London’s about to swing into something bigger than a night out. Returning for its 34th year, the EFG London Jazz Festival takes over the capital from 13–22 November, turning ten days into a city-wide soundtrack — from headline moments in iconic halls to late-night club sets, new commissions, and community events that keep jazz where it belongs: alive, evolving, and everywhere.
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The festival opens in style at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall with Jazz Voice, a glittering gala that pairs standout vocalists with Guy Barker’s EFG London Jazz Festival Orchestra — the kind of curtain-raiser that doesn’t just launch a programme, it sets a mood for the whole city.
Across the week, the line-up moves with fearless range. Fatoumata Diawara brings her radiant storytelling and West African groove to the Roundhouse (18 Nov), while Samara Joy returns to close the festival at the Royal Festival Hall (22 Nov) — a full-circle moment after recent sold-out appearances that proved London is listening closely. Ben Folds lands at the Royal Festival Hall (20 Nov) with his sharp, cinematic piano-pop — a rare crossover that feels perfectly at home in a festival built on collaboration — and Morcheeba light up the Troxy (13 Nov) with a widescreen set that leans into atmosphere, rhythm, and late-night soul.
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But 2026 isn’t just another year on the calendar. It marks the centenary of two giants: Miles Davis and John Coltrane — and the festival answers with ambition. At the Barbican (13 Nov), Coltrane 100: Both Directions at Once gathers a powerhouse cast including Joe Lovano, Melissa Aldana, Nduduzo Makhathini, Linda May Han Oh and Jeff “Tain” Watts for a tribute driven by Coltrane’s restless spirit of discovery. That same night in Hackney, Emma-Jean Thackray flips the script with Dear Miles – A Love Letter at EartH Theatre, drawing from Miles’ electric era and pushing deeper into electronic, beat-led territory where jazz improvisation meets dancefloor culture. Then, on the second weekend, festival favourites Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves join forces at Olympia’s British Airways Arc (21 Nov) for a special celebration of Coltrane’s legacy — a meeting of masters in one of the festival’s newest spaces.
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And the vocal brilliance doesn’t stop there. Cécile McLorin Salvant, one of the most compelling performers of her generation, brings an orchestral-scale reimagining of intimate vocal jazz with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (22 Nov). Meanwhile, the legendary Kronos Quartet offers a moving tribute to gospel icon Mahalia Jackson at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (20 Nov), underlining the festival’s appetite for repertoire that stretches into contemporary classical and experimental worlds without losing emotional weight.
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This is London in full musical motion. Ten days. Countless rooms. One city-wide invitation to follow the sound wherever it leads.
For full listings and updates, visit the official London Jazz Festival website.
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