Our Top Picks for London Jazz Festival 2015

It's only a month away from the 2015 London Jazz Festival and we've selected our top picks for those of you making the journey down south.

Andrew Linham Jazz Orchestra (15th November, 8pm - Spice of Life)

Saxophonist and composer Andrew Linham is an alumnus of Leeds College of Music and was named a Yamaha Jazz Scholar in 2010. His jazz orchestra features some extraordinary talent and this gig will premiere some new music - The Theme Music of Anarchic Animals.

Corey Mwamba/Rachel Musson and Colin Webster/Andrew Lisle (14th Nocember, 1pm - Barbican)

Cath Roberts and Dee Byrne are doing inspirational things in London with LUME and these gigs are programmed by LUME to showcase the improvisational talents of vibes player Corey Mwamba and saxophonist Rachel Musson and of saxophonist Colin Webster and another LCoM alumnus, drummer Andrew Lisle. A pair of completely improvised gigs, this will definitely be a highlight.

Jazz & Surgery: Professor Roger Kneebone and Ollie Howell (16th November, 8pm - Cockpit)

Exploring the unlikely parallels between jazz and surgery – with live music and a simulated brain operation Improvisation. Jez Nelson (presenter of BBC Jazz on 3) hosts a special Jazz in the Round event exploring the unlikely parallels between surgery and jazz, with former trauma surgeon and Professor of Surgical Education Roger Kneebone and drummer Ollie Howell. Join them on the operating table as The Cockpit's unique theatre space transforms into the setting for a simulated brain surgery – an interactive experience intertwined with live music and discussion.

Kenny Wheeler - An Evocation (19th November, 7.30pm - Cadogan Hall)

This concert will celebrate the huge contribution to jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler made in a career that spanned over 60 years. His close friends and collaborators will perform including Dave Holland, Evan Parker, Norma Winstone, Ralph Towner and the last quintet members — Stan Sulzmann, Chris Laurence, John Parricelli, Martin France.


Of course, this just scratches the surface of the full programme, which can be found on the London Jazz Festival website.

Jazz in North goes to London Jazz Festival...

The annual EFG London Jazz Festival kicks off officially next Friday (14th November) and runs until Sunday 23rd November. As ever, the programme is varied and expansive, featuring music from across the world, a balance of nationally and internationally renowned musicians, youth music initiatives and talks.

This year, the rich jazz scene in the North is well represented by a variety of performances throughout the festival. Dave Kane and Chris Sharkey both appear during the festival leading workshops and sessions designed to make improvised music accessible and appealing to young people, numerous LCoM alumni bring their groups to perform and Phil Meadows' Engines Orchestra debuts.

Below is a full list of events (full information can be found on the EFG London Jazz Festival website)

Phil Meadows Engines Orchestra Funding Campaign

Chethams School of Music and LCoM Alumnus Phil Meadows has been a name on the jazz community's lips lately after winning the coveted Peter Whittingham Jazz Award to put together an ambitious large-scale project called the Engines Orchestra. This cross-genre ensemble has since recorded a debut album, Lifecycles, run education programmes and are due to appear at the London Jazz Festival on November 22nd to officially launch their album.

Phil's intention is to further develop Engines Orchestra into a sustainable and diverse platform for performance, education and recording and plans are already in motion for the second large project with the ensemble.

In order to carry out these ambitious plans, an Indiegogo funding campaign has been set to raise a further £2,500 to 'help mobilise the next two educational courses, a series of smaller performance platforms and research and develop the next large-scale collaboration.'

Full details on the funding campaign can be found on the Engines Orchestra Indiegogo page. The campaign is open for funders to participate until November 1st 2014.

Apollo Presents: LOCUS Tour, November 2014

Apollo Jazz Network have announced their Autumn tour featuring international collaboration LOCUS.

Following a successful UK tour last summer and following on from a recording project in NYC, the group have five UK dates lined up in November to showcase new material including a date at the London Jazz Festival.

The inception of LOCUS in 2012, as a project to birth brand new music globally and begin the growth of a collaborating platform for some of the UK’s up-and-coming musicians, wouldn’t have been possible without the support of an internationally forward-looking enterprise as Apollo. Performing and working with musicians such as Kim, Riley and members of LOCUS, is a joy not only because their musical stylings are rich and diverse individually but it has brought about the incredibly important factor of community to the table (and an inclusive one at that). Our November tour will be an exciting prelude to 2015 and beyond - Leah Gough-Cooper, alto/co-leader

Trumpeter Kim Macari and tenor saxophonist Riley Stone-Lonergan will spend October in NYC working with Gough-Cooper on new material, which marks the latest in Apollo's international development strand.

Tour Dates

November 7th - JATP, Bradford
November 12th - The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh*
November 13th - Art Club, Glasgow*
November 15th - HEART, Leeds
November 16th - Front Room, Southbank Centre (London Jazz Festival)

*Supported by Bridge Music.

For more information, see Apollo Jazz Network website.

Jazzwise seeks aspiring jazz writers

Applications are now being accepted for the 12th Write Stuff scheme run by Jazzwise and Serious. A series of workshops will take place at Southbank during the London Jazz Festival (November 14-23rd) which give jazz writers free mentorship with established journalists and a chance to attend a number of concerts during the festival.

From the Jazzwise website...

The Write Stuff will include sessions on feature writing and live reviews by Jazzwise writer and broadcaster Kevin Le Gendre; an insight into the history and development of the UK jazz and music press with Jazzwise editor and publisher Jon Newey; online journalism with Jazzwise’s deputy editor Mike Flynn and input from other writers and jazz industry figures.