David Sanborn Band & John Scofield and Jon Cleary, Barbican

A David Sanborn gig can go one of two ways. The former James Brown, Bowie, Stevie Wonder and Jaco Pastorius sax man has been known to rival Kenny G in the cheese stakes with an output of sugary jazz pop, but he’s due to return to his gritty, hard grooving 80s fusion repertoire for this Barbican date and that’s more than alright by us. Expect dirty blues licks, frenzied altissimo wails and a hefty injection of funk.
They’ll be more blues on show when guitarist John Scofield and New Orleans-based keys player/vocalist Jon Cleary take the stage (the main event here as far as we’re concerned). “Sco” is a giant of the jazz world and has worked with everyone from Mingus to Miles, Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham and John Mayer. He’s a bebop master but he’s equally well versed in contemporary styles and his recent output blends, jazz, rock, funk, blues, reggae and even a bit of drum and bass.
He first teamed up with Cleary, along with a host of other Big Easy stalwarts, for 2009 album Piety Street – a collection of soul-stirring gospel classics, including Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child, His Eye Is On The Sparrow and Walk With Me, plus a few Scofield originals in the same vein. The duo will be reaching for that repertoire again come April and, if the album is anything to go by, it’ll be a near religious experience.