A Decent Proposal: The Portobello Nu-Jazz One Night Affair
Leroy Burgess headlining Portobello Nu Jazz – One Night Affair
Catch a Vibe caught up with Portobello Nu-Jazz Festival organiser, Leroy Smith, ahead of this year’s edition, which has exceptionally shrunk into a one-night-only but still very promising event.
CAV: You’re the director of Direct Drive TV, the company behind the event. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the company?
Leroy Smith: I studied music and have been in bands since the 80s. I worked in fashion before moving on to the music business and setting up my own company in 2002. I wanted to bring together DJs from around the world. Then, in 2007, I decided to broadcast TV online to encourage artists to play live on the website.
CAV: How did the whole idea of the Portobello Nu-Jazz Festival happen?
Leroy Smith: We wanted to promote acts by making them play live so we launched the festival in 2007 on Portobello Green. It was a free event which took place over three days and featured artists such as Thabani, Heidi Vogel and Xan Blacq.
CAV: But it’s only taking place for one day this year for budget reasons…
Leroy Smith: Yes, but it will be back to three days next year. This is why this edition is called ‘Portobello Nu-Jazz One Night Affair’. It will feature live music and DJs, and moving imagery will be displayed as artists are performing.
CAV: You’re extending the ‘Nu-Jazz One Night Affair’ concept to other cities as well…
Leroy Smith: That’s right: a colleague is going to help me organise similar nights elsewhere, including in Manchester, Leeds, Brighton and even abroad. We’re thinking about Paris first, because there’s a lot happening there and we could probably do something with Nu-Jazz Spirit.
CAV: How would you describe nu-jazz to people who don’t know much about it?
Leroy Smith: It is jazz mixed with funk, hip-hop… or any kind of Black music you can think of-with any kind of beat too. Unlike old school jazz it covers all genres of music today. Actually [singer] Leroy Burgess explains it perfectly well on the website [directdrive.tv].
CAV: Leroy Burgess is in fact part of this year’s lineup together with The Sunburst Band. Would you say that they represent nu-jazz well?
Leroy Smith: Actually there will also be some special surprise guests! … About The Sunburst Band, they mix jazz and funk, and Leroy Burgess is old school but many people have taken samples of his work, and that’s actually what I’m trying to do at the moment: mixing old school and new school. And that’s the overall purpose of the whole night…
The Nu-Jazz One Night Affair is taking place, on September 25th at The Tabernacle, in Notting Hill.
Tickets cost £ 22.00 (plus booking fee), on sale now
Portobello Nu Jazz official website
Let’s hope he had better luck than in 2009, where he didn’t even pay the musicians for their 3 days hard rehearsing and gig with Leroy Burgess. Shame on the organizer!