Moseley Park, Birmingham
It’s Independent Venue Week, and team MJFS took Wednesday evening to celebrate Mostly Jazz alumna, Ni Maxine, at one of our favourite venues, The Hare & Hounds – just a stone’s throw from her 2024 performance in Moseley Park.
The Liverpool based neo-jazz singer, hailed as “one of the black women at the front of the UK jazz scene” (Black Ballad), boasts of conscious lyricism and rich storytelling in her music, weaving themes of identity, self-worth and belonging throughout her tracks.
This is true from the first moment Ni steps on stage, her opening song Four Women, a Nina Simone cover, explores the duality of identity based on the perceiver. This track grounds Ni’s ninety minute, sixteen-song set, in Afrocentrism, with lyrics referencing black history and culture. Ni takes a moment early in the set to tell us that she is inspired to take up space, as a black female artist, because her ancestors were slaves – a sentiment that certainly bears repeating in the current climate.
In her first interlude, Ni exclaims that she “loves Birmingham”, and by her second song she has the audience returning that love. This is Ni’s biggest show to date, performing to a capacity crowd in The Hare & Hounds’ Venue One. This is no small feat, for artist and promoter alike, especially, as Ni reminds us, it’s a schoolnight!
Between songs, Ni is so softly spoken, you could be forgiven for closing your eyes and imagining she’s guiding you through a meditation. Her voice hangs in the air like smoke drifting from the cosy back room of a speakeasy, lulling you into a false sense of security before she starts to sing, penetrating the haze, full of intention, power and control.
The set has standout moments of joy, radiating from Ni and her infectious dance moves, intertwined with contemplative sections, where Ni is not just reflecting on her own experiences, but urging the audience to confront their own. Before playing Strange Love, winner of the Original Track Award at the 2023 Youth Music Awards, Ni takes a moment to credit Michaela Coel’s groundbreaking series I May Destroy You, a twelve-part drama tackling themes of race, identity, consent and sexual assault. She reminds us of the power music holds: for processing, grieving and eventually reclaiming experiences and transforming them into art.
Ni performs Freedom as her final song, which, aside from being a rousing closer to an incredible set, descends into a freestyle, with a mic being passed along the front row of the audience. If we were on the front row, this would have been chaos, but luckily the front row was packed with talented singers, who ended up harmonising with Ni to close out the night.
Ni was supported by Birmingham-based neo-soul and alternative RnB singer, Some Honey. Honey by name and nature, the singer oozes with confidence, and rightly so. Named as one of BBC Introducing’s Ones to Watch 2026, her voice is intoxicating and inspires heckles from the audience, demanding she upload her music on streaming services for them to access at home. She responds with effortless humour, speaking to the audience like we’re a room of her close friends. In her penultimate song, My Time, the refrain is Honey singing “it’s my time”, and we’re inclined to agree. This artist is one to watch.
This fantastic double bill was programmed by Variations, a Birmingham-based promoter born from a desire to bring more female jazz headliners to the city. Independent Venue Week celebrates both independent venues and the people that own, run and work in them, and we’re grateful to the independent promoters raising the bar for events in Birmingham. Check out and support your locals!
Team Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul are always looking to explore new ways of experiencing music or discovering new people. Please send any requests, suggestions or invites onto info@mostlyjazz.co.uk.
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