Having played a sold-out gig at the pizza-chain-cum-jazz-club a few years ago, saxophonist and bandleader Tom Smith returned to Soho’s Pizza Express Live this Sunday (5 October), alongside his big band collaborators, for a lunchtime gig of original compositions. Smith [...]
“I wanted to explore the 70s Brazilian sound…I met Luiz Morais and that just clicked into place.” UKJN spoke to Cheltenham-based saxophonist Dom Franks about the second instalment of his twin album project, and about his enthusiasm for what is [...]
It feels fitting that the Southbank Centre’s Meltdown festival – this year directed by rapper Little Simz – should fall on the week during which the city’s temperatures exceed 30°C. On the seventh night of the festival, London-based saxophonist Nubya [...]
Avishai Cohen drew a full crowd to Ronnie Scott’s on Tuesday night (18 March) for the second night of his three-night residency. Cohen couldn’t have been more warmly received at Ronnie’s, and there was a very healthy buzz as fans [...]
Effra, Misha Mullov-Abbado’s fourth album as bandleader, is in many ways a love letter to Brixton: the London neighbourhood that he calls his home. So it might seem slightly ironic that the composer and double bassist would play the album’s [...]
Singer and soul veteran Madeline Bell will be the RNCM Big Band’s guest star at their concert on Friday 13 December in the RNCM Theatre. For some time now, the Royal Northern College of Music’s (RNCM) Big Band has treated [...]
In Polish, Za Górami is a way of saying ‘once upon a time’ (“za górami, za lasami”/“behind the mountains, behind the forests”). So says singer and violinist Alice Zawadzki of her latest album (released on ECM in September): a collection [...]
Yazz Ahmed has had a busy Saturday. Following two sessions of Jazz Yoga at the Southbank Centre, the British-Bahraini trumpeter played London’s Grand Junction on the second night of the 2024 EFG London Jazz Festival. Based in the neo-gothic St [...]
Having released his 10th album “Seeing” on ECM this year, Tord Gustavsen is a man who needs little introduction. A hugely celebrated pianist in his native Norway, he proved equally popular on the other side of the North Sea for [...]
As the Israel-Palestine conflict continues, the death toll in Gaza surpassing 10,000 people, Nai Barghouti’s two performances at King’s Place for the London Jazz Festival were ones of “grief and hope”. The Palestinian singer, composer and flautist dedicated the concert [...]
