Jazz Voice, Jason Moran and BBC Music Jazz Pop-Up Radio Station complete EFG London Jazz Fest Line-Up
Monday, September 12, 2016
The full programme for this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival, which runs from 11 to 20 November, has been confirmed with the names for the opening night Jazz Voice vocal gala announced.
The signature opening concert will be hosted by food writer, broadcaster and jazz pianist Jay Rayner, with guest vocalists including soul-jazz singer/guitarist Allan Harris, prodigious multi-instrumentalist/singer Jacob Collier, Blue Note-signed Kandace Springs, renowned guitarist/singer John Pizzarelli, emerging UK singer Polly Gibbons and acclaimed gospel-soul influenced US vocalist Lizz Wright – all of whom will be backed by the 40-piece London Jazz Festival orchestra on specially written arrangements by Guy Barker. This aptly epic undertaking kicks off the 10-day citywide festival that features over 2,000 artists, 300-plus gigs at over 50 venues in concert halls, clubs and freestages alongside pop-up street performances, talks, workshops and family events and plenty of live radio broadcasts. One further additional concert is from consistently inventive pianist Jason Moranwho appears with his Bandwagon trio of bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits augmented by a Polish chamber ensemble, for a UK premiere of a new piece entitled ‘Wind’ that was commissioned by the Jazztopad Festival, Wroclaw (18 Nov, Milton Court, Barbican).
And, following last year’s successful launch, comes the record-breaking return of BBC Music Jazz, EFG London Festival’s pop-up radio station, which will find BBC Music, BBC Radio and Jazz FM working together to bring five fun-fuelled days of broadcasting between 10-14 November. Bigger in ambition and scale, the 2017 edition will radiate for a marathon 96 hours of continuous content, boasting a star-studded roster of presenters including Stewart Lee, Gregory Porter, Jools Holland, Laura Mvula, Cerys Matthews, Soweto Kinch, Julian Joseph and Claire Martin. BBC Music Jazz will be airing live concert performances from the festival in partnership with BBC Radio 3 and provide unprecedented access to Jazz FM’s flagship programmes and rare archive recordings, including specially commissioned new content with documentary programming spanning from Godfathers Of Jazz, exploring the work of the great pioneers, to David Bowie Jazz Genie, assessing the reciprocal relationship between the Thin White Duke and jazz. The station will also host a countdown of the Top 50 Jazz albums of all time. The service will be available on DAB digital radio, online at bbc.co.uk/music jazz and the iPlayer Radio app.
Dates are:
Friday 11 November: Jazz Voice (Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm); Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston – Wordless! (Barbican, 7.30pm); Mike Walker, Iain Dixon, Guildhall Jazz Band and Choir (Milton Court, Barbican, 8pm).
Saturday 12 November: Tord Gustavsen with Simin Tander and Jarle Vespestad (Milton Court, Barbican, 3pm and 7.30pm); St Germain (Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm); Lizz Wright plus Jasmine Power (Cadogan Hall, 7.30pm); Joshua Redman/Brad Mehldau duo (Barbican, 8pm).
Sunday 13 November: Jan Garbarek Group featuring Trilok Gurtu (Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm); Elza Soares (Barbican, 7.30pm); Re-imagining Sondheim (Milton Court, Barbican, 7.30pm).
Monday 14 November: SFJAZZ Collective playMichael Jackson (Cadogan Hall, 7.30pm); Robert Glasper Experiment (KOKO, 8pm).
Tuesday 15 November: AZIZA featuring Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke and Eric Harland plus Elliot Galvin (Cadogan Hall, 7.30pm); YolanDa Brown with Shingai Shoniwa (Barbican, 8pm); Robert Glasper Experiment (KOKO, 8pm SOLD OUT).
Wednesday 16 November: Miguel Atwood Ferguson – Suite for Ma Dukes plus Carlos Nino (Barbican, 7.30pm); Norma Winstone: 75th birthday celebration (Cadogan Hall, 7.30pm); Tim Garland celebrates Stan Getz and Chick Corea (Wigmore Hall, 7.30pm).
Thursday 17 November: The Cookers plus Chico Freeman (Cadogan Hall, 7.30pm); Joe Stilgoe – A Celebration of Gene Kelly (LSO St Luke’s, 8pm).
Friday 18 November: Jason Moran’s Band Wagon (Milton Court, Barbican, 7.30pm); Marius Neset & London Sinfonietta (LSO St Luke’s, 8pm); William Bell (Barbican, 7.30pm); 1956: A Jazz Jubilee (Cadogan Hall, 7.30pm); Bugge Wesseltoft Residency – Beady Belle plus Isabel Sörling’s Farvel (Kings Place, Hall 1, 7.30pm).
Saturday 19 November: Bugge Wesseltoft Residency – Bugge Wesseltoft solo (Kings Place, Hall 1, 2pm); BBC Concert Orchestra with Laura Jurd and Daniel Herskedal (Royal Festival Hall, 4.30pm);Dhafer Youssef & Ambrose Akinmusire (Barbican, 7.30pm); David Murray, Terri Lyne Carrington, Geri Allen – MCA Power Trio plus Nérija (Cadogan Hall, 7.30pm); Bugge Wesseltoft Residency – New Conceptions of Jazz plus Håkon Kornstad (Kings Place, Hall 1, 7.30pm).
Sunday 20 November: Madeleine Peyroux (Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm); Wayne Shorter Quartet (Barbican, 7.30pm).
– Story by Mike Flynn and Spencer Grady
All tickets and further information are available at www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk