It’s getting to that point of term: the sun is setting by 4pm, your work is piling up, and you’re shivering your way through early morning lectures. If you’re feeling in need of some cheering up, then I might have the perfect musical offering for you.
Little Kitchen, an Oxford-based music collective consisting of vocalists, a jazz trio, and a string octet, will be performing in Christ Church Cathedral on the 20th of November. Last week, I sat in on one of their rehearsals and spoke to some members of the group. As is often the case when trying to arrange rehearsals with a large ensemble, they were quite thin on the ground. But even without drums, bass, or cellos, I was immediately able to get a good idea of their sound: lush string arrangements, jazzy reharmonisations, resonant vocals. While this particular formulation of musicians is unique in Oxford, their sound is undeniably classic.
The programme has a mix of artists: Bobby McFerrin, Phoebe Bridgers, João Gilberto, Joni Mitchell. I heard their arrangements of Japanese Breakfast’s ‘Here is Someone’, Etta James’ classic ‘At Last’, and Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android’. Maybe I’m biased – these are all songs that feature on Spotify playlists of mine – but I thought the selections were timeless and often heartwarming.
Since their launch this time last year, Little Kitchen have typically put on one concert per term (apart from last Trinity, when they were busy recording a project which they’re in the process of finalising). The setlists don’t have ‘themes’ as such: they prefer a more general semantic field to tie the programmes together. This term, they’re performing as part of Christ Church’s Five Centuries of Music festival, so the semantic field is, loosely, “celebratory”. I’m not sure if all of us associate Radiohead and Phoebe Bridgers with celebration, but there was a sense of festivity in the air: the group is nearing the anniversary of their launch, and, after all, Oxmas is coming up.
Musical directors (MDs) Daniel Munks and Luke Sitaraman lived together in their third year at Oxford, in accommodation with a very small kitchen, hence the name. During this time, they’d constantly share music they loved with each other (alongside furiously revising), and Little Kitchen was sparked by the desire to reproduce their musical chemistry on an ensemble scale. The two MDs write the arrangements and pick much of the music, although this term there are some solo numbers that the respective soloists have chosen.
Members of the group come from a variety of musical backgrounds – choral and pop singers, classical string players, jazz players. The quality of musicianship here is some of the best that Oxford has to offer, and many of them are planning to pursue music professionally. Sitaraman is a freelance musician full-time; Ben Gilchrist (vocals) is planning to be a classical singer; Josh Albuquerque (viola) is currently studying at conservatoire in Scotland. Munks isn’t currently doing music professionally, but is likely to come back to it in the future, and Little Kitchen is a way to keep that up. The group isn’t strictly tied to Oxford, and is open to the possibility of playing at events or concerts in London, among other places.
The exact future of Little Kitchen remains to be seen, but they seem to have good foundations, with exceptionally strong levels of musicianship, and a cosy, familial feel between them, despite the ensemble having only been around for a year. At risk of sounding about 50 years old, it seems like the concert is going to be a real treat.
Tickets are available here.
