10 out of 10 for Love Supreme 2023 - a wonderful weekend of fun, sun, and great jazz runs close to the heart of Sussex

Waking up on the camping ground of Love Supreme, we are greeted with Glynde House on our right and the festival grounds on our left. The skyline features a helter skelter, a Ferris wheel, colourful music tents and an innumerable amount of food trucks, trees and string lights all peppered by the smoke of food cooking. After a morning spent reading in the sun, eating bagels and participating in a Salsa class, we head to down to catch the first act of the day, Toucan.

Toucan at 11.45 – Conor Clancy and his band bade the crowd good morning with an Irish accent and a setlist of funky original songs. This early in the day, kids and adults danced around the large tents or picnicked on their parameters. We fell prey to the luring scent of a burger truck, and ate our veggie burgers and rosemary tossed fries will enjoying Toucan’s set.

Wil Sifontes Orchestra at 12.30 – Opening at the main stage, Wil Sifontes Orchestra were joined by Luz Elena Caicedo to deliver a flavourful tribute to Tito Puente, the renowned American composer who was born 100 years ago. Fantastic big band fanfare was combined with Caicedo’s dynamic vocals and a sprinkle of history. Sifontes moves around quickly, able to dance with Caicedo on one side of the stage and make it back to the other just in time for a three-minute drum solo. The talent and joy on stage incites the audience to get up and dance; some even attempt to imitate Caicedo’s masterful salsa.

Cleveland Watkiss at 14.15 – Watkiss keeps the energy high with his presentation of ‘The Great Jamaican Songbook.’ To cool down, we chose to move to the outskirts of the audience, where onlookers set up chairs and blankets to chill out for the daytime acts. We stretched out in the sun and watched Watkiss jam out on the big screen, grabbing Mango Lassi from a nearby stall to cool down.

Jazzmeia Horn at 15.30 – passionate and soulful, Horn clearly had as much fun as her audience as she delivered a real sermon in high jazz. Her band are equally enthusiastic, the bassist giving an electrifying solo.

Yaya Bey at 17.00 – Fifteen minutes after Horn, Yaya Bey kept the audience’s attention with her smooth voice and unique Brooklyn sound.

Greentea Peng at 17.45 – Hastings’ own Aria Wells, professionally known as Greentea Peng, took to stage espousing gratitude to the audience, amongst whom were her family. Wearing a stellar oversized bowler hat, Peng performed a mixture of her chill lo-fi songs and energetic party hits which set up the audience well for the early evening.

Marcus Miller at 18.45 – A true masterclass in modern jazz was delivered by Miller and his companions, who overlayed classics with improv to that classic jazz bar effect—the audience alternately hooted and cheered in appreciation or silently gazed ahead in wonder at a particularly beautiful lick.

For dinner, we grabbed a Pumpkin Katsu curry from a popular Japanese Street food truck. This was devoured while sitting on the grass within earshot of Marcus Miller’s set and watching the sunset alongside our fellow diners/listeners. After some churros and chocolate, we quickly nipped back to the tent to freshen up for the evening.

Little Simz at 21.25 – The headliner for Saturday, Little Simz certainly didn’t disappoint. She appeared exactly on time and launched immediately into her hit single ‘Silhouette’. The set covered top hits from her 2022 album ‘No Thank You’ and 2021’s ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ as well as debuting a new song fresh from the studio. Simz plays the crowd just right, employing grandiose pauses before epic beat drops, offering a little freestyle on top of her carefully designed set, and dropping down to the barricade to interact with enthusiastic fans. Proffering sound life advice between her sick rhymes with the stage presence of a lion, Simz smashed her headlining role.

10 years after the very first one, this weekend confirms Love Supreme will not only keep supplying us with top names in Jazz and Soul from across the world, but continue to identify and platform rising stars. A must have event in the summer calendar for anyone who is looking for a supreme weekend of fun, sun, and some jazztastic runs.

Make sure you’re first in the queue for next year’s event at https://lovesupremefestival.com/ See you there...