citizenM and The London Jazz Festival                       Bankside/Southbank

www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk

citizenM hotel. 20 Lavington Street, SE1 0NZ
020 3519 1680/www.citizenm.com/london-bankside

I’m a jazz musician by trade so when the PR for the citizenM hotel in Bankside suggested that Fiona and I might like to choose a London Jazz Festival gig to go to at the Southbank, followed by dinner and drinks at their hotel, I didn’t have to consider it for too long. So armed with our tickets we arrived at The Queen Elizabeth Hall. The opening act was Singapore’s ‘King of Swing’, pianist Jeremy Monteiro. His playing felt a bit pre-programmed to me but his trio certainly swung and his guest, singer Melissa Chan, will be fine once she realises she isn’t in a hotel lounge.

 The main event was on another level. Pianist Kenny Barron started his career with bebop legend Dizzy Gillespie and hasn’t looked back. He is now the first call mainstream jazz pianist in the USA. His partner in crime was British bassist Dave Holland who had been plucked from relative obscurity backing wonderful UK singer Elaine Delmar at Ronnie Scott’s, by Miles Davis, one of the most significant figures of 20th C. jazz. These two seminal players were touring Europe in support of their album ‘The Art of Conversation’ which was an apt title for their duologue. Playing a mix of originals and favourites, the combination of Holland’s mesmeric strident patterns and Barron’s intelligent lines was a masterclass in jazz and a huge pleasure to experience.

After the show we jumped in a cab, Fiona was in heels, and hightailed it down to citizenM which only took a couple of minutes-it was totally walkable for anyone not tottering…!

 The hotel looks like something you might see in Amsterdam or Frankfurt; trendy but in a very European way.

The bar was certainly buzzing when we arrived and I wasn’t surprised to find out that citizenM are a Dutch brand with hotels in Glasgow, London, New York, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Paris.

The Dutch connection continued with the buffet which offered Malaysian food. We loaded up our plates and washed down what was a very tasty dinner with a couple of glasses of decent and very un-Dutch Prosecco. It wasn’t fine dining by any means but it was a more than acceptable pit-stop in a young and vibrant space.

citizenM would work really well as a hotel or bar/restaurant for anyone visiting the Southbank, Tate Modern or Globe; and if you are a local in the area why not give it a try?