CORINNE BAILEY RAE

• Reduced mobility

Black Rainbows Tour

Have you forgotten about Corinne Bailey Rae? If so, you’ve made a big mistake. Sure, it’s been quite a while since she became only the fourth British vocalist in history to debut at number one in the UK charts. That was in 2007. But that hasn’t stopped her from being a major artist. An irresistible force of nature, she is able to somatise the best of R’n’B and vocal jazz with an elegant yet upbeat, stylised yet authentic approach. Her albums are still out there: the outstanding 2007 debut that bears her name and for which she won a Grammy, The Sea (2010) and The Heart Speaks In Whispers (2016). She is also in splendid form on stage, where she tackles her classics and some covers, such as her famous reinterpretation of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love”.

But the Corinne Bailey Rae of 2023, here to present her fourth album, Black Rainbows (2023) seems like an altogether different artist. With its sharp glam-rock and post-punk sound, the single “New York Transit Queen” already sounded out a warning: a change of pace inspired by the objects and artworks collected by the Gates Theater at Chicago’s Stony Island Arts Bank, exploring black femininity, spellwork, inner/outer space, the collapse of time, ancestors and music as a vehicle for transcendence. A full-blown challenge to her previous work. One more reason, if any were needed, not to miss her live show.