For reasons beyond our control, the José James concert has been cancelled. The evening will go ahead with Madison McFerrin and Keziah Jones.
José James has more than 12 albums to his name, all of which have won rave reviews from a motley crew of jazz and hip-hop fans. And that’s normal! James has always modernised, innovated and broken the mould, while paying tribute to classics such as Billie Holiday and John Coltrane and contemporaries like Erykah Badu. In 2023, he devoted an album to her entitled On & On. In 2024, the other Kid from Minneapolis returned with 1978, a highly personal album that put his loves and revolts into words. Produced on his own Rainbow Blonde Records label, José has just unveiled 38th and Chicago, which refers to the crossroads in José James’s hometown of Minneapolis where George Floyd was tragically murdered in 2020. – It’s close,” explains James, “too close. I grew up a few blocks away and played my first gig on the street, in Powderhorn Park. I’ve walked past that shop a million times, it could have been me.”
Photo credit © DR