Akiko Yano is part of an evening dedicated to Japan at the Barbivan on November 23
NOVEMBER is dominated by the juggernaut of the EFG London Jazz Festival (Nov 14-23) which rolls into town with hundreds of gigs at scores of venues, big and small, generating a rash of fomo moments as you try and choose an event from the extensive list on any given night. Brace yourself – we can only scratch the surface here.
One prominent theme over the fortnight is a celebration of Japanese Jazz (or J-Jazz) and on November 14 Camden’s Jazz Café is hosting NYC-based trumpeter Takuya Nakamura, who ranges across jazz, jungle and electronica and who has composed for video games, as well as playing with Quincy Jones and David Byrne. Should be quite the gig.
See https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/takuya-nakamura
Mark de Clive-Lowe is not Japanese, but lives in Tokyo and is an expert on J-Jazz as well as being an innovative pianist who specialises in live remixing of tracks in the moment of creation. He is joined at Ronnie Scott’s on Nov 20 by Brooklyn’s Melanie Charles, a flutist and singer who also manipulates sounds on stage and Detroit’s Shigeto on pulsating, groove-heavy drums.
See https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/mark-de-clive-lowe
Other J-Jazz events include a whole evening at the Barbican on Nov 23 dedicated to Japan, with pianist/singer Akiko Yano, Kosuke Mino on tenor, Fumio Itabashi on piano and more stars of the fecund jazz scene over there. It’ll be wide-ranging and deep-diving and should be a joyous Sunday evening. Tickets https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/japanese-jazz
If you are not familiar with the fascinating history of jazz in Japan, take a look at the BBE website – https://bbemusic.com/ – as it has flown the flag for it for years and produces excellent compilations and books. There is a shop in London Fields, too.
Also check on the events at the festival’s Jazz Social pop-up, which is hosting talks, events and concerts (many of them free) including, on Nov 22, a reproduction of a kissa (Japanese listening bar), where vinyl is played (usually pretty loudly) to an attentive and appreciative audience. It is hosted by photographer Philip Arneill, whose book Tokyo Jazz Joints (Kehrer Verlag) celebrates these often under-threat vinyl treasure houses. See https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/thejazzsocial for this one and the full line-up at the venue, which is near the Barbican (and runs from the Nov 10) and includes a pop-up Blue Note record store. Hold on to that credit card.
One very symbolic concert for our city is on Nov 19 at the Barbican. It celebrates the production company behind the LJF, Serious, and its 20 years of “Take Five”, an artistic development programme where it mentors and guides the career of a handful of rising stars each year. Along with Tomorrow’s Warriors and Jazz Re:freshed it can claim co-credit for the upward swing in jazz’s fortunes in this country, especially over the past decade.
The concert, called The Evolution of UK Jazz, features Take Five alumni SHABAKA (flutes and more – maybe even a theremin) and Camilla George (sax) fronting a band made up of key figures in the London jazz revival, all of whom are Take Five graduates – Rosie Turton (trombone), Daniel Casimir (bass), Shirley Tetteh (guitar), Corrie Dick (drums) and Renato Paris (keys and vocals), all under the direction of Jason Yarde.
That’s a lot of serious talent on stage (and you get the young and restlessly brilliant Xhosa Cole opening the evening). There will be newly commissioned works, including one by the legendary John Surman, who was the programme’s musical director for 12 years. Details: https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/the-evolution-of-uk-jazz-20-years-on-ft-camilla-george-and-shabaka
Fumio Itabashi is at the Barbican on November 23
You can see two of the latest Take Five batch at the Purcell Room in the QEH on the Southbank on Nov 15 at 2pm. Polish-born, London-based harpist Marysia Osu will be joined by Rory A Green, who is originally from Ghana but was raised in Manchester. Both are bold and exciting players/composers who draw on their respective cultures to bring a fresh slant to UK jazz. https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/take-five-marysia-osu-rory-a-green/
Back to Camden, where Koko has questing, innovative drummers Nate Smith (Nov 16) and Makaya McCraven (Nov 19) and on Nov 20 the wonderfully eclectic multi-multi-instrumentalist Emma-Jean Thackray, who has support from rising “jazz adjacent” star Sol Paradise (who comes, rather more prosaically, from Muswell Hill) who has made rapid progress in terms of venue size and confidence over the past year and is well worth keeping an ear out for. Emma-Jean says he “makes music that sounds like the first time you got laid”. Make of that what you will.
