Filling the stage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the youthful and energetic Nu Civilisation Orchestra delivered a two-set tribute to Marvin Gaye as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival.
The orchestra was founded in 2008 by Gary Crosby, the co-founder and artistic director of talent development charity Tomorrow’s Warriors. Fellow co-founder and managing director Janine Irons began the evening with a potted history of the initiative, established to foster the next generation of musical talent and bolster the representation of women and people of colour in contemporary jazz. She spoke adoringly of the NCO’s musical director Peter Edwards, who began as a coffee-making intern at Tomorrow’s Warriors.
This concert certainly had a few tricks up its sleeve. Producer Fish Krish drew upon narrative, spoken word, and accompanying visuals to supplement the orchestra, giving it an edge over other tributes doing the rounds in the London jazz and soul scene.
The first set was dedicated to Trouble Man, the soundtrack Gaye scored for the 1972 blaxploitation film of the same name. It was released a year after his groundbreaking What’s Going On, which earned Gaye’s rights to full creative control at Motown. Though Trouble Man did not reach the commercial or critical heights of Isaac Hays’ Shaft (1971) or Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly (1972), it is deserving of greater recognition and was a fine choice for the orchestra.
Actor Colin Salmon provided spoken interludes between performances, narrating the film’s story of vigilante detective Mr T and his forays into the criminal underbelly of South Central Los Angeles. British soul singer Noel McKoy provided vocals on the title track, though the set was predominantly instrumental and rendered with an equal measure of suspense and swagger by the NCO: spiky strings on ‘The Break In (Police Shoot Big)’, haunting piano on ‘Poor Abbey Walsh’ from Sarah Tandy, and particular flair from tenor saxophonist Chelsea Carmichael throughout. They may not be the tightest of orchestras, but there was no shortage of cinematic gravitas.
The second set turned to What’s Going On, Gaye’s explosively political and breathtakingly produced masterpiece. Edwards made the bold but effective choice of rearranging the material, while still maintaining the synthesis and seamless energy of the record. McKoy, in strong voice throughout and comfortable deviating from Gaye’s adlibs and inflections, shone particularly on ‘Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)’. Visuals of inner-city America and the social unrest which characterised the late 1960s and early 1970s accompanied the set. Encore number ‘Right On’ was delivered with aplomb.
