Harlem-born soul singerCarlton Jumel Smith released his first album this year, and he’s also making his first appearance in BIRD. Some things to expect: a whole lot of tattoos of the names of his musical idols, a voice that guarantees goosebumps and non-stop licks and grooves. We’ll be serving our drinks ice-cold, because Carlton is promising to raise the temperature in our arches on 11 December!

It seemed like only a matter of time before Mr Smith would break through in the music scene. He was active in New York decades ago, but his real breakthrough didn’t occur until he went to Helsinki and visited Timmion Records. There were sparks when he met the label’s house band, Cold Diamond & Mink, and this led to the album 1634 Lexington Avenue.

On this album, Carlton takes you back to Harlem in the 70s, where he sat on the fire escape listening to the records played by Mama Smith: Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield and – of course – James Brown. In Carlton’s words: “Most kids wanted to be Batman or the Lone Ranger. I wanted to be James Brown.” He meant that literally: in 1999 he played the part of James Brown in Barry Levinson’s Liberty Heights.