Abbots Ripton, CambridgeshireSaxophonist Gary Bartz, Joe Armon-Jones and Binker Golding were some of the big names at this festival curated by Gilles Peterson
A festival curated by DJ Gilles Peterson, named after the
UK jazz compilation his label Brownswood Recordings released in 2018, and featuring almost all of the artists on their roster, might seem like a vanity project. Yet the last two years have seen this output spawn something far bigger than one man. The result of years of work by grassroots organisations such as Tomorrow’s Warriors and Kinetika Bloco training up a new generation of musicians, it has created that most sought-after of cultural phenomena: a “scene”.
This scene is largely rooted in the twentysomethings of south
London who have a predilection for saxophone solos, Afrobeat, Dr Martens and Dickies. And they are all out in force for the inaugural We Out Here festival at the idyllic former Secret Garden Party site in Cambridgeshire.