Featured artists across the festival at the Barbican include:
Anthony Joseph, Calypso Rose, Jason Yarde, Mighty Sparrow, Brother Resistance, GAIKA, Punch Brothers, Bobby McFerrin, Archie Shepp, Amina Claudine Myers, Carleen Anderson, Cleveland Watkiss, Omar Sosa & Yilian Cañizares, Arturo O'Farrill Sextet, Alfredo Rodriguez, Avishai Cohen Trio with Shai Maestro & Mark Guiliana, Trish Clowes, Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya with Keyon Harrold
The annual EFG London Jazz Festival – produced by Barbican Associate Producer Serious – returns to the capital for its 26th year to celebrate the breadth of the genre, with performers ranging from established jazz legends to future stars of the scene. As one of the festival’s major venues, the Barbican presents an array of global talent across seven days, alongside a programme of film screenings and FreeStage events. Highlights of the EFG London Jazz Festival 2018 include:
On the 70th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush’s arrival in Essex, British/Trinidadian poet, novelist and musician Anthony Joseph brings together an array of musicians, led by musical director Jason Yarde, and guest artists, including Cleveland Watkiss, Calypso Rose, Mighty Sparrow, Brother Resistance and GAIKA to celebrate the triumph of the Caribbean spirit through song and spoken word (17 November)
Bobby McFerrin, ten-time Grammy Award-winner, renowned for the number one global hit Don’t Worry, Be Happy, performs with members of his group Voicestra, augmented by a 12-piece a cappella choir (18 November)
Free Jazz pioneer and civil rights activist Archie Shepp presents his new project Art Songs and Spirituals, featuring contributions from jazz pianist and vocalist Amina Claudine Myers and Mercury-nominated and Worldwide FM Lifetime Achievement Award winner Carleen Anderson (19 November)
BARBICAN HALL – FULL PROGRAMME DETAILS
Punch Brothers
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Fri 16 Nov 2018, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £25 – 45 plus booking fee
The acoustic quintet bring their imaginative brand of Americana to the Barbican. Punch Brothers specialize in turning traditional roots music on its head – using bluegrass as a starting point to explore and experiment in a plethora of other genres. The band wear their diverse influences on their sleeves, paying homage to Bach one minute and referencing the Beach Boys the next. What shines through this diverse tapestry of inspiration however is the level of virtuosity displayed by the five players. Their natural musicianship thrives in a live environment as they move fluidly from the melancholic to the frantic with surprising spontaneity.
Formed by mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile in 2007 after his previous band Nickel Creek went on hiatus, Punch Brothers have carved a niche as a band bringing bluegrass into the 21st century. The group released their last album The Phosphorescent Blues in 2015 to widespread praise and released their follow-up LP All Ashore in July on Nonesuch Records.
Produced by Serious
Anthony Joseph & friends - Windrush: A Celebration
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Sat 17 Nov 2018, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £20 – 35 plus booking fee
70 years on from the HMT Empire Windrush’s arrival in Essex, British/Trinidadian poet, novelist and musician Anthony Joseph celebrates the seismic impact the Caribbean diaspora has had on UK culture.
For this Barbican concert Joseph brings together an array of musicians and artists, who will be celebrating the Windrush generation and the triumph of the Caribbean spirit through song and spoken word. At the centre of the show will be a newly commissioned Windrush Suite, composed by Musical Director, composer and saxophonist Jason Yarde and performed by Joseph alongside a pan-Caribbean ensemble made up of artists drawn from the Jazz, Roots and spoken word scenes here in the UK, featuring Byron Wallen (trumpet), Ayanna Witter-Johnson (cello, voice), Samuel DuBois (steel pan), Harry Brown (trombone), Phil Ramacon (keyboards), Eric Appapoulay (guitar), Andrew John (bass, vocals), David Bitan (drums) and Richard Olatunde Baker (percussion).
Joining Joseph on the night will be virtuoso vocalist Cleveland Watkiss, feminist icon and Calypso queen Calypso Rose, Calypso singer Mighty Sparrow, rhythm poet and musician Brother Resistance and contemporary dancehall artist, Brixton's GAIKA.
