EIF: Domo Branch Performance and Conversation

The Sound of Spirituals at the Hub - 18/08/32, 2.30pm 

Up Late with Domo Branch - 18/08/23, 11.00pm 

Virtuoso jazz drummer, composer, musical collaborator, educator and motivator Domo Branch flew into Edinburgh from New York last week to apply his extraordinary improvisational skills and inspiring approach to music and life in two different (but connected) events at the Hub. 

First, in the afternoon, he and I shared a largely improvised conversation – with illustrations, interludes and extemporisation from Domo Branch. This took as its point of departure the resonances of African-American Spirituals (and ‘soul’ music in the non-genre sense of the term, more widely) at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. 

That required engaging with Michael Tippett’s powerful use of five Spirituals in his oratorio A Child of Our Time (EIF, 20 August 2023) and their rather different employment in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s signature choreographic work, Revelations (EIF, 23, 25 August).  

Most of the time, however, we talked about music as a force for positive change, music as journey (a major theme in his new album, We Are Made), improvisation, a welter of different influences, and the connection between Domo Branch’s own life story and his artistic expression. That includes working with jazz luminary Wynton Marsalis, his own band Branchin’ Out, Sound Poets Productions with his partner Matt Malanowski, and touring for festivals internationally. All this at the age of 23, with much more to come. 

Domo Branch is naturally conversational. That becomes particularly evident as soon as he steps up to the drum kit, where the language is not words but tones – subtle brush strokes, cymbal hints, deft rim shots, moments of driving power. Melody is as important as rhythm for this, texture as significant as dynamic contrast. At one point he evoked the seasons. Lightening was a series of drum strokes slicing the air, with no sound needed. 

These and many other ways of teasing passion and reflectiveness from the kit were evidenced aplenty in the evening concert. Having met stellar Scottish jazz conversationalists Paul Harrison (piano) and Andrew Robb (bass) but an hour beforehand, the three of them seamlessly conjured up an impressionistic sea of sound based on a set of standards. Here was Domo Branch and his first-rate collaborators paying tribute to the past while dwelling in the present and pointing to the future: jazz as it was meant to be.  

‘No One Else But Me’ (Jerome Kern), ‘All The Things You Are’ (made famous by Ella Fitzgerald), ‘Lil’ Darlin’ (Count Basie), ‘Chi Chi’ (Charlie Parker), ‘In a Mellow Tone’ (Duke Ellington), and ‘Naima’ (John Coltrane) were the points of departure and inspiration in an hour-plus late night set that was as joyous as it was meditative.  

A rare treat, rounded off by conducting legend Simon Rattle – who had earlier concluded his own journey to Messiaen’s magnificent ‘Turangalîla-Symphonie’ – coming up to congratulate Domo Branch, not least on his effortlessly eased handling of the Basie. Most surely a name to watch, and hopefully back in Edinburgh again soon.  

More on Domo Branch here: www.domobranch.com/