London Jazz Festival is an annual festival taking place over two weeks between 16th – 25th November. Our showcase will be from Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th November only. These dates have been selected because of the networking opportunities available, and the volume and quality of UK music on offer over this weekend. Bebop, swing, hard bop, cool, electric, jazz, gospel, hip hop and beatbox, world jazz, free jazz, euro-jazz, Jamaican grooves and African beats - you can find all of these and much, much more as the London Jazz Festival returns to the capital for a ten day party.

http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk/

Over the three days of the showcases we will provide the delegates with opportunities to:

Meet the festival organisers
Meet and network with fellow promoters and festival organisers from across Europe, China, South Africa and Egypt
Meet and network with artists, managers and agents from the UK.
See a selection of performances taking place as part of the festival

British Council Support

Mr Zhang Fan of Beijing MIDI Music School and Mr Ren Yuqing of Shanghai JZ Group have been invited to the UK by the British Council to attend their London Jazz Festival UK music showcase, taking place on 23 – 25 November 2007. The British Council will be supporting both their visits. Please click here to read more about all the music festivals in the UK.

Schedule:

Thursday 22nd November
Arrive in the UK and check-in to Grange Langham Court Hotel

Friday 23rd November
Daytime: No scheduled events
6pm      Orphy Robinson (RFH)
7.30pm      Jazz Jamaica + Abram Wilson & LCGC (RFH)
         Don Letts presents Speakers Corner (Bernie Grant Arts Centre)
         The Geoff Gascoyne Project (Cadogan Hall)
9pm      Divas of Jazz(Pigalle Club)

Saturday 24th November
12.30pm      Networking event hosted by the British Council in association with the London Jazz Festival. (Barbican)
An opportunity to network with fellow international jazz promoters, and artists, agents, managers with worked featuredduring the festival. Special guest performance will given by Gwilym Simcock during the reception.
2.30pm      Phil Robson, Corey Mwamba & EMYJO (Barbican)
         Jazz Line-Up Live (RFH)
7.30pm      Britten Sinfonia with Gil Goldstein (QEH)
7.45pm      Bill Bruford and Michael Borstlap (Purcell Room)
8pm      John Surman (Wigmore Hall)
9pm      Byron Wallen (606 Club)
       Zem Audu Quartet (Octave)

Sunday 25th November
2.30pm      North of Border: Kevin MacKenzie Quartet, Dave Milligan Trio, Paul Towndrow Quartet (Barbican)
4pm      The Closing Party (RFH)
       The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk (plus 6.30pm & 9pm)
6pm      Adventures in Sound (Purcell Room)
8.45pm     Zoe Rahman (Vortex)
9pm      Claire Martin (606 Club)

Monday 26th November
11am      Check-out of hotel

Useful Information: Artists

1. Orphy Robinson: 6pm Friday
Orphy Robinson premieres his spectacular new commission Routes Through Routes as part of Arts Council England's Passage of Music series. He joins forces with celebrated poets Adisa and HKB Finn, with Corey Mwamba on percussion and electronics, and Pat Thomas on keyboards and electronics. Telling stories through music, the piece responds to the journey of our ancestors from slavery into emancipation.

2. Jazz Jamaica + Abram Wilson & London Community Gospel Choir: 7.30pm Friday
This mouth-watering celebration of Dune Music's 10th birthday starts with Roll Jordan Roll, a musical meeting between New Orleans trumpeter Abram Wilson and the soaring and exuberant voices of the mighty London Community Gospel Choir.

Roll Jordan Roll tells the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of freed slaves from Tennessee, who became the first African-American singers to be heard in Britain. The show rocked 15,000 people when it was first performed at the Big Chill in August, and it's sure to shake Southbank Centre.

In the second half, Tighten Up! sees Gary Crosby and Jazz Jamaica join forces with the Caribbean's finest. Guitar maestro and legendary producer Ernest Ranglin, story-teller and pianist Marjorie Whylie and lovers rock star Myrna Hague add their own special Jamaican touches in this rousing tribute to the halcyon days when Trojan Records, the Skatalites, Prince Buster and many more had the UK dancing to a different tune - a world of rock steady, ska, blue beat and pumping reggae grooves.

Jazz Jamaica's trademark blend of Jamaican roots and jazz spice, driven by Crosby's infallible basslines, features a horn section of blistering power and packed with top class soloists.

3. Don Letts presents Speakers Corner: 7.30pm Friday
Speakers’ Corner is a new live music theatre performance, spearheaded by film and music maverick Don Letts. Seven cutting edge lyricists including rapper and poet Skinnyman, human beatboxer Mad Flow and spoken word artist Malika Booker. A Contemporary Music Network Tour produced by Birmingham Repertory Theatre in association with the Albany, Deptford and Contact Theatre, Manchester. Speakers’ Corner is supported by Decibel and Arts Council England.

