Camilla George Quartet: Isang review – engaging jazz you want to dance to

Camilla George is the London alto sax newcomer who recently emerged from the influential Tomorrow’s Warriors and Jazz Jamaica bands to a Mobo nomination and a warm welcome in jazz circles – particularly the ones that don’t feel dancing to jazz has something frivolous about it. Isang, which means “journey” in the Nigerian village in which George grew up, reflects the idiomatic sweep of this engaging and accessible set. Freebop modal pieces such as the opening Mami Wata spur George and her fine pianist Sarah Tandy into bold improv flights, the saxophonist’s nimbleness, light sound and bursts of raw emotion recalling the 50s cool school as well as the Coltrane quartet. Song for Reds is a purringly evocative blues dedicated to her jazz-loving late father, Lunacity is a springy calypso she sprinkles with quotes from Don’t Stop the Carnival and Salt Peanuts, and there’s a fine guest appearance from vocalist Zara McFarlane, melodiously scatting on American sax star Kenny Garrett’s coolly floating Ms Baja. There’s an occasional tentativeness to both the leader and the band that time and roadwork will tighten up – but all that is imminent for the promising Camilla George, who tours the UK in February and March.