Jazztronica maestro Berlioz celebrates his debut in magnificence with an all-dayer under the canopy of Finsbury Park.

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After selling out his shoreditch street party last Summer, the jazz-house auteur of berlioz (aka Jasper Atlee) felt like it was high time to go one step further: curating his own all-dayer festival in a London park with a boasting line-up of artists who had originally inspired Jasper to take up the music mantle almost a decade ago.

Bolstered by some of the best enigmatic beat-makers in the business across two stages with a sound system set-up to gawp at along with fanciful independent food purveyors, it was a day electronic/house fanatics had all biroed five times over on their calendars.

For someone who had no real understanding of house music, its culture and what it represents – not to mention not knowing a single supporting name on the line-up cast – there was next to no expectations. After accidentally falling into the doozy nightcap of his bold and aesthetically pleasing debut open this wall due to it hopping over genre-borders into jazz and soul, you could say that the only expectation was when it came to our main man of the night.

Before too long however, it became apparent that the rest of the line-up did not feature the same delightful ambience of what berlioz’s debut had made – and a sound I had ultimately fallen for. This and along with the clientele of hip Londoners with their ‘natty’ wine (coined from the word natural, ew), I was also becoming aware that I was very much out of comfort zone. Maybe it was ignorance or maybe it was the three-hour car journey finally playing catch-up with me, but I couldn’t help feeling how all these house tracks just sounded the same – much less the house-jazz aura I was expecting from the rest of the line-up. Of course, that’s not to say the ambience of house jazz wasn’t present at all. It would appear oh-so suddenly like a teasing slideshow. Lavish two-hour sets by the likes of Jitwam spruced up my content on the bonny domed dwelling of the second stage as he blasted out magic favourite Opendoors, while on the main stage, Moodymann rang out his underground dance hypnotics with disco-crazed ’80s remixes; a fabulous choice if I may so.

While I gleaned at the innovative production these tracks possessed, it was this age-old remark that kept spinning in my head, much like the records playing that I was trying every effort to separate from one bass-line to the other.

Despite this, I realised it wasn’t about that at all. It was purely being there in the moment drinking it in and embracing your discomforts. Despite the sky playing weather roulette throughout the day, the scenic vibes were immaculate. The food offerings were also unique and plentiful while the event layout was small enough to be quirky – but not too small to feel like your fellow gig-goers were on top of you.

As one DJ passed the metaphorical baton to another in bass-heavy chimes, the evenings’ climax drew ever closer. Before too long, the salvation of Bellaire weaned in his feel of funk and disco-dance before Berlioz took to the stage welcoming us in with ascension, the first work spliced from his debut record. But while I was there for his jazz is for ordinary people era, Atlee opted to craft and produce a run-through of sounds that didn’t sound remotely like it. It was rogue, it was adventurous and was completely unforeseen. And quite frankly, I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Had berlioz’s debut album not blown up the way it had, I may never have ventured into the unknown and took up an event in a park somewhere with artists I had no vague idea of. Had it not discovered it, I may never have got a glimpse to a side of music and its culture I would never imagine in going to. For that, I’m thankful.

So if you ever have the opportunity to broaden your horizons, take it. You may never know where it may take you.

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