London Jazz Festival 2023 - Day 1

From 10-19 November, the 2023 London Jazz Festival hosted over 400 shows featuring 2000 artists from around the globe performing in more than 60 venues across the capital - and we were booked in to see just two of those performances: bassist Ron Carter at Cadogan Hall in the heart of Chelsea and, the following day, drummer / pianist / composer Tyshawn Sorey at Kings Place, just a few hundred yards from St Pancras.

Our initial plan - to travel down on each of the two successive days was vetoed fairly quickly - this would have involved getting home at ~02.00 from the first gig and then leaving the house to return to London some 14 hours later for the second - with a similarly late return home.  We might have managed that 20 years ago, but today - not so much...

Hotels were investigated and it was quickly determined that the Festival - and presumably pre-Christmas shopping - had inflated normally acceptable rates into the "ouch" category.  After some further thought we decided that, instead of biting the bullet and paying out an exorbitant amount for two nights in a mid-level hotel, we would use all the British Airways Avios points we had been collecting assiduously for the last few years and spend a somewhat less exorbitant amount on two nights in a fancier hotel.  

Bookings were made, bags were packed and we were off.

A straightforward run to St Pancras, arriving at 14.30.  A five minute walk to our lodgings for the next two nights:

This will do nicely:

After settling in, across the road for a hot drink and a snack, and then back to the hotel to change and prepare for our evening out.

A 15-minute walk in very light drizzle to the Warren Street branch of Honest Burgers.

For my dining companion, an Honest Burger (beef burger, smoked bacon, cheddar, lettuce and pickles, hold the red onion relish).

For me - something I had been looking forward to trying - a Warren Street Burger - supposedly inspired by the West End’s Korean shops, restaurants and karaoke bars - and consisting of a beef burger with bulgogi BBQ bacon, American cheese, gochujang burger sauce, kimchi, nigella seeds and lettuce.  

I have to say that this went immediately to the top of my list of recently experienced burgers (so much so that after our visit we acquired both gochujang sauce and kimchi, so I could try to recreate it at home). 

Out, and a short walk to Warren Street tube station, from where we travelled to Sloane Square.  A stroll around the Square, checking out local eateries for future visits, and then to Cadogan Hall:

Coats checked, drinks consumed and we found our seats and took the obligatory selfie.

The view from our seats.

It was at this point that the entire evening could so very easily have headed south. In the last ten minutes before the concert was due to start, immediately across the aisle from me, and uncomfortably within my peripheral vision, I noticed a woman setting up an A3 drawing / sketching board, complete with two battery-powered lamps on flexible stalks, on her lap.

As the house lights came down and the compere started the introductory remarks I crossed the aisle and said "You're NOT planning to have those lights on during the performance ARE you?". " Err - I can do without them". "Please do".

We were here to see 86-year-old bassist Ron Carter.  In the mid 1960s, Carter was a member of the second great Miles Davis Quintet and this alone would have been sufficient reason to make the effort to see him.  However, on top of that, in a career spanning 60-odd years, Carter has accumulated 2200+ recordings to his name, as either leader or sideman and is without peer.

Maestro:

On drums: Payton Crossley:

On tenor sax, Jimmy Green:

On piano, Canadian Renee Rosnes:

A fantastic concert. The setlist:

• 595
• Mr. Bow Tie
• Flamenco Sketches
• Seven Steps to Heaven
• Joshua
• My Funny Valentine
• You Are My Sunshine
• You and the Night and the Music

Out, and a brisk walk to the Underground, which took us back to St Pancras.

The Christmas 2023 'tree', created in collaboration with Hatchards, was this 12m  tall wonder, featuring a winding staircase and 270 shelves adorned with 3800+ hand-painted books, including "A Christmas Carol" and "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe".

At the bottom of tree are eight nooks where visitors, like this old geezer, can immerse themselves in the magic of Christmas, both figuratively and literally. Each nook is equipped with speakers through which one can hear five-minute excerpts from audiobooks based on the works of Charles Dickens, Beatrix Potter, Zadie Smith, and more.

Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.