MOBO Awards 2016 - Nominees Announced

The full list of nominees for the 2016 MOBO Awards were announced this morning at Ronnie Scott's in London. Public voting is now open and the winners will be announced at the ceremony on November 4th 2016.

There is one Jazz category in the MOBOs, Best Jazz Act. This year, the nominees list contains two international artists - pianist Cory Henry and double bassist Esperanza Spalding, along with three UK/UK-based musicians - multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Jacob Collier, double bassist and owner of Whirlwind Records Michael Janisch and finally, LCoM alumnus and globally recognised pianist Bill Laurance.

View the MOBO Awards website to see a full list of nominees and vote for your favourite.

Congratulations to all nominees!

Gogo Penguin and Beats & Pieces head to Rotterdam

North Sea Jazz Festival is one of the most well-known jazz festivals in the World. For three days in July, musicians from across the world perform to thousands of audience members. This year, there are three UK jazz musicians/ensembles taking part and two of these are from Manchester!

Beats & Pieces Big Band perform on July 10th on the Mississippi stage. The band have already had some European dates this year, touring in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic and Austria back in March.

Also on the 10th, Gogo Penguin perform on the Darling stage. The Manchester piano trio have had a great few years, recently being signed to Blue Note and embarking on an extensive tour across the world. As well as their performance, they will also take part in a Q & A session in the Jazz Cafe area.

Also flying the flag for jazz in the UK, multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Jacob Collier performs on Saturday 9th July.

For the full festival line-up, visit the North Sea Jazz Festival website.

JazzFM Award Winners Announced

The 2016 Jazz FM Awards were held in London last night including performances by Kansas Smittys, Kandace Springs and Hiatus Kaiyote. Congratulations to all the winners, listed in full below.


Instrumentalist of the Year – Mark Lockheart 
Vocalist of the Year – Lauren Kinsella
Breakthrough Act of the Year – Binker & Moses

Blues Artist of the Year – Gary Clark Jr
Soul Artist of the Year (Sponsored by RCS) – Jill Scott

International Artist Of the Year (Sponsored by Yamaha) – Kamasi Washington
Album Of the Year – Choose Your Weapon by Hiatus Kaiyote

UK Jazz Act of the Year  – Binker & Moses

Digital Initiative of the Year – Jacob Collier

Lifetime Achievement Award - Quincy Jones
Jazz Innovation of the Year  – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Live Experience of the Year  – Ice-T and Ron McCurdy – The Langston Hughes Project at the Barbican

Impact Award – Gregory Porter