4. Geoff Gascoyne Project featuring Jamie Cullum, Trudy Kerr & The Juno String Quartet: 7.30pm Friday
Presenting music from his Candid CD Keep It To Yourself bass player Geoff Gascoyne has created a large ensemble which features a core trio that have been playing together for over five years. Geoff is joined by Sebastiaan de Krom on drums and Jamie Cullum (in a rare sideman role) playing piano. The Trio is augmented by the Juno String Quartet.

With this ensemble. Geoff is given a wide pallet to showcase his arranging skills. The band will play Geoff's catchy original compositions and choice standards, plus Jamie will sing with the Strings, the Trio and Ensemble. There is also a guest appearance by Australian singer Trudy Kerr.

5. Divas of Jazz: 9pm Friday
Curated by Natalie Williams, The Pigalle Club presents a journey though jazz by some of the country's top female vocalists, paying tribute to the great divas of 20th century jazz.. Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Nina Simone + many more

6. Phil Robson, Corey Mwamba & EMYJO: 2.30pm Saturday
Earlier this year and in celebration of 25 years of one of the country’s most dedicated and successful regional jazz organisations, Derby Jazz commissioned new music from three contrasting composers. The resulting lankmark programme presented here is a London premiere.

7. Jazz Line-Up Live: 2.30pm – 7pm Saturday
A suprise package...live music throughout the day from a prime selection of Festival artists, wrapped around a BBC Radio 3 Jazz Line-Up 's live broadcast between 4pm and 5.30pm.

8. Britten Sinfonia with Gil Goldstein: 7.30pm Saturday
Britten Sinfonia, renowned for their cutting-edge approach to music-making, pay homage to two of the musical giants of the 20th century: Gil Evans and Miles Davis.

Legendary American pianist and band leader Gil Goldstein, who worked closely with both jazz legends in the 1980s, brings his own unique style to this tribute, featuring classics from Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead, while the rich textures of Britten Sinfonia's strings, woodwind and brass recreate this most evocative of repertoire.

The concert also has a pronounced Brazilian flavour - echoing another of Goldstein's musical fascinations - in the form of Luciana Souza, one of Brazil's most celebrated vocalists, whose brilliantly elastic voice gives a stunning interpretation of the distinctive Miles Davis sound.

9. Bill Bruford and Michael Borstlap: 7.45pm Saturday
A thrilling showcase for two of Europe’s most unpredictable maverick improvisers. Bill Bruford is the ace rhythmic genius behind progressive rock giants Yes and King Crimson, and his own innovative electro-acoustic ensemble, Earthworks. Left-field Dutch pianist, Michiel Borstlap is a thrilling virtuoso capable of creating solos of dazzling complexity, and equally at home exploring subtlety and space. As a duo, their witty musical conversations conjure sharp grooves, spontaneous discoveries and edge-of-the-seat brilliance.

10. John Surman: 8pm Saturday
John Surman is one of the most important British jazz musicians of all time: a powerful improviser and a fiercely original composer. His groundbreaking album, Coruscating, recorded in 1999 with bassist Chris Laurence and the phenomenal Trans4mation String Quartet, combined jazz with Surman’s deeply personal approach to chamber music, creating “almost unspeakable beauty: fantastically vivid and evocative” (MOJO).

The Spaces in Between, released this year, revisits that format for a fresh and even more sophisticated work of richness and depth, suffused with an unmistakably English sensibility – an album Jazzwise called “a total joy.”

11. Zem Audu Quartet: 8pm Saturday
Saxophonist Zem Audu has studied with Courtney Pine and Jean Toussaint and is a member of Tomorrow's Warriors. Despite his youth Zem is maing waves as firery soloist positively overflowing with ideas.

12. Byron Wallen: 9.30pm Saturday
A wonderful trumpet player with an easy and fluent style Byron is widely recognised as a seminal figure in British jazz. A creative force on the UK since the early 90’s Byron’s early career included work with the likes of Courtney Pine, Jean Toussaint and Cleveland Watkiss. By the late 90’s his work was receiving world wide attention and his fluent Jazz trumpet could be heard with International artists such as Ronnie Laws, Chaka Khan, David Murray, Andrew Hill, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard and George Benson. An insatiable musical curiosity and his desire to travel have contributed to Byron’s ever expanding musical foundations, leading to work with the likes of leading African musicians Hugh Masekela and Manu Dibango, Moroccan Si Muhammed, Arabian Rony Barak, Anglo-Indian tabla player Talvin Singh and Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira. As a composer Byron’s output has been equally eclectic, with his soaring Jazz trumpet featured on a series of self-penned albums including the MOBO nominated “Earth Roots” through film music to dance and commissions for the South Bank.