Visuals specially created by Derek Richards, whose work has recently been seen at the Barbican on Carleen Anderson’s Cage Street Memorial project, and the Basquiat and Jazz event featuring Black Top and guests at LSO St. Luke’s during the 2017 EFG London Jazz Festival.
In this Windrush anniversary year, Anthony Joseph has put together a series of events focussing on the positive influence this group of people have had on British multiculturalism, with this Barbican concert acting as the centre piece.
Produced by the Barbican in association with EFG London Jazz Festival
Bobby McFerrin: Gimme 5 (circlesongs)
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Sun 18 Nov 2018, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £20 – 45 plus booking fee
Bobby McFerrin, ten-time Grammy Award-winner, renowned for the number one global hit Don’t Worry, Be Happy, appears at the Barbican as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival in 2018.
Bobby performs his spontaneously composed choral piece Circlesongs with members of his group Voicestra, augmented by a 12-piece a cappella choir – and sometimes by the whole audience. The 12-piece a cappella choir, led by Pete Churchill features Sopranos Fini Bearman, Yvette Riby-Williams, Natalie Williams, Altos
Paola Vera, Emma Smith, Liz Swain, Tenors Ben Barritt, Tommy Antonio, Sam Chaplin and Basses Pete Churchill, Matt Featherstone and Cleveland Watkiss.
This method of creating vocal music was captured by Bobby and Voicestra on their 1997 album also titled Circlesongs (Sony Classical).
‘I want to bring audiences into the incredible feeling of freedom that I get when I sing,’ says Bobby, ‘I want everyone to leave the theatre and sing in their own kitchens the next morning.’
A cappella singers, beatboxers, and vocalists of all genres claim Bobby McFerrin as an inspiration; he is celebrated by both the classical and jazz music worlds. His solo performances and collaborations – with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianists Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, the Vienna and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, and eager volunteers from audiences all over the world – are legendary.
Produced by the Barbican in association with EFG London Jazz Festival
Archie Shepp - Art Songs and Spirituals
Featuring Amina Claudine Myers and the UK Vocal Assembly led by Carleen Anderson
+ Simon Purcell’s RED CIRCLE with Cleveland Watkiss
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Mon 19 Nov 2018, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £20 – 40 plus booking fee
Free Jazz pioneer and civil rights activist Archie Shepp returns to the Barbican, presenting his new project Art Songs and Spirituals as part of this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival, featuring contributions from jazz pianist and vocalist Amina Claudine Myers and Mercury-nominated and Worldwide FM Lifetime Achievement Award winner Carleen Anderson.
Archie Shepp – one of the most articulate and original voices to emerge from the maelstrom of jazz in the 60s – revisits a time where he explored both his connections to Africa and the civil rights movement that swept America. Joining him for this journey is a band that includes regular collaborator Amina Claudine Myers, drummer Hamid Drake and soul singer Carleen Anderson, who leads the UK Vocal Assembly featuring Cleveland Watkiss, Beverley Skeete, Gina Foster, Sylvia Mason-James, Janet Ramus, Gail Evans and Daniel Bishop.
Archie Shepp's last Festival appearance at the Barbican in front of a packed audience in November 2013 saw him revisit his classic album Attica Blues. Carleen Anderson returns to the Barbican following a presentation of her Cage Street Memorial project – poetry and songs chronicling over a century of her family heritage – earlier this year.
Simon Purcell’s opening set sees him re-unite with vocalist Cleveland Watkiss, rekindling the spirit of a collaboration forged amidst the energy of the London jazz scene of the 80s. Chris Batchelor, Julian Seigel, Steve Watts and Gene Calderazzo complete the line-up in this opening set.
Produced by the Barbican in association with EFG London Jazz Festival
Jazz Cubano: Omar Sosa & Yilian Cañizares
+ Arturo O'Farrill Sextet + Alfredo Rodriguez
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Fri 23 Nov 2018, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £25 – 37.50 plus booking fee
Omar Sosa and Yilian Cañizares create musical fireworks in a brand new project. Omar Sosa is an inspirational pianist whose musical collaborations stretch across continents and styles, whilst retaining the spiritual essence of his Cuban roots, whilst violinist Yilian Cañizares brings an extrovert lyricism to her music.
