Judith Hill treats the audience to an overwhelming musical experience full of virtuosity and leaves them speechless. After the concert, I felt a euphoria that is difficult to put into words. What had I just been watching and listening to?
I was totally overwhelmed by the musical explosion and the virtuosity that the four musicians—playing a total of five instruments, including her voice—brought to the stage.
Judith Hill’s voice made an impression: she effortlessly switched between high and low, whispering and intensely powerful, while simultaneously playing piano and guitar. The ease with which she navigated through the songs was downright impressive.
Judith Hill is a singer with an impressive track record. She has worked with greats like Michael Jackson and Prince, and those influences are clearly audible. Together with her parents—father Robert Lee “Pee Wee” Hill on bass and mother Michiko Hill on keyboards—and drummer Shadrack Oppong, she forms a band that effortlessly brings together funk, soul, jazz, and blues into a unified whole.
At the stroke of a quarter to eight, the group took the stage. Judith took her place behind the piano and launched into “Wanderer,” a song that builds up gradually and serves as an introduction to the rest of the set.
It gave every band member the chance to showcase their musicality; drummer Shadrack Oppong, in particular, made a great impression. In songs like “Runaway Train,” the arrangements sounded much livelier live than on record.
The mix of funky soul, with clear influences from Stevie Wonder and Prince, shook the venue to its foundations. She took it a step further with “Jammin’ in the Basement” from 2015 — a song with which she had already managed to move the audience years ago.
After this dazzling opening, the tempo slowed with the subdued “Nothing in Return,” which she recorded with Isabelle Summers.
This flowed smoothly into “Dame de la Lumière,” which sounds jazzy on the album but was performed live as a compelling slow blues. The blues continued in “I Can Only Love You by Fire,” in which Judith let her guitar do the talking in an impressive wah-wah solo.
The song is an ode to her mother, who overcame cancer, and aligns with the tour’s motto: “Bad times make strong women.”
After that, the tempo picked up again and the room was energized once more with her most accessible song, “Baby I’m Hollywood.” “You Got It Kid” unmistakably breathed the soul of Prince.
During the band introduction, everything came together: the grooving bass, the inventive drumming, the warm sounds of her mother’s Hammond organ, and Judith herself, pushing her voice to the limit. It was simply breathtaking. The set concluded with the cheerful “Pepper Club,” where they pulled out all the stops one last time.
To loud applause, the band returned for an encore — and what an encore it was. The full instrumental arsenal was deployed once more, culminating in a musical duel between Judith and her mother on keyboards, introduced with the words: “Mama, give me a tune.” The evening ultimately closed with the bluesy “Cry Cry Cry,” a fitting end to an evening full of musical highlights.
And to conclude where I started: I am still processing this experience. This was music at the very highest level — no, even a university level.
