Beats & Pieces, Engines Orchestra & Matt Bourne announced for EFG London Jazz Festival

It may be the hottest day of the year so far and we're only in May, but Serious have begun announcing some of their headline acts for this year's EFG London Jazz Festival, which takes place between 10-19th November.

This year's festival will be the 25th and there are some special events to celebrate this milestone birthday. The 25 for 25 programme sees a host of newly commissioned works premiered during the festival. Manchester's finest Beats and Pieces will perform a new work (Rich Mix, November 18th) and LCoM alumnus Phil Meadows brings his Engines Orchestra to perform their latest collaboration with Phronsesis and Dave Maric, Decade Zero (Milton Court, November 12th).

Yorkshire-based pianist Matt Bourne will join forces with Keith Tippett, too, on November 10th at King's Place.

To find out more about the festival, visit the EFG London Jazz Festival website.

SCAM ALERT: Fake Jazz Festival gig offers

There is currently a scam offering bookings to overseas artists at EFG London Jazz Festival and Edinburgh Jazz Festival. They are copy and pasting information from the festival websites and offering gigs, complete with contracts. They ask artists to arrange their own work permits at a cost of $400 and direct them to their 'Work Permit Agent' Evelyn Scott to arrange this. If artists make this payment, they lose the money but also give their information to the scammers to use in identity theft.

The emails are coming from infojazzfestival@musician.org, purportedly from a Gerry Clarke.

Serious have spoken to the British Police about this but their position is that no crime has taken place so they won't pursue it.

The gig offers look legitimate enough that overseas musicians without working knowledge of the festival teams could be easily convinced of their authenticity.

We don't know how far-reaching this and there may be other festivals affected by this scam, too.

Please share this far and wide to make sure no-one else is caught up and if you have had an email from infojazzfestival@musician.org, send us a message to let us know!

Northern Jazz heads South for EFG London Jazz Festival

It's les than two weeks until this year's EFG London Jazz Festival kicks off. Ten days of jazz starting on November 11th - over 2,000 artists, 300 gigs and 50 venues. There are a number of Northern artists heading down to fly the flag for Jazz in the North so here's a preview of who's playing and where.

Jazz for Toddlers (Dave Kane & Oli Dover)

As part of the festival's expansive learning and participation programme, double bassist Dave Kane and saxophonist Oli Dover will run a series of workshops throughout the festival aimed at children between 2 and 5. Some of the workshops have already sold out so it's looking like it'll be a huge succes.

Mike Walker and Iain Dixon with The Guildhall Band & Choir (November 11th, Clore Ballroom) 

Two fifths of the supergroup The Impossible Gentlemen, Mike Walker and Iain Dixon join The Guildhall Jazz Band and choir led by pianist Malcolm Edmonstone. Expect a varied programme and a joyful evening of music!

Zoe Gilby Family Jazz All-Stars (November 12th, Cadogan Hall)

Another family-friendly event, one of the North's most beloved vocalists Zoe Gilby will perform a programme that guides families through the jazz greats and Zoe's unique takes on popular songs.

Phil Meadows Project (November 14th, Ray's Jazz at Foyles)

LCoM Alumnus and award winning saxophonist and band leader, Phil unveils his brand new ensemble during the festrival. (He will also perform with his trio SKINT, supporting Donny McCaslin)

Matt Roberts BigISH band (November 14th, Spice of Life)

Another LCoM graduate, Northern boy Matt Roberts has become well established as a big band leader since moving to London.  This large ensemble will pay tribute to one of Matt's heroes, the great Duke Ellington.

Matthew Halsall & Gondwana Orchestra (November 15th, Islington Assembly Hall)

Manchester based trumpeter and composer Matthew Halsall has sold out multiple shows at London Jazz Festivals gone by so this one is sure to be busy. He premieres new work with a line-up including harp, saxophone, piano, bass and drums.

Chris Sharkey's Make It/Break It (November 19th, Southbank Centre)

Chris Sharkey has been comissioned by Serious to premiere this new piece. Over 100 musicians will gather in the day to put together the new piece which centres around improvisation and collective music making.

For more information on full programme and to book tickets, visit the EFG London Jazz Festival website.

Applications Now Open for The Write Stuff

Applications are now open for the 2016 edition of the The Write Stuff, an initiative run by Jazzwise and Serious for budding music journalists.

This free programme allows new jazz and improv writers to work with professional journalists to improve their work and learn about the world of music press, blogs and more. All this plus the chance to see a load of gigs!

There will be sessions of feature and live review writing by Kevin Le Gendre, an insight into the history and development of the UK jazz and music press by Jazzwise editor Jon Newey and a workshop on jazz websites, blogs and social media run by Mike Flynn.

The sessions will run during the EFG London Jazz Festival between 11-20th November. Those interested in participating should submit a 300 word review of a recent live gig together with a CV and full contact details by Monday 10th October to learning@serious.org.uk. Applicants must be over 18 and available in London between 11th and 20th November.

For more information, see the Jazzwise website.