Arturo O’Farrill is today’s keeper of the Latin jazz flame – a brilliant pianist, composer, and bandleader whose command of the genre’s language is unparalleled. His father Chico was one of the great Latin jazz composers, working with Count Basie and Stan Kenton as well as Machito and his own landmark big band. Arturo has taken the genre to new heights, winning multiple awards, lecturing and touring worldwide, with a band that carries on the tradition with his own talented sons, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummer Zack O’Farrill.
Legendary producer Quincy Jones has championed and mentored the extraordinary young pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, whose reputation as one of the stellar figures in a new generation of Cuban virtuosi is growing worldwide – a charismatic and spectacular live performer, he returns to the UK following his appearance at last year’s BBC Proms.
Produced by Serious
Avishai Cohen Trio with Shai Maestro & Mark Guiliana – Gently Disturbed
+ Trish Clowes’s My Iris
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Sat 24 Nov 2018, Barbican Hall 7.30pm
Tickets £35 – 45 plus booking fee
Bassist and composer Avishai Cohen celebrates the tenth anniversary of the release of his milestone recording Gently Disturbed, in an exclusive UK performance.
This consummate trio features two more of today’s jazz movers and shakers in pianist Shai Maestro and drummer Mark Guiliana. For their Barbican show, the trio take the opportunity to breathe new life into music that represented a turning point for its creators in its original conception a decade ago.
Opening the concert is My Iris - a new band fronted by Trish Clowes. Lauded for her imaginative approach to improvisation and composition, Clowes provides her bandmates Ross Stanley (piano/Hammond organ), Chris Montague (guitar) and James Maddren (drums) with a unique platform for individual expression, delivering driving grooves and lingering melodic lines.
Produced by Serious
Emma-Jean Thackray: London Jazz x LSO Part II
An LSO Jerwood Composer + Concert
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Sat 24 Nov 2018, LSO St Luke’s, 8.30pm
Tickets £10 plus booking fee
A genre-spanning collaboration between artists from the London jazz scene and London Symphony Orchestra musicians, featuring improvised pieces, beats, orchestral textures, DJs and a brand-new work by Emma-Jean Thackray: the sound of London reimagined
Generously supported by Jerwood Charitable Trust and LSO Friends
Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya
with Keyon Harrold
Part of EFG London Jazz Festival 2018
Sat 25 Nov 2018, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £29.50 – 49.50 plus booking fee
One of the most charismatic performers in jazz today, South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim has been at the forefront of the jazz scene for over fifty years.
Abdullah Ibrahim’s music has long tracked the turbulence of his South African homeland’s history, matching its past struggles and current optimism through music of great hope and deeply reflective soulfulness. In this Barbican show, the pianist will reflect on his past playing classics with his trusted band Ekaya, while keeping one eye on the future as he welcomes rising star trumpet player Keyon Harrold to join him on stage.
Produced by Serious
CINEMA PROGRAMME
The film strand of this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival includes two screenings which are part of Anthony Joseph’s series of events celebrating the Windrush generation and the Caribbean spirit: a brand new collection of documentary portraits, 1000 Londoners: Windrush Generations, presented at the Barbican by some of the filmmakers and protagonists involved and Rachel Wang of Chocolate Films; and a presentation of Pressure, Britain’s first black feature film from 1978 written by Horace Ové and fellow Trinidadian novelist Samuel Selvon. A double bill We Out Here, A LDN Story and Blue Notes and Exiled Voices probes two breakthrough moments in the story of British jazz – and reflects a much wider picture of cultural shift. The documentary The Jazz Ambassadors tells the little-known story of how the US used jazz as a Cold War secret weapon and will be followed by a ScreenTalk with the director Hugo Berkeley and composer Mike McEvoy, interviewed by Sebastian Scotney (London Jazz News).
1000 Londoners: Windrush Generations (PG*)
Sat 17 Nov, Cinema 3, 3pm
Tickets £10.50 plus booking fee
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Rachel Wang (Creative Director of 1000 Londoners) and a selection of the Londoners featured.