13. North of the Border: Kevin MacKenzie Quartet, Dave Milligan Trio & Paul Towndrow Quartet: 2.30pm – 7pm Sunday
This afternoon’s programme focuses on the skills of three world class instrumentalists, cornerstones of a Scottish jazz scene that draws crucially from traditional music as well as the influences of American and European jazz.

14. The Closing Party: 4pm
Working with the Southbank Cnetre, Chris Ofili and Freeness have assembled a collection of the Uk's freshest jazzful music makers for the Festival, featuring the Freeness DJs with Charlie Dark (Blacktronica), and a string of great live bands and suprise guests. Already confirmed are Arun Ghosh Quartet - with their heavy clarinet-led Indo-jazz they represent the cream of the North and the sounds of the inidan sub-continent at the same time - and Andreya Triana - a solo performance from the lady loop lover with her soulful vocals sung over self-composed beats and melodies.

15. The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk: 4pm, 6.30pm, 9pm Sunday
Thelonious Monk’s legacy is "as enduring as that of Bach Mozart , Ellington or Mingus" The Guardian. A towering figure in jazz history – in at the birth of bebop, he was a pianist of complete originality, and a composer whose themes continue to set a benchmark for jazz writing.

This is your chance to hear all 70 of the maestro’s compositions, played by a scintillating seven-piece. Originally commissioned for the final day of the 2003 London Jazz Festival, and receiving an overwhelming response from press and audiences. The Guardian said "The Monk Liberation Front are about jazz as a living artform – a liberating way to end a great Festival". Leaders Tony Kofi and Jonathan Gee are joined this time by Cleveland Watkiss, Corey Mwamba, Quentin Collins, Ben Hazleton and Winston Clifford.

This epic performance is in three sections – indulge yourself with the full Monk experience (roughly six hours of music) or choose just one session (tickets for all sessions music be purchased in advance!).

16. Adventures in Sound: 6pm Sunday
Downtown New York meets cutting edge London. Revisiting the spirit of a fascinating extended concert from a few years ago, and programmed with Radio 3's Jazz on Three, Adventures in Sound combines band sets with ad hoc collaborations that grow from the musicians themselves, as the day unfolds - this is definitely a case of "expect the unexpected".

Gutbucket is a free range band, flitting from hard rock to Latin to thrash to klezmer and back, with jazz and impro somewhere amidst it all "..like a Raymond Scott soundtrack for a film about Frank Zappa, performed by Slayer and Ornette Coleman..only the reels aren't in that order" Nashville Scene. Their unmissable live-to-Superman-cartoons music forms part of today's events.

F-ire associate Arthurs pushes the boundaries with a thinking man's approach to the trumpet, and a single-minded approach to writing and improvisation, ranging from electronic experiments to delicate duets with John Taylor. His trio, with drummer Stu Ritchie and bassist Jasper Hoiby will play a range of new music, developed specially for the occasion. Additional artists to be announced.

17. Zoe Rahman: 8.45pm Sunday
Described in the Observer as "one of the finest young pianists in Europe", Zoe Rahman has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars on the contemporary jazz scene. Her most recent album Melting Pot was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and voted Jazz Album of the Year at the Palimentary Jazz Awards.

18. Claire Martin: 9pm Sunday
Claire Martin is generally considered to be one of the finest jazz vocalists to have come from this country in the last thirty years. Variously described as “..the outstanding voice of her generation” and “.a born musician” this award winning Internationally acclaimed artist has no less than four British Jazz Awards, 11 albums, including numerous “Best album” choices, and a host of high profile admirers to her name. She has had considerable success on both sides of the Atlantic and is held in the highest esteem by just about everyone on the World Jazz scene. With her husky, perfectly controlled, voice, flawless time and impeccable taste she performs a magnificent set of jazz standards and more contemporary jazz material, in her own, inimitable style. As well as a consummate performer she has also established herself as a broadcaster of some considerable note. It is with real pleasure that we welcome back to the Club this remarkable artist. Booking strongly advised. “Claire Martin...a meticulous blend of brilliant material and flawless craftsmanship…this remarkable stylist …shakes you with chills of joy..” New York Observer; “..a class act” JazzUK; “..blessed not only with a wonderful voice but also the rare ability to use it with style, intelligence and wit” Jazz Journal; “peerless” Time Out; “the UK’s most sophisticated Jazz singer” Evening Standard.