7:30 PM: bodies (BE)
Alejandra Borzyk brings together exceptional musicians from the international jazz scene in Bodies. The result is a Brussels ensemble experimenting with saxophone and synthesizers. Their diverse backgrounds result in an unusual mix of influences: the vibrant live electronic music scene in Brussels, London’s stylistic diversity, and free improvisation from the US. You can hear traces of Bendik Giske’s minimalism as well.
 
bodies has previously performed in AB as part of the premiere of the compilation Jazz Cats 3, compiled by Lefto. Lefto: “This compilation is dedicated to the young and hardworking musicians who are the present and the future of Belgium's jazz scene”. bodies was in the nice company of Azmari and Ciao Kennedy and immediately made an impression.

8:45 PM: NUBYA GARCIA (UK)
Nubya Garcia about her first visit to AB in 2018: “One of my favourite concert venues is in Belgium. I played one of my best shows abroad there. The demand for jazz was already increasing in London, I had no idea what the reaction would be like overseas. But that night at AB you all turned up in droves – it was as if London was suddenly in the heart of Belgium. I’ll never forget that warm welcome.”
 
Three times lucky! Nubya Garcia’s first visit to AB dates from 2018 during the launch of We Out Here: the genre-defying compilation containing the crème de la crème of London’s jazz scene, curated by BBC Radio 6-guru Gilles Peterson. In 2019, she was part of the all-female supergroup Nérija (also including members of KOKOROKO) during our summer festival Feeërieën.
 
Time for her biggest visit in her own right so far. Her debut Source (2020) was Best New Music on Pitchfork, Album of the Month in Rolling Stone and was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize in her homeland. Khruangbin then took her on tour across the US. Time for a new chapter: follow-up album Odyssey features a delicious mix of jazz, classical, dub, broken beat and R&B.
 
Do we all pledge together to give her another warm welcome?

Concertpictures ©Willem Mevis