Pressure (15)
Sat 17 Nov, Cinema 3, 4.15pm
Tickets £10.50 plus booking fee
We Out Here, A LDN Story + Blue Notes and Exiled Voices (12A*)
Sat 24 Nov, Cinema 2, 2pm
Tickets £12 plus booking fee
The Jazz Ambassadors (PG*) + ScreenTalk
Sun 25 Nov, Cinema 2, 4pm
Tickets £12 plus booking fee
FREE EVENTS
As part of the Festival there will be free live performances presented on the Barbican FreeStage.
Young Jazz from Italy: Alessandro Lanzoni + Clock's Pointer Dance
Sat 17 Nov, FreeStage (Level G), 5pm
A sequence of artists that demonstrate the depth of talent emerging from today’s Italian jazz scene begins on Saturday with a solo piano set from Alessandro Lanzoni, whose dynamic command of lyricism and intensity won him Best New Talent of the Year in 2013 from Italy’s Musica Jazz magazine.
His set will be followed by a quintet from Lombardy whose sonic horizons stretch from familiar jazz territory into influences from rock and free improvisation.
Young Jazz from Italy: Enrico Zanisi + Yellow Squeeds + Simona Severini + Giovanni Guidi & DRIVE!
Sun 18 Nov, FreeStage (Level G), 2pm
With his solo album Piano Tales, Zanisi reveals his potential as both songwriter and player, whilst guitarist Francesco Diodati’s quintet Yellow Squeeds delves into the unusual textures of a line-up including trumpet and tuba.
A second solo set features Simona Severini, who travels through song-writing generations from Monteverdi to Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell in delicately woven acoustic and electronic textures.
A final set comes from pianist Giovanni Guidi, making his mark internationally with multiple albums for ECM, and collaborations with Enrico Rava, Matthew Herbert, Tomasz Stañko – he performs here with his trio DRIVE!.
Next Generation Takes Over
Sat 24 Nov, FreeStage (Level G), 5pm
The Next Generation Takes Over programme gives audiences a first chance to hear the rising stars of tomorrow. This event celebrates emerging talent, profiling the incredible music made by young people across the UK and providing exciting opportunities for collaboration with professional musicians. This event will include music from The Julian Joseph Jazz Academy (JJJA) and The Camden Music Hub.
Nordic Jazz Comets –
Baldvin Snaer Quintet + Signe + I Just Came From the Moon + BounceAlarm! + Don-Qui Five
Sun 25 Nov, FreeStage (Level G), 1.45pm
Five bands chosen from the fertile musical territory that includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are showcased in this FreeStage performance.
Icelandic pianist Baldvin Snær begins by playing from his album Renewal.
Up next are Finland’s Signe (meaning “a woman triumphant” in old Scandinavian), a sisterhood of four voices and a double bass.
Danish quintet I Just Came from the Moon won the Danish Young Jazz Competition; they will perform their album Hoax, with the atmospheric writing of leader Ferderik Hagner at the core. Norway’s BounceAlarm! are a sextet combining whiplash bop breaks, oases of cool jazz, and rock energy. Finally Sweden’s Don-Qui Five take to the stage with a brand of massive and hyperactive acoustic impro-rock.
BARBICAN LIBRARY EXHIBITION
Women in Jazz: A Celebration of the Past, Present and Future
16 Oct—31 Dec 2018, Barbican Library
Free
This free Barbican Library exhibition will present a musical and social survey of the rich contribution women have made to jazz over the last 100 years, and of the talented upcoming generation who herald an exciting new era. It will focus on women instrumentalists, and feature photos, posters, journals, video and memorabilia from the National Jazz Archive, which is celebrating its 30th year in 2018. The exhibition also highlights how 20th century social and political change has played a significant role in women’s growing involvement in jazz.
National Jazz Archive chair Paul Kaufman said: “Singers such as Ella, Billie, Nina and Cleo are household names, but many star women players and pioneers have been sadly neglected and deserve to be rediscovered. So the exhibition will pay particular attention to instrumentalists, such as Valaida Snow, Marian McPartland, Kathy Stobart and Deirdre Cartwright. The Archive is as much about the future as it is about the past, so it is important to us that the current crop of trail-blazing female artists is also featured.”
‘Women in Jazz’ responds to the Barbican’s 2018 cross-arts season The Art of Change, which explores how artists respond to, reflect and potentially effect change in the social and political landscape.
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