When the Jazz Brothers lit up the  Soho Jazz Club

One of the truly exciting jazz events in Accra since the start of this year took place at the Soho Restaurant, Airport City in Accra on April 22 when the Jazz Brothers quintet played at the official launch of the Soho Jazz Club.

Ample information about the programme had circulated in relevant music circles and the venue was buzzing with what can be described as ‘Jazz curiosity seekers’ by the time the band hit it off around 8.30pm.   

Made up of Bismark Sarpong (drums), Hidenori Matsuo (bass), Elvis Black (trumpet), Ike Ador (piano) and Seth Kendrick (tenor saxophone), the Jazz Brothers mainly surfed a sea of mainstream standards that roped in pieces by greats like John Coltrane and Lee Morgan.  

There were moments of impressive unison play, but each player had solo spots that demonstrated abundant capabilities on their various instruments. The intermittent show of appreciation from the audience obviously pushed the young musicians to perform with a lot of zeal.

The band ably backed budding Jazz singer, Bentuma Arthur, who rendered well-known tunes by Ella Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, Bart Howard, Erica Badu, Bill Withers and Sting.

There wasn’t much Afro-tinged material on the night but that was understandable because the group came together only this year and is still building up its repertoire. What they put out was stuff they had tightly rehearsed and felt the audience could identify with.

“We really cherished the audience. A lot of them understood what we were about,” said trumpeter, Elvis Black, after the show. “Admiration for good Jazz is still growing here and the people who came fitted the type we were expecting.”

The Jazz Brothers will continue to feature at the Soho Jazz Club on Wednesdays. There are several different paths they can take to establish an identity for themselves but they walked off the Soho Jazz Club stage knowing there’s room to explore more and develop their own voices.