Sade — Montreux Jazz Festival, 1984

Live full concert of Sade at the Montreux Jazz Festival, filmed on 13 July 1984 at the Casino de Montreux. The capture catches the British band at the very moment of its emergence: Diamond Life, their debut album, had only just been released in the United Kingdom. Fronted by the low, restrained voice of Sade Adu, the group gathers its founding members, guitarist and saxophonist Stuart Matthewman, keyboardist Andrew Hale and bassist Paul Denman, architects of a hushed soul sound tinged with jazz and sophisti-funk. The set already reveals the future classics “Your Love Is King,” “Hang On to Your Love” and “Smooth Operator,” alongside “Frankie’s First Affair” and a cover of Timmy Thomas’s “Why Can’t We Live Together.” The recording conveys the minimalist elegance and contained tension that would become the band’s signature. It is a valuable live performance, a witness to the beginnings of one of the most influential soul projects of the 1980s, filmed in the prestigious setting of the Swiss festival. A rare document to discover Sade in concert before international stardom.