Friday 25th April 2025– Brick Lane Jazz Festival
Allexa Nava @ Ninety One Living Room

Allexa Nava – alto sax
Jai Patel – trombone
Cody Moss – keys
Matt May – electric bass
Cassius Cobbson – drums
Sophya – vocals

This was my first gig at this year’s Brick Lane Jazz Festival and my third time at this progressive annual showcase of the current UK scene, broadly encompassing jazz and everything it touches.

It was not, however, my first time seeing Peruvian-born, London based, Allexa Nava play. That was at last year’s BLJF, at Juju’s Bar with the all-female Afro-Latin band Colectiva (a band that features bassist Alley Lloyd, who is performing here on Sunday with her own band that also features Allexa Nava).

Allexa released her debut EP “No Language” in February this year and I managed to catch her short set at the Jazz Café earlier this month with her quartet, featuring Jai Patel on trombone, Emile Hinton on keys and Cassius Cobbson on drums. Tonight’s five-piece line-up had the addition of Matt May on bass guitar. Cody Moss, who I recognised from the Jakub Klimiuk Quintet, was on keyboard duty tonight.

Ninety One Living Room is the home of Jazz Re:freshed, who’ve been going 22 years since their beginnings at Mau Mau on Portobello Road and take over the venue for the Brick Lane Jazz Festival weekend. Jazz Re:freshed co-founder Adam Moses announced Allexa as “phenomenal”, along with his regular reminder to the audience at every event that people who want to chat should take it outside.

The set opened with “Copy Cat”, launched with a catchy, assertive theme from Allexa as she then let rip on the alto sax with echoey effects lifting the sound and the room into the moment. The furore was contagious as Cassius got involved on the drums and whipped the kit into a busy but illustrious frenzy before Cody’s first solo, with an electric piano sound on the Nord.

Vocalist Sophya joined the stage for “In The Final”, which was introduced by Cody with a winding piano solo, joined by a few cymbal splashes and tings from Cassius. Sophya joined in with legato wordless vocals backing Allexa’s alto in a much more expansive, laid-back piece that saw some interplay between Cody and Matt. The piece closed out as it had started, with Cody on piano.

“No Time” was a single released in 2023 and the only tune of the evening not taken from the “No Language” EP. It opened with some syncopated clapping from the band members over a 3/4 time (or was it 12/8? - I guess I should have taken more music lessons!). Allexa took the lead with the theme, which carried a North African / Arabic vibe. Jai had an opportunity to show us what he’s got, starting with a very deliberate and measured slide trombone solo that developed into a busier affair with more staccato notes before being joined Allexa, once again delivering all the notes in her busy style.

I’d clocked the set list on Cody’s keyboard just before the gig started, and “Recortes” was listed with a curious qualifier “(The Weird One)”! This one opened with a twangy synth-bass sound from Matt that settled into a stalking, groovy head. Cody got involved with another electric solo, slipping in a bit of pitch-bend for good measure, followed by another hi-paced solo from Allexa.

The set closed out with “Cycles / Circles”, which was released as a single from the “No Language EP. The piece opened with electric piano and the haunting, echoing wails of Allexa’s sax that eventually settled into the head, which is somewhat reminiscent of Herbie Hancock’s “Butterfly”. Jai was featured, again with a characteristically considered melodic solo that built to a busier outing before closing out with another blistering performance from Allexa and a final episode on the kit from Cassius that raised the energy to the roof of Ninety One Living Room. What a performance to open the Jazz Re:freshed stage!

Allexa can certainly shred with the best (one of those musicians who would make a killing if she were paid by the note), but her compositions are melodically interesting, diverse and – importantly for a rising star – memorable. I’m looking forward to seeing her performance on Sunday, also on the Jazz Re:freshed stage, in a different setting with Alley Lloyd.

For those readers in the West Midlands, Allexa will be playing three dates in the area in the Autumn;

Saturday 27th September – Clun Valley Jazz at The SpArC Centre, Bishops Castle

Friday 10th October – Free Jazz Friday at Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Thursday 27th November – Music Spoken Here at The Marr’s Bar, Worcester

Allexa Nava’s “No Language” EP is available here;
https://allexanava.bandcamp.com/album/no-language

DAVE FULLER