This is your last chance to win tickets to the Tower Of London Music Festival, so don’t waste a second and enter by post or email.
30.06.06

Tickets are selling fast for this special event curated by Jazzwise and Serious productions celebrating the New Wave of Indo-Jazz at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Dean Street, London. Timed to coincide and compliment Ravi Shankar’s farewell Barbican show on 4 June, this two-day mini-festival features some of brightest and best Indo-Jazz artists from the UK's rich history past and present. Friday 30 May headliners are Andy Sheppard and Kuljit Bhamra who combine serpentine sax lines with virtuosic tabla rhythms to stunning effect while Stephano D'Silva, recreates his father Amancio D'Silva's groundbreaking Indo-modal masterpieces in all their glory. 29.05.08

London’s trendy Shoreditch area has become the home of some exciting after-hours jam sessions of late, as late night venue Charlie Wright’s International Bar has attracted some of London’s finest jazz musicians to its Thursday night programme, particularly Zhenya Strigalev, London’s premier Russian saxophonist, who organises the nights in association with Baltic Records. Running from 10pm-3.30am, it might not be suitable for milkmen or those with young children, but Strigalev has described it as being ‘as close as possible to the New York late night clubs’ and the atmosphere is designed to be as such, with a special area for those who want to talk while still listening to the music, and an inclusive spirit to the jam sessions. Even dancing is not frowned upon!
01.05.07

US singer Lea DeLaria returns this month to Pizza On The Park in London playing three nights from 14-16 December. Her new release The Very Best Of Lea DeLaria marks 25 years in the entertainment business for this multi talented singer, comedian, writer and actress. 
05.12.06

Miguel “Anga” Diaz, who is best known for his acclaimed album Echu Mingua that was released last year, has died, in Spain, having suffered a sudden heart attack. 16.08.06

With their debut album Sizewell Tea picking up acclaim from both open minded jazz and rock critics and their shows breathing fire through the capital’s clubs Led Bib’s explosive combination of blistering improv and jagged avant-rock energy and abandon has made then one of the must see bands of the year. Led by drummer Mark Holub, they were recently named by The Observer as one of the “25 Live Acts to see this summer” and their uncompromising music is reaching out to new aware audiences in the wake of bands such as Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear and Fraud. 
20.07.07

Representatives of the very latest wave of the ever-more-exciting British Jazz scene, Led Bib made an appearance at the Vortex in London last night, promoting the release of their new album Sizewell Tea. Led Bib may not attract the traditional “jazz” audience but the young audience in the Vortex was captive to the strangely catchy style of the group that contrasts freewheeling improvisation with tightly controlled grooves. 11.04.07

‘But Beautiful’, a new stage work bringing together theatre, dance and live jazz to portray the chaotic life of Art Pepper is to be mounted by award winning company Signdance collaborating with Led Bib and the Luke Barlow band. Due to be staged at the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon from 6-24 June the new partnership between Signdance and Led Bib is a relatively unusual undertaking following hard on the heels of Soweto Kinch’s work on the new stage version of Absolute Beginners.
04.06.07

11.06.08

The UK’s only major jazz conference takes place in Leeds from 24-25 March. The event presents two days of presentations, workshops, performances and discussions around the theme of Jazz, Politics and the Popular. This year's keynote speaker is Professor Simon Frith from the University of Edinburgh, the author of The Sociology of Rock and the chair of the Mercury Music Prize. A ticket for the conference costs £70 with a range of discounts available. For more info go to www.lcm.ac.uk 02.02.06

Foremost South African free jazz drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo assembles a great quartet for a farewell gig before heading back to his homeland to enjoy his retirement. Now 67 Moholo-Moholo is the last surviving member of the highly acclaimed Blue Notes – the band he formed with fellow South African pianist Chris McGregor and the Brotherhood Of Breath, whose members were also living in exile. 25.10.07

07.12.07

Avant garde violinist Leroy Jenkins has died of lung cancer aged 74. Born in Chicago he started to play violin as a youngster and performed in his local church moving on to study music at high school and then attended Florida A&M University. After a spell teaching he returned to Chicago in the mid-60s and joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music. Later with Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith plus drummer Steve McCall he formed the Creative Construction Company. 27.02.07

A day of workshops, debates and networking opportunities in jazz will be held at the Tom Dollery Suite at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground on 23 February. The day will offer a chance to discover new trends in music marketing and PR applicable to all genres of music – in many ways reflecting the move towards a more DIY culture among new bands. Tips and advice will be available on how to promote new musical styles, first steps on how to promote jazz gigs, networking and exchanging ideas between promoters. 06.02.08

This year’s London African Music Festival running from 18-30 May is in expansive mood. Moving beyond its South Bank Centre home, the festival now stretches to London venues Cargo, the Coronet Theatre and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Jazz highlights of the festival include: Roy Ayers and the African Jazz Allstars (18 May, Coronet Theatre); Lionel Loueke (19 May, South Bank Centre); Anouar Brahem (21 May, South Bank Centre); Brice Wassy (21 May, Cargo) and Claude Deppa (22 May, Cargo) 
17.04.07

Guitarist Lionel Loueke, best known for his work with Terence Blanchard and Herbie Hancock, is to release his first album for Blue Note in March. Titled Karibu (which means “welcome” in Swahili) it features the guitarist with bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth. Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter also guest on the album. 
21.12.07

Last night at the Soho Revue Bar, a venue more used to putting on burlesque and kitsch pop than gospel-rooted bluesy jazz, the second night of Georgia-born singer Lizz Wright’s latest visit to London, saw an infinitely more relaxed singer than only a few years ago when she performed at an industry showcase in a Mayfair bar when her last album Dreaming Wide Awake was released. On that occasion though, with her room-silencing version of ‘Amazing Grace’ that seriousness was not necessarily a bad thing. 22.04.08

The London Musicians’ Collective is to hold its 15th Festival of Experimental Music on 15-17 December at the ICA in London. Artists taking part include Otomo Yoshihide’s Anode, Roel Meelkop, Tom Chant, Keith Rowe, Ben Patterson and John Edwards. For more info go to www.l-m-c.org.uk 14.11.06

Two Australians, a Filipino, a German and two Americans have made it through to the final of the London International Jazz Competition for Vocalists following their victory at the semi-final stage held last weekend at London's Vortex club. 21.03.06

Next month sees the first ever London International Jazz Competition (LIJC) for vocalists. 07.02.06

This year's Best London Festival in the Music Category of the Time Out Live Awards has been won by the London Jazz Festival after more than 7,000 readers voted via the Time Out website. 23.02.06

Winners of the Jazz Services Promoters’ Choice Awards 2006 – the Lewis Wright Quartet, Neil Yates’ New Origins and the Graeme Stephen Quartet – will perform at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in November as part of the London Jazz Festival, in association with BBC Radio 3.
26.10.06

Trumpet legend Humphrey Lyttelton is to present his last ever Radio 2 Best of Jazz show next week on Monday 17 March at 10.30pm after 40 years presenting the programme. The last show will feature the trumpeter and bandleader’s favourite 10 tracks, to be revealed by him on the night. Lyttelton will continue to host Radio 4's long running popular show I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue but there is some doubt as to the future of the Best Of Jazz slot after Lyttelton’s departure. 12.03.08