James and Black

Deep soul and blues from James and Black at Hideaway Jazz Club London
Thursday, 3rd Oct 2019

The groove-rich, soulful R&B powerhouse duo from Austin Texas, James & Black are joined by a full live band.

Bruce James and Bella Black joined musical forces in Austin, Texas in 2011 and have been on a mission spreading the word of ‘Guerrilla Soul’ ever since.

The roots of their music spring from the tradition of Southern Soul from Texas, New Orleans and Memphis, yet they are not a throwback. The foundation of James & Black is the voices and stories in their songs. For this duo though, it is all about the musical canvas being the dirt for the flowers, so to speak – fertile soil for the tune itself to grow.

Since relocating to Europe in the summer of 2012, James & Black have laid a foundation across Europe, playing close to 150 shows per year and covering over 450,000km in the process.

They have supported Gregory Porter and Fatoumata Diawara at Summer Jazz in Leiden NL; Candy Dulfer in Amsterdam at Vondelpark; performed three times at the Porretta Terme Soul Festival in Italy alongside artists such as Bobby Rush and Latimore and Clay Hammond; at the Enclave de Agua in Soria, Spain alongside Lee Fields and Nikki Hill; at the Barcelona International Jazz Festival; and have supported The Slackers throughout Germany and Austria.

In April last year they performed at the Baltic Soul Weekender with Sister Sledge, Lenny Williams and CeCe Peniston near Hamburg, Germany, and performed a tribute to Allen Toussaint at the Porretta Soul Festival in July. James and Black also appeared at the Peer Blues Festival at the end of 2017 alongside ZZ Top, Jools Holland and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

A Joint Hideaway Promotion in Association with James & Black