The Bite Magazine Issue 17

of Chelsea Football Club. In attendance were Omar, Lemar, Courtney Pine, Rough Copy, Annastasia Baker, Floella Benja- min, Yolanda Brown and Hayley Cassidy among others while Marvin Winans Junior from the legendaryWinans family and gospel group Winans Phase 2 was the host who couldn’t help but give the crowd a taste of his amazing vocals. Legendary saxophonist Courtney Pine gave a mind-blowing performance and the MOBO Unsung winners MiC Lowry sang a rendition. Awards for Best Jazz Act went to Binker & Moses, Best Gospel went to Faith Child and Best R&B/Soul was given to Shakka. This year, the Pre-MOBO Awards took place at the Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square with great anticipation in the air. The reception area was virtually filled to capacity with celebrities and nominees as well as the public thanks to the event being ticketed rather than invite only. On the red carpet we saw Lemar looking very sharp and handsome in his maroon suit; Maxwell, (a dream come true for the ladies that evening) dressed in a very suave black suit; American singer China Moses; former X-Factor star Jahméne Douglas; former professional boxer and presenter for Sky Television Johnny Nelson; gospel rapper Guvna B, winner of the 2010 MOBO Award for Best Gospel Artist and gospel singer Lurine Cato, winner of the 2013 MOBO Award for Best Gospel Artist; jazz pianist Bill Laurance; and saxophone player Mike Aremu as well as others.We almost got a ‘blast from the past’ experience when a Justin Timberlake look-alike stepped onto the red carpet sporting a similar hairstyle to the singer in his early days with N-Sync. The awards show was hosted by Lemar and China Moses who both kept the audience fully engaged.We were treated to a presentation of TheWeekend movie, a British urban comedy starring Joivan Wade, Percelle Ascot and Dee Kaate from webseries Mandem on the Wall whose characters went on to appear in E4’s Youngers . Based on an original story conceived by actor and comedian Kojo and produced by Sheridan De Myers, the film focuses on what happens when three young men accidently find a huge wad of money and go on a spending spree only to discover it belongs to someone who will stop at nothing to get it back. The presentation was an appeal to the audi- ence for help in getting the film onto the big screen in cinemas around the country. In between clips of past MOBO shows, performances were given by cello player AyannaWitter Johnson, dressed in a long white dress with a plunging but modest neckline, who incorporates jazz in her music. Just when we were expecting to hear just the sound of the cello playing, out comes this beautiful voice enriched with meaning and clarity, singing The Police’s ‘Roxanne’. The singer wearing black eyeshadow and lipstick with dec- orations of white dots along her arms did a sexy twirl with the cello. All in all we thoroughly enjoyed this performance which shows that jazz, a woodwind instrument and an amazing voice can work together as one. Jazz Act nominee Bill Laurance along with saxophonist Mike Aremu provided the ultimate performance that was truly a masterpiece. I was totally mesmerised by the way Laurance moved smoothly from the Steinway piano to the Nord Stage 2 keyboard in a blink of an eye.You can really appreciate why the classically trained and original member of Snarky Puppy is a Grammy Award winner as well as internationally critically acclaimed.The amazing fact that he has worked as a pro- fessional musician since he was 14 and has toured internationally as a pianist, keyboard player, composer, producer and arranger really speaks volumes. His list of collaborations reads like a who’s who with artists such as David Crosby, Morcheeba, Salif Keita, Bobby McFer- rin, Susana Baca, Lalah Hathaway, Laura Mvula, Musiq Soulchild and the Metrop- olie Orchestra. Mike Aremu, another critically acclaimed musician who has performed with Kenny G, Hugh Masakela, Najee, Kirk Frank- lin. Marvin Winans, Ron Kenoly, Mary Mary and Adlan Cruz, was dressed in a gorgeous gold African tunic and black trousers. He is the main organiser of Sax Appeal, the largest jazz concert in Nigeria and has been recognised by the music industry with accolades including an African Gospel Music Award, a Today’s Gospel Music Award, and an AMEN Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year. He won awards in four cate- gories at the 2014 MEGA Awards for Album of the Year, Best Collaboration, Best Use of Instrument and best Con- temporary/Alternative Album of the Year. Aremu also won the 2014 Crystal Awards for Best Use of Instrument and the 2013 African Gospel Music Award in the UK for Best Afro Jazz/Instrumental. The Laurance and Aremu piece started with a nice and easy going piano tempo, with the music working up into a cre- scendo and then catapulting into a fast jazz piece with the rest of the band joining in. It was the type of uptempo jazz music that would get you straight onto the dance floor there and then if there was room and an actual dance floor. Aremu’s expert saxophone playing worked magic and in harmony with Lau- rance’s piano mastery and the backing of the musicians. It was clearly one of, if not, the highlight of the evening. Other artists that performed on the night were Temi Dollface whose platinum blonde hair with a long plait really stood out. She wore a leather outfit and had a red bird decoration on her finger while she sang ‘School Your Face’ and even sat cross-legged on stage at one point during her performance. Moelogo, nominee for Best African Act sported a gold tint in his hair and wore a matching blue and gold shirt. He began by paying tribute to his mother who was in the audience and then performed a song called ‘Ireti’ which started with a beautiful guitar intro before the singer launched into singing about hope. The nominees for Best R&B/Soul Act were Michael Kiwanuka whose 2012 debut album Home Again stalked his claim on the list of great British singer-song- writers; Shakka whose music is influenced by indie, dub reggae, hip hop, Motown and garage; Nao, a singer whose early music was shaped by airy heartfelt ballads and off-centre pop-funk; Laura Mvula who is known for her inventive atmospheric mix of R&B, Jazz, classical and pop; and James Blake, a London-based producer, singer and singer who first gave the world a taste of his quirky, R&B-sampling strain of dubstep in 2009 when his Air & Lack Thereof 12” appeared on the Hemlock label. The award went to Shakka who won the same category last year. MOBO Unsung is an initiative which gives unsigned singers, songwriters, produc- ers, rappers and poets the opportunity to showcase their talent and get recog- nised.The award for this category which is supported by PRS for Music Founda- tion and Arts Council England was won by a young artist called Alika who is said to have established her own genre that she calls UK RapSoul and has influences ranging from Rare Groove to ‘80s Hip Hop and R&B. One writer praised the young singer and said that “her unique sound and ability to blend the best of old and new school together has allowed bite event