Photograph of Tomorrow’s Warriors Frontline by Dave Fuller

BRICK LANE JAZZ FESTIVAL - Saturday 26th April 2025.

ISOBELLA BURNHAM @ Signature Brew
(3.5 stars)
Isobella Burnham – bass guitar and vocals

I wasn’t familiar with 26-year-old, Barbadian-born Isobella Burnham before this festival, so I’d listened to some of her music while planning my gigs for the day. Her debut EP “Dancin’ Garuda” released in 2021 features Sheila Morris-Grey (trumpet), Nathaniel Cross (trombone), Tom Ford (guitar), Lorenzo Okello-Osengor (piano) and Benjamin Appiah (drums) and it was definitely something I wanted to check out live.

I must admit, I was a bit disappointed when I arrived at the venue to see it set up for a solo set, but intrigued to see how the performance would play out. I’d noticed the vocal mics were set quite low and the stage area wasn’t raised, so when she appeared, sporting a tall hat, it was difficult to see much more than the hat through the people stood in front of me. There were a few people standing nearby that seemed quite indifferent to the music and talked the whole way through, so it was difficult to hear all the announcements. I was unable to catch Isobella after the gig and my attempt to follow up with her since has not been successful, so this review is based on what I could gather.

The set opened with “Foam Under the Bridge”, the title track from her 2023 EP, performed as a stripped-back bass solo with vocals harmonising with the bass. She explained after playing that the title was a reference to a technique used to dampen the strings on the bass guitar to reduce sustain, by placing a foam pad under the strings at the bridge, apparently used a lot in the classic Motown recordings.

For “Roam The World” from the same EP, Isobella deployed a loop pedal to set a gentle groove and got the crowd finger-snapping as she filled in the melody on the fat end of the bass neck and harmonised with a beautifully soulful voice. There was also some unison scat vocal and bass guitar melody, in the style made popular by George Benson that I’ve also seen Rosie Frater-Taylor use to great effect.

I didn’t catch the titles of the other pieces played, but there was one of note that had a catchy Latin vibe that included an adept solo up in the high notes. It was clear from the start Isobella really enjoys interacting with the crowd, at one point having us join in with a chorus and she remarkably ended the set with a song improvised around three random words provided by the audience – “always”, “coffee” and “concrete”.

I’m not a huge fan of solo gigs as I prefer to see musicians interacting during a performance. They also feel more casual than band performances, which may be a contributing factor to the number of conversations in the audience that persisted throughout the entire performance. However, Isobella is no doubt an accomplished artist, a creative writer and an engaging performer. Her lyrics explore contemporary topics of identity and the experience of young adulthood in the world today. I really
enjoyed the “Dancin Garuda” EP and I will be looking out for future gigs where she is performing with a band, as I’m sure they will be quite special!

TOMORROW’S WARRIORS FRONTLINE @ Brick Lane Tap Room
(4 stars)

Klara Devlin – trumpet
Hannah Clifton – trumpet
Mali Sheard – alto sax
Ciara Osuagwu – tenor sax
Keira Chakraborty – flute
Tami Adebanjo – guitar
Kezia Abuoma – piano
Holly Reinhardt – double bass
Miranda Radford – drums

The Brick Lane Tap Room is the only free entry venue of the Brick Lane Jazz Festival, taken over by Tomorrow’s Warriors each year to showcase the incredible young musicians coming through their inclusive artist development program that has been breaking down economic and social barriers for decades.

The all-female Frontline band features artists selected for their outstanding achievements through the programme. I saw Frontline at this festival in previous years but it’s a big band with many names to remember! I was most familiar with Miranda Radford and Klara Devlin (BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024 finalist), who performed with Miranda’s quartet for Music Spoken Here in February, and I’d also seen Kezia Abuoma the following day in Birmingham, with her quartet that also featured Miranda on drums.

The band kicked off proceedings with “Tomorrow’s Destiny”, a lively opener written by Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw and a poignant title for this band, as will become apparent shortly. Ciara took the first solo confidently on tenor sax, followed by a strong and fluid trumpet solo from Klara, occasionally accented by Miranda on the kit. Kezia took the next solo on piano, noticeably concentrating on the sheet music, but also vocalising in unison as the solo developed. The band then returned to the head before an exciting feature from Miranda to close out.

“The Queen’s Arrival”, an original piece written by Mali Sheard and Keira Chakraborty, was introduced by Holly with a bass solo that developed into a motif reminiscent of the “I’ll never go back to Georgia” chant that introduces Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca” recordings. Co-writer Mali took the first tunefully expressive solo on alto sax followed by Hannah, playing more at the lower end of the trumpet’s register in comparison to Klara’s playing. Tami also featured on electric guitar, with the occasional wobble of the tremolo arm for dynamic variation.

Bass, piano and drums set up the Latin groove of “Deliverer”, an original written by Kezia and featured her, this time more lost in the music, barely looking at the paperwork. Hannah, Ciara and Mali were also featured in turn, each delivering in their own emerging styles.

