The 2020 EFG London Jazz Festival was launched last night in a special online event here
In July we promised a Festival that was ‘Living in Two Worlds’, blending live music and digital streams in a wide-ranging programme and we are well on the way to delivering that with 100 live shows confirmed in 10 days and 50 specially created streams so far, taking place in 25 venues.
“In this unprecedented year, we’ve managed to transform the challenges into a positive motivation. Inspired by the creative response of artists, musicians and the scene in general, we’ve worked together to make the Festival happen and can’t wait to share the buzzing music of the UK, alongside unique performances by international artists with a global audience”(Pelin Opcin, Director of the EFG London Jazz Festival)
LIVE
The Festival’s signature opening night, Jazz Voice, brings an array of wonderful singers and surprise guests at Cadogan Hall, directed by Guy Barker and band, featuring China Moses, David McAlmont, Luca Manning and Cleveland Watkiss, hosted by Jumoké Fashola.
For a special Festival performance, producer/multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious will lead a showcase of material from his record label, 22a at Shoreditch Town Hall with music from and collaborations between Ruby Rushton, Nick Walters, his Tubby Hayes tribute The Piccolo and more surprises, along with a DJ set from Dennis Ayler.
The iconic Church of Sound returns to the festival with Nathaniel Facey, Shirley Tetteh and Moses Boyd, joining up with Tomorrow’s Warriors’ young musicians, led by Gary Crosby, in celebration of Charlie Parker’s Songbook on his 100th birthday.
At Kings Place there is an extensive programme of music from the heart of the UK jazz scene: Mercury-nominated quartet Dinosaur, celebrating their 10th year together, composer Matt Calvert showcasing his acoustic album Typewritten, Jason Yarde and the ACOUTASTiC BOMBASTiC ensemble premiering new explorations, the intoxicating “psychedelic Arab jazz” of composer/trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, the free improvisation of Ill Considered and award-winning saxophonist Binker Golding with material from his latest album Abstractions of Reality Past & Incredible Feathers.
The Jazz Café’s new programme includes James Holden with Waclaw Zimpel, saxophonist Camilla George and the Kansas Smitty’s House Band. There will be a special new collaboration between Kit Downes and Korean composer SooJin Suh at PizzaExpress Holborn and a programme featuring the likes of Henry Lowther’s Still Waters, Xhosa Cole, Norma Winstone with Nikki Iles and Stan Sulzmann and Jeanie Barton with Tony Kofi at PizzaExpress Dean Street and The Pheasantry.
British performance artist GAIKA with Azekel & Miink will present PALATIUM at Café OTO – a collaborative audio-visual performance that is a visceral investigation of inner and outer worlds and a haunting and politically pertinent exploration of the artists’ personal archive of jazz vinyl, contemporary electronic production and experimental film.
This year for the first time, the Festival is creating Jazz Yoga, two special events where live audiences bring their yoga mats to experience award-winning bass player Shri Sriram playing live with yoga teacher Constanza Ruff.
Special projects not to miss at the Barbican include Cassie Kinoshi’s SEED ENSEMBLE, celebrating the music of Pharoah Sanders who turns 80 this year and a new collaboration with Shabaka Hutchings and Britten Sinfonia.
Other major venues, including Ronnie Scott’s, will be announcing further live programming over the next month, so we will have additional shows and surprises to reveal in the run-up to November.
STREAMS
The Festival is commissioning a series of exclusive streams with major international artists. So far we have confirmed Armenian piano maestro Tigran Hamasyan, performing from a solo set ahead of his new album The Call Within, jazz bassist Linda Oh, the bass player of Pat Metheny, introducing her new band, and an exclusive concert filmed in Paris by Vincent Peirani & Emile Parisien.
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