You’ll be getting quite a lot of John Legend — and more — on the closing night of next year’s Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival.
The singer-songwriter who wrote and performed what is arguably 2014’s most romantic song, All Of Me, will perform on the last night of the festival, headlining a concert with jazz bassist, cellist and singer Esperanza Spalding.
The jazz festival concerts take place this year at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre, the venue where the festival first started 12 years ago. It will be the third time Legend — an Artist of the Year nominee at the American Music Awards — performs at the jazz festival, but following the massive success of All Of Me, this is certainly the most high-profile gig he’s done in the emirate.
Organisers Chillout Productions promise the concert will be “every bit the intimate celebration of romance concertgoers might dare hope.”
“He’s an R&B icon and a true American pop star, his sound is so recognisable and unique; we had to have him back to the festival after the big successes of his single All Of Me,” the co-founder of the festival, Anthony Younes, told tabloid!. “He is an innovative artist that brings to mind the elegance of soul. Last here in 2009, the nine-time Grammy award-winning recording artist has really risen in the ranks of stardom. Legend adds so much to the line-up and we are thrilled to welcome him back to Dubai.”
Legend is currently on the European leg of his #ALLOFME tour — the same tour he will be performing in Dubai. It’s in suppport of his fifth album, Love in the Future, which was executive produced by his longtime collaborator, Kanye West.
Supporting Legend will be Grammy winner Spalding, an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music — which should tell you a bit about how talented she is. She bested Justin Bieber, Florence and the Machine, Drake and Mumford and Sons when she took the main Best New Artist Grammy in 2011; taught herself to play violin aged five — after seeing Yo-Yo Ma on the TV in her Portland, Oregon home; plays bass, and sings — in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Another reason we are excited to see her perform, and hear her speak? She’s outspoken abut the need for female musicians to stop oversexualising themselves, and be judged on their music, rather than their looks.
James Blunt and Christina Perri have already been announced to open the festival on February 25, with one more “big-name” artist to be announced in mid-November, says Younes. Details of the jazz acts are also still to be announced, with a change in format from recent years to be expected. Something to look out for is the food and beverage village and an arts and crafts exposition.