerful sax statement followed by a keyboard solo from Fink, whom Tomoki also credited with playing “key bass”. The unobtrusive Fink was very much at the heart of the band’s music and represented a good foil to the ‘showperson’ that is Tomoki Sanders.

A packed Ronnie Scott’s gave the quartet a rousing reception that was very well earned and they returned to play an encore of “The Creator Has A Masterplan”, song written by Pharoah Sanders. This also featured Tomoki on vocals, conducting the audience in a little bit of call and response as we sang along with the “The Power of God, The Power of Love” refrain. He also delivered a stunning passage of unaccompanied tenor sax soloing that demonstrated his phenomenal technique.

This exciting, mostly high energy, gig got my Festival off to a great start and suggested that Tomoki Sanders has the potential to be a major artist in his own right. I’m looking forward to the release of that debut album in 2026.

CHAD LB and the MATYAS GAYER TRIO, TOULOUSE LAUTREC JAZZ CLUB, KENNINGTON

Chad Lefkowitz-Brown – tenor sax, Matyas Gayer – piano, Lorenz Morabito – double bass, Josh Morrison – drums

Chad LB appears regularly at the famous Birdland jazz club in New York City and was in London to play three Festival shows and host a masterclass at Toulouse Lautrec courtesy of a tie up between the two venues.

Chad also tours widely with pop acts, among them Taylor Swift, and is an acclaimed educator but it’s in a jazz club setting where he really comes alive, an energetic and technically gifted player who is also a bit of a ‘showman’.

For his short residency at Toulouse Lautrec Chad was accompanied by a London based rhythm section led by the Hungarian born pianist Matyas Gayer and featuring Italian born bassist Lorenzo Morabito and UK drummer Josh Morrison.

Again playing to a packed house they performed a standards based set that offered Chad the opportunity to demonstrate his prodigious saxophone technique to the max. Not that Gayer and the trio were overwhelmed as they offered excellent, swinging support, while enjoying their own moments in the spotlight.

Following an introduction by Nolan Regent of Toulouse Lautrec Chad announced himself with a towering passage of unaccompanied tenor sax, cutting an imposing figure with his dark, heavy beard and thick three piece woollen suit – it must have been very hot up on that stage! The rest of the band joined in as Chad launched into a high energy version of “Mack The Knife” with Gayer also featuring as a soloist at the keyboard of the venue’s Yamaha grand piano. Chad then soloed more conventionally, his tenor tone big and powerful. The performance also included features for both Morabito and Morrison, the drummer entering into series of fiery and dynamic exchanges with Chad.

The next tune presented a total contrast, this being a performance of the ballad “The Shadow of Your Smile” with Chad adopting a softer tone and Morrison switching to brushes. Solos were shared between Gayer and Chad, the latter concluding the tune with an extended unaccompanied sax cadenza.

Chad removed his jacket as the energy levels suddenly shot up once more with a rendition of Sonny Rollins’ famous jazz calypso “St. Thomas”. Like the opener this was ushered in by an extended passage of unaccompanied tenor sax, with allusions being made to the familiar motif before the rest of the band kicked in. Morabito was again featured as a soloist and Morrison engaged in a lively series of exchanges with Chad and Gayer.

There was no let up with the highly descriptive Dizzy Gillespie tune “Bebop”, another high energy piece that sounded exactly as its title might suggest. Gayer’s piano solo was a truly virtuoso performance while Chad enjoyed squeezing a number of quotes into his buccaneering tenor solo, much of it delivered in sax trio mode, with belligerent sax augmented by Morrison’s volcanic drumming.

Chad dedicated the performance of the old Platters song “Only You” to his wife, who was present in the audience. Presented as a kind of blues ballad this featured brushed drums and a melodic double bass solo before gradually building momentum during the course of Chad’s solo.

An unusual and innovative arrangement of the Gershwins’ “Summertime”, from “Porgy and Bess”,  re-imagined the tune in a New Orleans ‘second line’ style with martial drum rhythms and honking r’n’b style tenor, with solos from Chad and Gayer plus a hard hitting drum feature from Morrison.

The evening concluded with a spirited rendition of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” with the impressive Gayer delivering a percussive and expansive piano solo, this followed by typically powerful offerings from both Chad and Morrison.

The audience were clearly delighted with what they had seen and heard and there was much whooping to be heard at the end of a particularly exciting solo – and there were plenty of those.

It was all a bit too straight-ahead and predictable for my current musical tastes and this wasn’t necessarily music that I’d want to listen to at home but there’s no denying that it was an exciting and highly enjoyable live music experience. Chad’s rumbustious approach to the tenor is always popular with audiences and he’s a genuine virtuoso of this style of playing. Gayer, Morabito and Morrison were similarly excellent and all in all this was an excellent live event.

A glance at Chad’s website suggests that he’s also a composer who has recorded albums of original material, but that was not his remit here.

It was my first visit to Toulouse Lautrec for a number of years and it was good to come back. Nolan Regent and his team are doing a great job n keeping the music alive on the south side of the river. Well done guys!.

 

 

 

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