“Reaching Out” was introduced with a strong statement on trumpet from the composer Klara Devlin, who was then joined by Holly, ushering in a swinging tune on bass. Klara’s thoughtful solo was creative both melodically and rhythmically, followed by Keira’s brilliant first excursion on flute. It was then Holly’s turn, who scuttled with excitement up and down the neck of her bass as the band returned to close out with a crescendo finish from Miranda! A totally thrilling ride!

The last piece was a cover of Bheki Mseleku’s “Timelessness”, with Mali taking the first solo on alto featuring a fantastic staccato run. Miranda turned up the excitement on the drums as Keira stepped up again with another delightful expression on the flute, accompanied by just Holly’s bass before Miranda interjected with a slam on the snare snapping Kezia and Tami back in for some chordal support. This was followed by another blistering solo from Klara, demonstrating her rightful place as finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician awards last year before the baton was passed to Kezia for the final solo of the set. The full band returned to the head with those
beautiful horns bringing the show to a proper swinging conclusion. Magnificent!

I’d seen an announcement online last week online that Frontline is being renamed to Ankora, which was also hinted at as the band were introduced at the beginning by Rohit from Tomorrow’s Warriors. After this stunning performance, the band explained the progression as “flying the nest” of Tomorrow’s Warriors and developing as their own entity, with of course the continued support of this incredible organisation. It revisits my earlier comment on the poignant title of the opening tune “Tomorrow’s Destiny” – Tomorrow’s Warriors exist to develop artists that would not otherwise have the opportunity, so they are ready to emerge into the world confident and prepared. Alumni include Nubya Garcia, Camilla George, Zara McFarlane, Shabaka Hutchings and Ezra Collective. I am certain that every one of these young women have exciting and notable careers ahead of them and I’m going to enjoy watching that unfold, through Ankora and individually, for as long as I’m around.

ILL CONSIDERED @ 91 Living Room
(4 stars)

Idris Rahman – tenor sax
Liran Donin – bass guitar
Emre Ramazonoglu – drums

This gig was a total punt. I’d not encountered Ill Considered before and I knew nothing of their music or any of the three musicians. But if it was on the Jazz Re:freshed stage, it was likely to be a safe bet.

Introducing the band, Jazz Re:freshed co-founder Adam Moses recalled their previous performance for the club years ago (when it ran at Mau Mau in Portobello Road), where “sweat was dripping from the roof”, declaring he wanted to see everyone dancing tonight!

It was something quite special, in that it consisted of an entirely improvised set, the first piece lasting well over half an hour. The experience started with ethereal, echoing sax tones through various effects from Idris, as Liran settled in with a bass riff on the high notes (he spent a lot of time at the fat end of the neck throughout the performance). We were eased into the proceedings, but the energy soon began to build as Emre started getting agitated on the drums. The piece was then set loose, at times Idris blowing cool, repetitive phrases, then ascending into some kind of spiritual fervour as the sax wailed and screamed, occasionally stooping over his effects board for extended periods to make precise adjustments while continuing to blow.

Idris made use of all the space on stage, frequently heading over to goad Emre on the drums before returning to his spot for more animated excursions into noisy rapture! I’ve no idea where Emre summoned the energy from to keep everything moving along on the drums, drifting in and out of busy dance rhythms interspersed with disruptive outbursts as the crowd tried to keep up, the room a sea of bouncing torsos and nodding heads.

Liran for the most part kept everything rooted with simple, repetitive grooves but would occasionally get wrapped up in it all, at one point frenetically thumb-strumming his bass as if to induce some kind of orgasmic release from the thing! After some 25 minutes, there was a noticeable respite, but still no pause, as Idris blew mellow tones over a trance-like groove before switching to a wooden flute, eventually bringing the piece to a close several minutes later.

There was a brief pause to introduce the band members before they got back on the train and ploughed through another two shorter but equally diverse and animated performances.

This was certainly at the extreme end of freely improvised music, music that takes some commitment on the part of the audience, but apart from a few departures early on, the room was full of people who got behind it and soaked it up. It was very similar to my experience of live performances by The Plague Doctors Cure All, a quartet headed up by Welsh saxophonist Lyndon Owen, who appeared on our Music Spoken Here program at The Marr’s Bar, Worcester in February last year. On reflection, the addition of guitar in the Plague Doctors line-up provides a dimension of tonal depth and diversity that was perhaps lacking in the Ill Considered performance (trios notoriously make everyone work harder, and for a long improvised set the demands are even higher). Nonetheless, this was an outstanding example of what can happen when three adventurous and accomplished artists get together in a space and time to create something new before a live audience.

As Adam Moses pointed out in the closing announcements, Ill Considered have a ton of recordings, mostly freely improvised like this performance, which can be found on Bandcamp.
https://illconsidered.bandcamp.com/album/ill-considered.

DAVE FULLER

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