Moses Boyd Exodus, Jazz Cafe, gig review: Devastatingly subtle, but defiantly fun

The south London drummer and band-leader plays with an artful proficiency as he drives forward his Exodus

If jazz is an unbounded mentality rather than a rulebook, then Moses Boyd embodies it. The drummer, band-leader and producer is a confluence of musical tradition. Growing up in south London, he spent as much time absorbing the bass-heavy beats of grime as he did studying the drumming of Tony Allen, and as a professional musician, he's worked with and drawn in the luscious R&B of Sampha, the Latin rhythms of Ed Motta and the soul of Zara McFarlane (to name but a few).

But you won't hear him shout about it. "I don't talk much, I just play," he explains to this sold-out crowd on the first night of the EFG London Jazz Festival. His prodigious talent as a drummer does the talking. He plays here with an artful proficiency as he shifts from 7/8 rhythms to irresistibly danceable funk to frenetic improvisations, all without breaking a sweat. Whereas, with some drummers, each beat seems to possess them, Boyd is remarkably composed, landing each roll and constructing each intricate beat with devastating subtlety. During one solo, for a while his playing is barely even audible.

Tonight, he’s surrounded himself with the Exodus, his collective which brings together some of the most exciting players in the London scene. There’s saxophonist Binker Golding, with whom Boyd released the Mobo Award-winning album Dem Ones in 2015. It was an intense, immediate album which bordered on free jazz, and Golding’s playing tonight is unchained and roaming. The Polish-born guitarist Artie Zaitz playing is often restrained, but during one improvisation, he locks in with Boyd, building the tension to a palpable level.

To finish there’s a buoyant rendition of "Rye Lane Shuffle", Boyd's best-known single. It’s driven by an enchantingly simple bass riff, played by Theon Cross on the tuba, which bops and skips around, with Boyd's drumming volatile and skittish. Invited onto the stage is saxophonist Nubya Garcia – another name to watch – who overcomes a faulty microphone to a build a bold and vibrant solo. It's a defiantly fun and inventive end to a night which typifies a defiantly fun and inventive scene.