Award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch performed an exclusive preview of his new album, which explores a 100-year history of racial conflict since the end of the First World War, at a free concert in Bunhill last weekend.
Kinch played extracts from The Black Peril, ahead of its debut at the London Jazz Festival this week.
The performance at LSO St Lukes, home of the London Symphony Orchestra, was free, to encourage residents across the Islington community to come.
Speaking to Islington Now, Kinch said: “It is incredibly important that the performance is in as accessible a venue as possible. I think it’s particularly important for jazz to be seen and heard in working class and black communities.”
“Islington’s been at the cusp of different waves of migration and gentrification over recent decades. It’s often unfairly characterised as the haunt of middle class champagne socialists – masking the realities of in-work poverty, homelessness and massive inequality,” he said.
“Telling this story is not just a black subject – but one of British history”, the Mercury Prize nominee said.
Kinch, who has won two UMA Awards and a MOBO for best jazz act, felt that the work had particular relevance for the Islington community: “I’ll never forget my saxophone was stolen outside Sadler’s Wells!” he added.
LSO St Lukes hosts a number of free events, and said they were “delighted” to be actively engaged in the local community.
“We are very proud of our location in the heart of the Islington community, and are very keen to provide audiences with experiences of music from a range of different styles and cultures,” a spokesperson said.
‘The Black Peril’ will debut at EartH on Friday 22 November as part of the London Jazz Festival.
