The Dip at Jazz Café: Seattle Soul in Camden
Monday night at Jazz Café felt like a Friday. The Dip brought Seattle soul, funk and blues to London for the last night of their European tour, and everyone in that room knew it was something special.
The Venue
It was my first time shooting at Jazz Café, and honestly, it is nothing like anywhere else I have been. There is this industrial vibe mixed with exactly what you imagine a proper jazz bar to be. Seating upstairs where people are eating and watching over the stage, bars either side of the main floor, and this whole atmosphere that just works. Two days before I had been in a grungy rock bar shooting something completely different, so walking into this felt like stepping into another world entirely.
The Band
The Dip had that classic Seattle soul and rhythm and blues thing going on, and you could feel it was the kind of music people wanted to dance to, to feel good to. There was not necessarily one defining moment, but the whole night just worked. Everyone felt connected. The Dip were talking to the crowd, getting them moving, and the audience was right there with them. They knew they were there to have a good time and dance, and that energy fed everything.
A song called ‘‘Sure Don't Miss You’’ was one that really got the room going. You could feel the shift when it came on. They also played Atlas and Slow Sipper, and the whole set felt considered and tight. These are songs that reward you for paying attention, but they also just make you want to move.
Shooting the Night
No pit means no front of stage, which I have dealt with on the last three gigs including Brothers Landreth and Jared James Nichols. You work around it, shoot from angles you maybe would not choose otherwise, and just get what you can. The bigger challenge here was the lighting. Lots of reds and blues, which is beautiful for atmosphere but brutal for skin tones. You lose all the natural warmth, and it gets difficult when that is most of the gig. But warmer lights came through too, so it was about waiting for those moments and being ready.
I shot with my new setup, the Fujifilm X-H1 with the 56mm f/1.2 and the Fujifilm X-Pro2 with the 23mm f/1.4. I left the X-H2 in the studio as these have become my go-to cameras for shooting gigs. They did the job. A slightly longer lens would have been useful for more reach from further back without disturbing the audience, but that is the reality of a venue with no pit.
One thing that made a real difference was the drummer, Jared Katz, being positioned side of stage. Usually drummers are tucked at the back behind a wall of coloured lighting, so getting clean shots of them is tough. Here I could actually get to Jared properly, and some of those shots with the crowd behind him came out really well.
Because of how Jazz Café is laid out, I could also shoot from above, which gave me some full band shots that I am really pleased with. There is also a shot of singer Tom Eddy from further back where you can see heads of the crowd and him peering over with his guitar. That one works really nicely. - Check my instagram for more of these images CLICK HERE
After the Show
I got to have a chat with Jared Katz and bassist Mark Hunter before and after the show. I discovered The Dip last year and genuinely fell in love with their sound. They have got this seventies soul vibe that you do not really hear much of anymore. Everything about their music feels intentional. You can sit and listen or you can get up and dance, and there is just this warmth running through all of it that is pretty rare right now.
For them to bring that over to the UK and have a room full of people respond like that on a Monday night was something else. If you have not heard them yet, go and listen. Discover new music, discover bands like this. You might just find a new favourite, like I did.
