Jazz is attracting a new generation of fans and the EFG London Jazz Festival is here to cater to them with global superstars flying in from all corners. Tomoki Sanders is jetting in from New York with their sax, Cuban-born Ana Carla Maza is bringing her cello, and Adrian Younge is making it the final stop of his European tour.
Yes, the capital’s biggest pan-city music festival is back with ten days of live performances, special collaborations, global connections, new finds and a designated festival hub, The Jazz Social.
There’s so much jazz right across London, it can be hard to pick the best nights. Here are 12 highlights to get you started:
Jazz Voice
The festival's glittering opening gala welcomes a spectacular line-up of soloists to sing the standards and beyond: British folk-pop icon Tanita Tikaram. Triple-Grammy-winning diva Dee Dee Bridgewater. Rising stars Stella Cole, Tyreek McDole, Caleb Kunle, and Vula Malinga are all on the line-up.
Picture a luxuriant 44-piece orchestra: horns, strings, woodwinds. The angled elbows of conductor Guy Barker. Then imagine that most glorious of instruments: the human voice.
Friday 14 November, Royal Festival Hall, 19.00
Tomoki Sanders
When your dad was free jazz icon Pharoah Sanders, expectations are going to be high. But the proudly non-binary Tomoki Sanders —also a sax player — is making their mark on New York City's leftfield jazz scene with their own brand of electronic music and avant-garde experimentalism.
With an album due next year, catch Sanders now, before they go stratospheric.
Friday 14 November, Ronnie Scott's, 18.30
Tanita Tikaram
The return of multi-million selling Tikaram after eight years away is a cause for celebration.
Buoyed by nine albums, an unwavering commitment to humanity and a specially created chamber band featuring musicians who've worked with the likes of The Charlatans and Frightened Rabbit, Tikaram will be reworking folk-pop anthems including 'Twist in My Sobriety' and introducing new album, LIAR.
Saturday 15 November, Royal Festival Hall, 19.30
Joan As Policewoman
Okay, so she's not strictly jazz. But acclaimed New York singer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist known as Joan As Policewoman (after the 1970s TV cop show with Angie Dickinson) brings occasional jazz elements — soft horns, moody piano — into her punk-meets-RnB solo shows.
Saturday 15 November, EartH Hackney, 19.00
Mulatu Astatke
.jpeg?trim=1371%2C0%2C2717%2C0)
There are legends, and then there's Ethiopia's Mulatu Astatke. The first black African student to enrol, in 1963, at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the vibraphone player and composer blended American jazz with his country's distinctive modes and invented Ethio-jazz.
Half a century on, Astatke, 81, is calling it quits, aided by a big band, a new album and these two farewell shows.
Sunday 16 November, Royal Festival Hall, 19.30 and Monday 17 November, HERE at Outernet, 19.30
Levitation Orchestra
A ten-piece collective of rising stars including ethereal-leaning vocalist Plumm and British/Swedish brothers Axel and Leif Kaner-Lidström on trumpet and piano, Levitation Orchestra has won plaudits for its blend of cinematic soundscapes and anything-goes improvisation.
Expect excitement and mabe some astral travelling at this show celebrating the release of Sanctuary, their third album.
Monday 17 November, Islington Assembly Hall,19.00
Moment’s Notice
The award-winning Moment's Notice is one of the hottest tickets on the London jazz scene. It's a visionary concept: five stellar jazz musicians who have never previously collaborated, divided into a duo, a trio, presented as a new quintet.
This time, the line-up comprises Linda May Han Oh, Cassie Kinoshi, Joy Guidry, Natcyet Wakili and a mystery guest. While bursts of utter musical brilliance are a given, this line up of A-listers including Grammy-winning bassist Linda May Han Oh will set the Chapel on fire.
Tuesday 18 November, Union Chapel, 20.00
The Evolution of Jazz, 20 years on ft. Camilla George and Shabaka Hutchings
The Take Five talent development scheme for mid-career artists was founded 20 years ago by Serious, the producers of the EFG LJF. Graduates including internationally feted instrumentalists Camilla George and Shabaka Hutchings will perform brand new compositions alongside an all-star ensemble directed by the composer/bandleader Jason Yarde.
Wednesday 19 November, Barbican, 20.00
Ana Carla Maza
Havana-born Ana Carla Maza is a singer and cellist with starry charisma and a boundaries-down sound that melds jazz and classical music with unhurried Cuban son and swaying Brazilian samba, all made more distinctive by virtuosic string work and lyrics sung in silvery French and Spanish.
Thursday 20 November, Cadogan Hall, 19.30
Adrian Younge
LA's Adrian Younge is self-taught multi-instrumentalist, Emmy Award-winning composer and analogue-favouring producer beloved of the hip-hop community, which is long given to sampling his seminal Something About April trilogy.
Live, Younge and his backing band veer from jazz and soul to hip-hop and traditional Brazilian music and get crowds wigging out to extended jam sessions.
Friday 21 November, KOKOs, 19.30
Tortoise
Chicago post-rock outfit Tortoise have been keeping on for a remarkable four decades, reinventing their textured instrumentals with an ever-evolving mix of dub, electronica, Krautrock and yes, jazz. These two shows will find band members including cult guitarist Jeff Parker multitasking on numerous instruments, making mood music that transports and unsettles.
Saturday 22 November, Barbican, 14.30/19.30
Japanese Jazz
A veritable Who's Who of Japanese jazz closes this year's Festival. There'll be a solo set by singer and pianist Akiko Yano, whose music has crossed genres for decades.
There'll also be a turn by one-off quintet of maestros including pianist Fumio Itabashi, bassist Takashi Sugawa, drummer Takeo Moriyama, alto sax player Miyuki Moriya and tenor legend Kosuke Mine. Proper wish-list stuff.
Sunday 23 November, Barbican, 20.00
The EFG London Jazz Festival is on from Nov 14-23; efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk
