The UK’s biggest celebration of jazz music, the EFG London Jazz Festival, has added even more acts to its stellar line-up. Over the ten electrifying days and nights, the city transforms into a vibrant hub for established jazz virtuosos and emerging stars alike. London’s premier venues will be buzzing with performances, from grand concert halls to intimate clubs.
The Festival announces its partnership with Eurostar with a very special show at Cadogan Hall on Tuesday, 19 November, that celebrate the 30th anniversary of Eurostar’s London to Paris service. Parisian Gabi Hartmann is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, with a number-one jazz album in France, whose influences range from Latin jazz to French music. Trumpeter Airelle Besson is a key figure in the European jazz scene, twice named Best French Musician of the Year by the French Django Reinhardt Award Academy. Elsewhere on the same evening, there’s another fantastic show at The Lower Third, with free jazz group Ill Considered bringing some visceral, spiritual tones to the central London venue.
On Wednesday, 20 November at the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston there will be a showcase of new works from commissioned artists Meilana Gillard, Bianca Gannon and Carole Nelson who are all a part of BAN BAM; an initiative of Improvised Music Company in Dublin supporting women and gender diverse composers in jazz and improvised music.
There are plenty of new shows being announced to close the festival on Sunday, 24 November, with a very special show at Union Chapel in Islington, as the Festival joins up with George Nelson in bringing his live improv night ‘Moments Notice’ to its biggest stage yet with names like Courtney Pine, Femi Koleoso and Peter Eldh already confirmed for what will be a very special event. At Lafayette, in Kings Cross, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band (above) brings a flavour of New Orleans to proceedings, while Earth Hall will host Turkish superstar singer Melike Şahin in her first-ever London performance. Şahin, whose sumptuous and provocative music draws on the spirit of Anatolian pop and folk to capture the defiant tone of progressive creativity in contemporary Turkey, pushes these traditional influences into the future. With a new album on the way, recorded in London with musicians like Dave Okumu, she is poised to bring her distinctive sound to an even wider audience. Always supporting the next generation of jazz musicians, EFG London Jazz Festival is proud to present Matters Unknown and Renato Paris at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room, who are both part of the Take Five talent development initiative run by Serious, the Festival’s producers.
For further information, please visit the festival’s official website.
Image provided by Practice Music
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