In July the EFG London Jazz Fest organisers promised a Festival that was ‘Living in Two Worlds’, blending live music and digital streams in a wide-ranging programme and they’are well on the way to delivering that with 100 live shows confirmed in 10 days and 50 specially created streams so far, taking place in 25 venues.
LIVE
The Festival’s signature opening night, Jazz Voice, brings an array of wonderful singers and surprise guests at Cadogan Hall, directed by Guy Barker and band, featuring China Moses, David McAlmont, Luca Manning and Cleveland Watkiss, hosted by Jumoké Fashola
For a special Festival performance, producer/multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious will lead a showcase of material from his record label, 22a at Shoreditch Town Hall with music from and collaborations between Ruby Rushton, Nick Walters, his Tubby Hayes tribute The Piccolo and more surprises, along with a DJ set from Dennis Ayler.
The iconic Church of Sound returns to the festival with Nathaniel Facey, Shirley Tetteh and Moses Boyd, joining up with Tomorrow’s Warriors’ young musicians, led by Gary Crosby, in celebration of Charlie Parker’s Songbook on his 100th birthday.
At Kings Place there is an extensive programme of music from the heart of the UK jazz scene: Mercury-nominated quartet Dinosaur, celebrating their 10th year together, composer Matt Calvert showcasing his acoustic album Typewritten, Jason Yarde and the ACOUTASTiC BOMBASTiC ensemble premiering new explorations, the intoxicating “psychedelic Arab jazz” of composer/trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, the free improvisation of Ill Considered and award-winning saxophonist Binker Golding with material from his latest album Abstractions of Reality Past & Incredible Feathers.
The Jazz Café’s new programme includes James Holden with Waclaw Zimpel, saxophonist Camilla George and the Kansas Smitty’s House Band. There will be a special new collaboration between Kit Downes and Korean composer SooJin Suh at PizzaExpress Holborn and a programme featuring the likes of Henry Lowther’s Still Waters, Xhosa Cole, Norma Winstone with Nikki Iles and Stan Sulzmann and Jeanie Barton with Tony Kofi at PizzaExpress Dean Street and The Pheasantry.
British performance artist GAIKA with Azekel & Miink will present PALATIUM at Café OTO – a collaborative audio-visual performance that is a visceral investigation of inner and outer worlds and a haunting and politically pertinent exploration of the artists’ personal archive of jazz vinyl, contemporary electronic production and experimental film.
This year for the first time, the Festival is creating Jazz Yoga, two special events where live audiences bring their yoga mats to experience award-winning bass player Shri Sriram playing live with yoga teacher Constanza Ruff.
Special projects not to miss at the Barbican include Cassie Kinoshi’s SEED ENSEMBLE, celebrating the music of Pharoah Sanders who turns 80 this year and a new collaboration with Shabaka Hutchings and Britten Sinfonia.
Other major venues, including Ronnie Scott’s, will be announcing further live programming over the next month, so we will have additional shows and surprises to reveal in the run-up to November.
STREAMS
The Festival is commissioning a series of exclusive streams with major international artists. So far we have confirmed Armenian piano maestro Tigran Hamasyan, performing from a solo set ahead of his new album The Call Within, jazz bassist Linda Oh, the bass player of Pat Metheny, introducing her new band, and an exclusive concert filmed in Paris by Vincent Peirani & Emile Parisien.
We are also creating a series of films of British artists, including Sarathy Korwar, Rosie Turton and Emma-Jean Thackray at Total Refreshment Centre, and the complete programme of next month’s Between the Lines Festival, with performances of boundary-pushing music, including a night curated by Leafcutter John and showcases from Erased Tapes featuring Anne Müller and Hatis Noit, and from The Spectacular Empire featuring Loraine James, GLOR1A, and more. With a new partnership, these shows as well as Tenderlonious led 22a night and Gaika’s Palatium, will be exclusively streamed on Mixcloud.
Getting involved has always been an integral strand of the Festival and for 2020 we take our free Creative Engagement programme online. Families have the chance to stream Juliet Kelly’s Jazz Kids, a musical story-telling session for children and their grown-ups. Developing professionals can upskill in one of our expert-led masterclasses with band-leader Peter Edwards, improvisation with artists Rob Luft and Elina Duni, and mental health and wellbeing with counsellor Denise Devenish and anyone can headline this year’s Festival by joining Orphy Robinson’s Virtual Jazz Club Band, a project which brings people together whilst continuing to keep our distance.
On Zoom, writer and broadcaster Kevin Le Gendre will present livestream sessions, ARTicle 10: Conversations in the era of Black Lives Matter (referring to Article 10 of the Human Rights Act: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression”), where he is joined by six special guests for a series of insightful conversations on race, racism and the need for change within the music industry. These discussions will address the most burning issue of 2020 and consider the role the music industry has played and still plays in the long struggle for equality.
The Festival continues its close relationship with Chicago’s ground-breaking label International Anthem, who will be presenting a new sound and movement piece by trumpeter Ben Lamar Gay, as well as a performance by free jazz and spoken word collective Irreversible Entanglements.
There will also be a series of free features on new international jazz: Vilnius Jazz featuring Improdimensija Orchestra and more to be announced, New Switzerland, featuring Julie Campiche, Ikarus and more and Istanbul Psychedelic, featuring special names from Turkish alternative music including Moğollar, Baba ZuLa, Islandman and Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions.
For the first time, the Festival will be presenting a dedicated showcase of artists from Serious’ prestigious Take Five talent development programme. Take Five Presents will feature online performances throughout the Festival from some of the most exciting emerging artists from across the UK’s jazz and improvised music scenes Archipelago, Glasshopper, J Frisco, Jasdeep Singh Degun, Jelly Cleaver, John Pope, Noemi Nuti, Robocobra Quartet, Samuel Eagles, and Skeltr.
Among everything that has happened in 2020, the loss of one of the founders of the Festival, John Cumming, has shaken us all. To make sure he will always be remembered there will be moments in the Festival to mark his work, including a stream created by Peter Wiegold from Club Inégales
BROADCASTS
Many of the Festival’s concerts will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3, including the opening event Jazz Voice, live from Cadogan Hall and featuring Guy Barker and band, with star guest vocalists China Moses, Cleveland Watkiss, David McAlmont, and Luca Manning among others; and a special performance by cellist Abel Selaocoe and the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Clark Rundell, recorded from the Royal Festival Hall. The station will feature the Festival across their programming over the ten days and beyond, with initiatives and programmes such as J to Z, Jazz Fix, Jazz Mixes, and gems from the Jazz Festival archive such as a 2012 Chick Corea concert and a 1995 Wayne Shorter performance.
On BBC Four in November, Jazz 625 returns to celebrate the UK jazz boom with a sensational line-up featuring Sons of Kemet, Matthew Halsall, Sarathy Korwar, Moses Boyd Exodus, Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia and Kokoroko; while Ronnie’s: Ronnie Scott & his World-Famous Jazz Club focuses on a legend of the UK jazz scene. BBC Four will also host the final of the BBC Young Jazz Musician competition.
Whilst so much around us has had to evolve, the EFG London Jazz Festival has had one constant this year – the support of our wonderful sponsors and funders. Foremost in this are the Festival’s headline sponsor, EFG Private Bank, who have supported the Festival and our programming vision since 2008, and Arts Council England who have supported us since the Festival’s earliest days, and without them there would be no Festival this year. Their support has been instrumental in facilitating our shift to a blended live and digital approach, and we look forward to continuing to work together far into the future.