Smash hit

Eventually he hopes to do a fully staged version, with actors and rappers and, in the process, help to raise the status of hip-hop. “It can be art. It’s important to view the lyrics we write as poetry. It’s capable of the gravity of jazz.”

While too good-natured to be a zealot, Kinch says he gets increasingly emotional about the bland music that pop radio feeds young listeners: “It’s a McDonald’s style of music, never fully satisfying. People deserve better.”

It was apt then that he was one of ten artists chosen to spearhead National Music Week last month, designed to broaden young tastes. Kinch made a whistlestop tour of 24 schools. People get bamboozled, he says, by glitzy presentation. “Don Redman (pre-war musician and composer) is just as hip as Missy Elliott. The grooves are the same.”

As for his own grooves, Kinch is confident of a good reception. “One of the biggest surprises of the last tour was that when we played Jazz Planet or any of the overtly hip-hop songs, we were worried that all the old people would demand their money back. Yet the most fervent people were the 60-plus cats who came up to me after the gig and said: ‘Well, if that was hip-hop, I could actually understand every word you were saying. It’s funny and I quite enjoyed it.

Not like that Snoop Doggy Dogg.’”

Kinch chuckles hard. He’s up for the challenge.

A Life in the Day of B19 is released by Dune Records. Soweto Kinch appears at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Nov 19 as part of the London Jazz Festival. For details see www.serious.org.uk

Win Herbie Hancock tickets
To win tickets to see Herbie Hancock’s sold-out gig tomorrow at the LJF answer this question:

Hancock scored the music to which cult 1960s film?

Please send your answers to sounds@thetimes.co.uk with name and number.

Deadline is today (11the November) , 6pm. Normal terms and conditions apply.

Highlights from the London Jazz festival opening tonight

THE LEGEND Wayne Shorter
He played saxophone with Miles Davis in one of the trumpeter’s greatest line-ups and hit the pop charts with Weather Report. As an elder statesman, Shorter is reluctant to rest on his laurels, playing some of the sharpest, smartest small-group jazz around.
Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm,

THE MAVERICK Billy Jenkins
The guerrilla guitarist’s incarnations as alternative comedian, avant-jazzer and boogieman have earned much critical acclaim but no country mansion. His Songs of Praise show, promising Bromley blues, knotty jazz and mordant wit, is unlikely to change this, sadly.
Spitz, Sunday, 8.30pm,

THE ICON Cassandra Wilson
Recent albums have struggled to match the consistency of, say, Blue Moon Daughter, but, with her smoky contralto, she is still on a good night the epitome of sultry glamour.
Barbican, Nov 13, 7.30pm

THE EYE-CANDY The Puppini Sisters
Does the world need nostalgic close-harmony remakes of hits by the Smiths and Kate Bush? Apparently it does, judging by the success of their Betcha Bottom Dollar CD and the space they’ve won in the style mags.
Purcell Room, Monday, 7.45pm

THE PHAT FUNK Quantic Soul Orchestra
Quantic is the moniker of the prolific Will Holland. A soul and funk veteran at just 28, his talents encompass remixing Charlie Parker, collaborating with Sharon Jones and Mr Scruff, sharing a stage with De La Soul and working with the legendary soul singer Spanky Wilson. The Quantic Soul Orchestra is Holland's live incarnation. Alongside cohorts, he brings a love of dusty funk 45s thrillingly to life.
Jazz Café, Nov 16-19 , 8.45pm

THE VETERAN Dave Holland
One of the few British musicians to have enjoyed a truly global career thanks to the phone call from Miles Davis that lured him to America when he was 21. Now fronting a dynamic quintet, the bassman celebrates his 60th birthday this year with his first album in three years, Critical Mass.
Barbican, Nov 18, 7.30pm,

THE ENCORE Colin Towns and the NDR Big Band
Rumbustious arrangements of the late Frank Zappa’s hits played by the crack German ensemble. Zappa was famously dismissive of the genre (“jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny") but these playful blasts suggest he could have been heir to Ellington and Mingus if he had been minded. Able support is provided by the veteran Norma Winstone who has been singing unlikely versions of Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman of late.
Cadogan Hall, Nov 19, 7pm

Explore Music

• CD Reviews

• Live Reviews

• Classical

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010