EFG London Jazz Festival 2016.

(Press Release)

Over 2000 artists played 300 gigs and concerts to packed houses in more than 50 venues, from clubs to concert halls, in every corner of the capital.  

We saw dramatic new commissions, breath-taking re-imaginations, and exquisite musicianship of all kinds, edge-of-the-seat solos and plenty more besides.  

There were free performances enjoyed by thousands, concerts and workshops specifically for children and young people, and a fantastic mass-participation premiere with participants from ages 12 to 81. 

This was the 2016 EFG London Jazz Festival.

HIGHLIGHTS

Very hard to pick just a few from such an array of amazing concerts but these included…

Jazz Voice – the opening gala moved to the Royal Festival Hall in this, its ninth year, and promptly sold it out. The first of the EFG Excellence Series, this glittering show saw dazzling performances from Kandace Springs and Jacob Collier, who each played further shows in the Festival, as well as MOBO-winner Lady Leshurr, all compered with great gusto by Jay Rayner.

Miguel Atwood Ferguson – Suite for Ma Dukes - the European premiere of a far-reaching and intensely personal project paying tribute to the work of the late hip hop producer and beatmaker J Dilla. Miguel Atwood Ferguson pulled together an ensemble of UK musicians for ‘a sonic collage that took the music through unexpected twists and turns’ (thisisjazzstandard.com), which was passionately received by the sold-out crowd.

Robert Glasper Experiment – the pioneering US pianist, who refuses to be genre-defined, played two consecutive sold-out nights at Camden’s iconic KOKO and was joined onstage by guests including Lianne La Havas and Omar. ‘There is tremendous punch and urgency in the outstanding musicianship’ (Gigwise)

Norma Winstone - the stars came out to help Norma celebrate her 75^th birthday. Accompanied by the ECM Trio and the Royal Academy of Music, the Cadogan Hall audience were treated to ‘a spectacular celebration of a world class musician’ (LondonJazzNews). We also saw significant milestones celebrated for two other leading British jazz musicians, with Tim Garland’s toasting his half-century with a Wigmore Hall concert that was ‘a highpoint of his stellar career’ (Jazzwise), and a rare solo piano recital from Mike Westbrook marking his 80th birthday.

Jason Moran – the keyboard maestro’s UK premiere of a commission from Wroclaw, the European City of culture’s Jazztopad festival – where the piece had first been performed the preceding evening – and the Polish Cultural Institute in London. 

‘An impressive response, and a rich reward for all the work that goes into arranging such international presentations – this one was three years in the making. Not your regular jazz gig: and that’s one of the things festivals are for.’ (LondonJazzNews)

Jan Garbarek with Trilok Gurtu – playing to a crammed Royal Festival Hall; the master saxophonist was accompanied by the wonderful percussionist, who was even playing a steel bucket at one point.

‘Garbarek is as close to perfection as it’s humanly possible to achieve’ (LondonJazzNews)

Donny McCaslin – the stellar quartet who were David Bowie's Blackstar band, led by McCaslin’s fiery saxophone, roaring through an emotional set, ‘whipping up an electrical storm of beats and spaced-out synths’. (Jazzwise)

Make it/Break it – our ambitious new mass participation work saw nearly 100 amateur musicians from the ages of 12 through to 81, under the direction of Chris Sharkey, rehearse for a full day ahead of a one-off performance to a packed Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall – the culmination of many months’ work, since the project’s debut at Sage Gateshead in April.

TAKING THE FESTIVAL ON THE ROAD

For the second year, we brought the Festival to outer-London boroughs; bringing free music and events from international stars and local artists to celebrate the high streets in Kingston, Twickenham, South Norwood, Woolwich, Leyton, Ilford and Tooting. We’ve seen over 100 free events featuring artists including Adam Ben Ezra, Perhaps Contraption, Allan Harris and Randolph Matthews. 

We also saw artists touring the UK off the back of their Festival shows - including Robert Glasper Experiment to Gateshead, Hull, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham. Anthony de Mare’s intriguing Re-Imagining Sondheim visited Southampton and Manchester, Madeleine Peyroux took in Saffron Walden and Birmingham, and we saw MOBO award-winners Binker & Moses opening for The Bad Plus in Leeds, Bristol and Gateshead.

OUR DIGITAL REACH

We are proud that the Festival was once again the host for the ambitious and ground-breaking BBC Music Jazz pop-up station, working in collaboration with a vast array of BBC radio stations in partnership with Jazz FM. The success of last year’s station meant that this year the broadcast output doubled to 96 hours, featuring live content from the Festival alongside other highlights. Listen to it all on the BBC iPlayer here.

#JAZZLIFE

Following the success of the previous two years, we have again featured a hashtag as the centre of the Festival’s marketing campaign this year, and - at time of writing - have seen this reach over 14,000,000 people, and hashtag impressions of an astounding 72,054,050– that's over 70 million!  Whoever said jazz was an ever-decreasing audience – you were wrong!

2017

Next year’s Festival will be a very special one – it’s our 25th birthday; we run from Friday 10 – Sunday 19 November 2017. Do join our e-list, or check out efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk for updates through the year.