Preview: EFG London Jazz Festival 2020

In recent years, the EFG London Jazz Festival has become one of the largest such events in the world, with dozens of gigs in everything from the city’s biggest concert halls to small clubs. But in 2020, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have meant that festival director Pelin Opcin sees this year’s event very differently. “The web is the core of our provision,” she says. “It is the main platform for everything, and as such that’s very exciting. The crisis has prompted us to develop the digital model far faster and in more depth than we would have done otherwise.”

Indeed, with a second lockdown now in place in England, the entire programme is now set to be streamed across the week of the festival.

Some shows will be broadcast live, others will be pre-recorded and streamed later. These two types of gig form the backbone of the festival, around which there are numerous further streamed events that viewers will subscribe to.

“It’s made us look at the whole concept of digital commissioning,” says Opcin (pictured right). “Coronavirus has accustomed audiences around the country to seeing artists staying in their own location and making music online. Of course nothing replaces actually being in the room as live music is being created, but audiences are finding new ways to experience it and to interact with artists. Our festival has always had an international dimension, and so we are still bringing artists from across the world to our festival. Bassist Linda May Han Oh, for example, in her quartet with her husband, the pianist Fabian Almazan, will be filming a bespoke concert for us in Australia, where she is at present.

Tigran Hamasyan plays a solo concert at the festival this year

“And although he has a new trio album due, Tigran Hamasyan will be doing a solo piano concert for us in LA that will again be a bespoke performance for the London Festival. These are fully planned events, just as festival-commissioned concerts might be, not simply eavesdropping on something that’s part of a tour where musicians are playing their regular repertoire. The same is true of Emile Parisien and Vincent Pierani, who, having released a new album, are filming a special show for us in Paris.

“But we will also be sharing some festival concerts online from our international partners, including the festivals in Vilnius and Istanbul.”

As ever, the festival kicks off with Jazz Voice, but this year in a different venue. “Yes,” says Opcin, “It’s the first time it’s been held at Cadogan Hall, after previous years at the Barbican or South Bank Centre. The SBC is open for recording, but we wanted to have this event with an audience. Social distancing means that Guy Barker’s orchestra is reduced from 42 to 14, but that smaller ensemble will still have the mix of strings and jazz orchestra that’s always been a feature of these concerts. It’s a different approach, but Guy will be directing as usual and names already confirmed are China Moses, David McAlmont, Luca Manning and Cleveland Watkiss. The Cadogan Hall is also the venue for a live show, to be broadcast after the event, featuring the finalists in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year contest, who’ll be appearing with Nikki Yeoh’s Infinitum.

The second night of the festival, Saturday 14 November, sees the first of a series of Barbican concerts, which, like Jazz Voice, will be simultaneously live-streamed or broadcast.

Saxophonist and composer Cassie Kinoshi

Cassie Kinoshi and SEED ensemble will be performing an 80th birthday tribute to Pharoah Sanders.

“Maybe in previous years it would have been possible for a musician like Pharoah to be present in person,” Opcin reflects. “But obviously this year that isn’t a viable option for him. But we’ll be celebrating with a mix of old and new music, interpreting a repertoire associated with him, with Cassie, and such other prominent young UK jazz musicians as Shirley Tetteh and Sheila Maurice-Grey. And I have heard more than a whisper that there’ll be a surprise guest appearance from Shabaka Hutchings.”

As mentioned in the September Jazzwise, this month’s cover star Shabaka is himself the focus on Wednesday 18 November, where he’ll be appearing with the Britten Sinfonia and blurring the lines between jazz and classical music.

As well as featuring in Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, originally commissioned by Benny Goodman, Shabaka will be taking Stravinsky’s ‘Thee Pieces for Solo Clarinet’ and then moving on into a solo clarinet improvisation of his own.

“He’s just a super-creative person,” says Opcin. “This concert was originally planned for a Shabaka Marathon event in May, which obviously didn’t happen, but we’ve been delighted to work with him and with the Barbican to make sure it is part of the festival, and it’s not only already sold out, but will be live-streamed as well.”

The following night, at King’s Place, there’s another pair of live and live-streamed concerts. First Jason Yarde brings Acoutastic Bombastic to Hall Two, and later in the evening Yazz Ahmed plays a show with her quartet. “We’re very lucky still to be able to get players to do new work, and bring their projects to the festival,” Pelin says. “Of course there’ll be social distancing on stage, but think how almost six months of semi-isolation has stopped the normal process of development, of working together, of rehearsal. It’s great that during the slight relaxation in the summer, there was the chance for small groups of musicians to get together and work, and Jason has really taken his project forward along with his fellow musicians including Eska, Emma Smith, Seb Rochford and Neil Charles. One good thing is that announcing these concerts has encouraged some other programmers to open up and while the festival won’t be on the scale of earlier ones, we know that it will reach out into the wider jazz community.

“A central sequence of concerts that subscribers to the festival portal will be able to see are by musicians drawn from two years’ worth of intake of the Take Five artist development programme, run by Serious. It’s been difficult to get the 2020-21 cohort off the ground in quite the usual way, owing to social restrictions, but the mentoring is in place and we have started the process. And we’re pleased to be involving musicians from Leeds, Manchester and Belfast, the last-named being Robocobra, who will be one of the closing concerts on Sunday 22 November. But there’s also a chance to hear Jasdeep Singh Degun, Archipelago, Samuel Eagles and Noemi Nuti, among others.”

Artistic director Pelin Opcin

As ever, the festival has events that complement the music. There’s Jazz Yoga at Islington Assembly Hall (luckily for participants, this is not included in the streaming programme!)

There’s also a series of talks and discussions hosted by Jazzwise’s Kevin Le Gendre, addressing, according to Pelin, such topics as Art as resistance, Human rights, Equality in jazz and Black Lives Matter. Summing up this year’s event from the point of view of its producer, she says: “We’ve learned a lot about streaming and filming, but the main thing we’ve learned is how positively all the creative participants have responded. That’s a great message to take forward for the future.”

Full details of this year's festival are available here: efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk