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.

NJN Jazz Advent Calendar - Eskelin/Sharkey/Bourne (Dec 19th)

Behind door number 19 is a group formed especially for The Orpheus Project, a joint project run by Apollo Jazz network and NORVOL jazz. NYC tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin toured the UK with guitarist Chris Sharkey and pianist Matt Bourne performing a programme of completely improvised music.

Click here to listen to BBC Radio's Jazz now which features a live broadcast from their Lescar gig - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0857ydb

Eskelin’s trio, featuring Chris Sharkey and Matt Bourne, is comprised of three strong and individual creative voices that come together to create something greater than the considerable sum of its parts. The group toured between October 8thand October 14th, creating performances that were as unique as they were exciting.

For the past thirty years Ellery Eskelin has been at the forefront of the global creative improvised music scene. Based in New York City, he has traveled widely performing, recording and amassing a very personal and iconoclastic body of work. And yet Ellery Eskelin has always remained deeply committed to the traditions of jazz and American music. Eskelin embodies this seeming contradiction with ease. He does not see jazz as a style or idiom but as a process. Further, a process of creative development that has great relevancy to our time. In this pursuit Eskelin consistently delivers to the listening public unadulterated, passionate music with no excuses and no apologies.

Chris Sharkey is known across Europe as being at the cutting edge of creative music. He has been a member of numerous groundbreaking groups in the UK –including TrioVD, Acoustic Ladyland and Bilbao Syndrome. Internationally, he has collaborated with musicians in France (Christian Sebille), Norway (Nils Henrik Aarsheim) , Lithuania (Liudas Mockūnas) and Spain (Asociación Musica Libre).

Bourne first came to national attention as a winner of the Perrier Jazz Award in 2001, which was followed by an award for innovation at the BBC Radio Jazz Awards in 2002, and the International Jazz Festivals Organisation’s International Jazz Award in 2005. Renowned for his intensely personal and sometimes confrontational solo work, Bourne’s uncanny ability to balance delicacy and virtuosity, while establishing a close affinity with his audience, have become hallmarks of his concert performances.

Orpheus Project presents: Ellery Eskelin Trio UK Tour, October 2016

Following on from the highly successful inaugural tour featuring Ingrid Jensen back in May, the Orpheus Project (a partnership between NORVOLJazz and Apollo Jazz Network) have announced the second featured artist in the series, New York tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin.

From press release...

The Orpheus Project is proud to present tenor heavyweight Ellery Eskelin as their second featured artist. Joined by Chris Sharkey and Matt Bourne, the trio is comprised of three strong and individual creative voices that come together to create something greater than the considerable sum of its parts. The group will tour between October 8^th and October 14^th, creating performances are sure to be as unique as they are exciting.

For the past thirty years Ellery Eskelin has been at the forefront of the global creative improvised music scene. Based in New York City, he has traveled widely performing, recording and amassing a very personal and iconoclastic body of work. And yet Ellery Eskelin has always remained deeply committed to the traditions of jazz and American music. Eskelin embodies this seeming contradiction with ease. He does not see jazz as a style or idiom but as a process. Further, a process of creative development that has great relevancy to our time. In this pursuit Eskelin consistently delivers to the listening public unadulterated, passionate music with no excuses and no apologies.

For more information about the tour dates, links to book tickets and more, visit the Orpheus Project website. 

October 8^th – Marsden Jazz Festival

October 10^th – Con Cellar Bar, London

October 11^th – Fizzle, Birmingham (Ellery Eskelin Solo)

October 12^th – The Lescar, Sheffield

October 13^th – Seven Arts, Leeds (joint promotion – Seven Jazz & Fusebox)

October 14^th – The Globe, Newcastle (joint promotion – Jazz Coop & Jazz North East)

The Orpheus Project is a partnership between Apollo Jazz Network and NORVOLJazz which seeks to establish a touring network for jazz in the North of England. The project is generously supported by Arts Council England through the Grants for the Arts programme.

 

Our Top Gigs for Cheltenham Jazz Fest 2015

                                                               Supersonics: Nhu Diep

This week, Cheltenham Jazz Festival director Tony Dudley-Evans published his top picks for this year's festival, which takes place between 29th April and May 4th. The article prompted us to check out the full festival programme and we've selected a few of our own highlights to add to Tony's suggestions.

Impermanence Trio (Parabola Arts Centre, 2nd May 9.30pm)

This is one that Tony included in his picks, too. Pianist Matt Bourne teams up with Riaan Vosloo and Tim Giles to premiere the new group, Impermanence Trio. The show will be interactive, with audience members encouraged to use their phones to make decisions on the music. The trio share the bill with Alexander Hawkins and Elaine Mitchener, a duo that will also be making an exclusive first appearance.

Supersonics (Jazz Arena, 4th May, 10.45am)

An unlikely time for a jazz gig, Chris Sharkey appears as part of the festival's Family Show strand. Supersonics features long-time collaborators Chris, Stale Birkeland and Petter Frost Fadnes as they explore melody, beats and soundscapes. These gigs are open to everyone from 5 years old and over.

Clare Teal (Town Hall, 2nd May, 7pm)

One of Yorkshire's finest, vocalist Clare Teal brings her mini big band to Cheltenham. The show will feature a mixture of material, displaying Clare's own songwriting alongside her interpretation's of jazz standards.

 Dave Douglas/Lee Konitz Quintet (Town Hall, 2nd May, 3.45pm)

Dave Douglas and Lee Konitz present their new quintet for the first time in the UK. Their focus will be on the works of Lee himself, Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh.

Jazz in Leeds - Autumn/Winter Programme

Photo by Jon Stanley Austin

Seven Jazz in Chapel Allerton Leeds have announced their Autumn/Winter programme which began with the Chapel Allerton Festival Jazz Sunday on 31 August in Regent Street and will run through to the Christmas Party at Inkwell on Sunday afternoon 21 December with the Nicola Farnon Trio.

2014 marks the seventh anniversary of Seven Jazz – the club started on the 30 September 2007. Seven Jazz now run international fortnightly concerts on Thursdays at Seven Arts and weekly showcase events for local bands at both Seven Arts and Inkwell, along with two fortnightly jazz workshops for musicians and a jazz choir. Since 2007 Seven Jazz (which is run by volunteers) has run over 500 gigs. In 2015 will embark on yet another venture, the Leeds Jazz Festival

Details of all of the gigs can be found on the Seven Jazz website www.sevenjazz.co.uk and are listed below. The evening international concert series start at 8.30pm, and the Sunday afternoon showcase gigs run between 1 and 4pm; ticket prices are detailed on the website; evening gigs are typically £16/14 concessions with a £5 standby ticket for full time students, Sunday lunchtime gigs are £7/5 concessions.

Gig Preview: Yorkshire Jazz Suite, Seven Arts June 29th

Seven Arts
Sunday 29th June
1pm-6pm
£7/5 (advance purchase is advised)

An afternoon of Jazz is being hosted by Seven Jazz and Jazz Yorkshire as part of Le Grand Depart Fringe Festival, featuring a showcase of Northern Jazz talent.

James Hamilton (Big Band) - Following on from a commission project run by Jazz Yorkshire, James Hamilton will conduct the Doncaster Jazz Orchestra through the premiere of his new work, the Yorkshire Jazz Suite. The suite is described as an hour long take on the Yorkshire landscape and people, with musical influences ranging from Duke Ellington to Kenny Wheeler.

Matt Bourne (Solo Piano) - Pianist and composer Matt Bourne has won countless awards including the Perrier Jazz Award and a BBC Jazz Award for Innovation. His contribution to the UK jazz scene is almost unrivaled and his set will showcase his solo piano talents.

Kim Macari (Sextet) - Since receiving a commission from Seven Jazz in 2011, Kim has gone on to win an Emerging Excellence Award in 2013, study with Ingrid Jensen and Ralph Alessi and tour her transatlantic group LOCUS. In her set, she will be joined by LOCUS bandmates Riley Stone-Lonergan, Sam Leak and special guest from NYC, Leah Gough-Cooper as well as Tom Riviere and Steve Hanley.

Al Wood - Multi-instrumentalist Al Wood has had a profilic career, spending time in the Maynard Ferguson Big Band, running countless groups and working as Deputy Head of Jazz at Leeds College of Music.

Tickets for the event can be booked HERE and booking is advised as it is likely to sell out.