IDOL Session: SuperJazzClub
Following an appearance at The Great Escape in Brighton, and a sold-out gig at London’s Soho House, SuperJazzClub rounded off its mini European tour with a stand-out performance at the CORE festival in Belgium, and WeLoveGreen in Paris. As the live shows progressed, links were forged with the IDOL teams and, before the band sets off again for Ghana, we invited them for an impromptu showcase on our premises.
After a brief introduction by Sylvain Morton, Head of Distribution, they arrived in their orange jumpsuits to take their places behind their instruments.
SuperJazzClub got off to a gentle start with ‘Wide Awake‘, before moving into a more sensual vein with ‘What You Want‘. After this introduction, the band interrupted the show to explain that they’ve been chasing Thibaut Mullings, Head of Label Development and A&R in Africa, for several months to play him their demos, and that they’re now delighted to be part of the IDOL family.
Thibaut Mullings remembers his encounter with the band. “We welcomed SuperJazzClub to IDOL in 2020, when the collective had only released one track and was not yet identified in Ghana. It was literally the first steps of the adventure, but the vision was already very clear in their eyes. Each of them brought their own talents and non-musical skills to the project, almost making you forget that they had neither the advice of a manager nor the support of a label at the time.
"Their music was rich, diverse and really different from anything we'd heard on that scene."
A debut EP was already in the can and hinted at a sound open to pan-African and Western audiences, albeit very alternative for the local Ghanaian scene. As for their visual identity, it was already ultra-effective and inspired. Naturally, we sensed a serious international potential that we wanted to help realise, knowing that IDOL was perfectly equipped and structured to do so.”
The band continued their set with the melancholic ‘Back to Kids‘, which ended in a joyous and relaxed laughter. A little more at ease, SuperJazzClub launched into ‘Paradise‘, a brand new song, released the week before, and already one of their favourites.
In the middle of ‘Bordeaux‘, Ansah Live asks the audience what their favourite song is, and the crowd unanimously clamors for ‘Wicked‘. This enthusiasm boosted their confidence, and they took off for an improv, soon followed by applause from the audience.
Superjazzclub sang ‘Wicked‘, as if to test the temperature, and seeing how responsive the audience was, decided to let them sing along, and soon everyone was dancing to ‘Too early’. Sadly, the concert comes to an end, but not without a final big up to Thibaut.