Bill Laurance: Live at Cadogan Hall

My penultimate gig for the EFG London Jazz Festival was the masterful pianist Bill Laurance at the Cadogan Hall.

Having interviewed Bill in his studio for Harmonious World in May 2024 and reviewed his latest album, Lumen, I knew this was going to be special. Plus, he’s won five Grammy awards. And this gig absolutely fulfilled all my expectations.

Bill’s stage was set with an upright piano (minus the front panel) and a grand piano with the lid up. The acoustics and sound system were simply perfect and the two pianos were used differently throughout to add a variety of textures and touch on both instruments. There are no gimmicks about Bill’s playing, just an honest balance of composition and improvisation that is stunning.

For many of the audience, Bill is familiar as a founding member of Snarky Puppy, but he is a classically-trained pianist and that absolutely informs his solo work, as well as his exemplary duo with Snarky Puppy’s own Michael League. I reviewed their last album Keeping Company here and League was in the audience for this latest outing for Bill as part of the London Jazz Festival.

Chelsea’s Cadogan Hall is a special venue, having only been in existence for a little over 20 years, but with a well-deserved reputation for putting on performances that are both interesting and entertaining.

Bill’s engagement with the audience was brilliant. During one of his introductions to the tunes, he said: “Christmas has come early … The audience is the band … We’re in it together somehow.” It really did feel like we were in it together and there were times (the audience finger-snapping through an entire tune) when the joy on Bill’s face came from surprise that there was such a strong connection between performer and audience.

A poignant moment came at the end, when Bill said he was “channeling the joy” of his friend and Snarky Puppy band member Shaun Martin, who sadly died last year, in the beautiful tune Dove, from Lumen and dedicated to Martin’s memory. All of Bill’s compositions display that honesty which comes out in his playing, but this was a particularly special moment, shared with an appreciative audience.

Meanwhile, the opening act absolutely confirmed my belief that you should always arrive in time for the first act, if there is one. They are often selected specifically because they are relatively new to a particular audience. In this case, Nesrine and her electronic cello was performing in London for the first time and it was a brilliant set.

Singing in a mixture of French, Arabic and English, using electronics and every possible aspect of the cello, Nesrine used influences from Beethoven and Michael Jackson to entertain us all. Her latest album, Kan Ya Makan is out now on ACT Records.