The next night, Nov 21, is the turn of producer/composer/bassist Adrian Younge, one half of the force behind the mighty Jazz is Dead label, responsible for many fine cross-generational albums. He will be featuring his trilogy Something About April, the final volume of which was recently released. After adventures in psychedelic cinerama, this volume is a slightly eccentric, almost operatic, layered slice of vocal-heavy Brazilian jazz, but trust me, it’s a real grower and I am excited to hear it live, and with an orchestra. Again, see the EFG/LJF website, where you can search concerts by date or venue: https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk
As you might expect the ever-reliable Pizza Express live venues are running a full LJF programme. I would recommend the intriguing Harper Trio on Nov 15, also at the Pizza Express Soho, another LJF show (note: it’s at lunchtime) and another album launch, this one called Dialogue of Thoughts.
The trio feature electric harpist Maria Christina Harper and the music is threaded through with influences from her Greek and Egyptian roots. The trio’s line-up is completed by Josephine Davies on saxes and drummer Evan Jenkins, who also plays with Neil Cowley. The music can be hypnotic, intense and involving but the band is not afraid of a grungy, honking groove (see Madness While Trying to Meditate). Recommended. Tickets as before on LJF website, album: https://mariachristinaharper.bandcamp.com/album/dialogue-of-thoughts
Take Five alumni SHABAKA, Camilla George and Jason Yarde are at the Barbican on November 19
Another Pizza Express Soho gig that has caught my attention is the Howl Quartet on the Nov 18, because I have been listening to its album Night Song, which is being launched that night. This is an all-acoustic, piano-less quartet with a twin horn front line – tenor and alto.
I love the way those saxes flirt, harmonise, marry, argue, divorce and jab. There are rapid gear changes and satisfying solos, but I also like the way the group can build tension, leaving you holding your breath for a resolution. This isn’t modish jazz but is firmly in the traditional of great British sax vehicles (here coupled with an excellent rhythm section that rewards careful attention) with a lineage that goes back to Osborne, Surman and Rendell, albeit one rooted firmly in the 21st century. Tickets: through the EFG LJF website above and audition/buy the album here: https://howlquartet1.bandcamp.com/album/night-song
Not every show at a Pizza is related to the festival. Those who remember the great Working Week with sax legend Larry Stabbins and the late and much-missed Simon Booth will be pleased to hear that the powerhouse vocalist from that innovative group, Juliet Roberts, is back in full effect on the scene.
She has teamed with ace jazz keyboard player Janette Mason, whom I first came across a while back when she was promoting a fine album called Demon Left Hand some moons ago to form the band AYRA. She has also played with Oasis and Pulp.
Together Janette and Juliet have produced a deeply danceable serving of R&B grooves with a side-order of deep soul and jazz riffs. And Juliet is in as fine a voice as ever. They are doing two nights at the Pizza Express Holborn (Nov 20 & 21): https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/ayra
Also at Holborn, on Nov 18, is Ubunye, named Best Ensemble in the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards (see https://chrishodgkins.co.uk/2025/10/19/recipients-announced-for-2025-parliamentary-jazz-awards/) for this year’s winners. This blistering 10-piece produces an intoxicating mix of Afro-beat, Afro-pop and traditional Isigqi (“rhythmic”) Zulu vocals by a trio of singers from Kwa Zulu Natal, all propelled by homegrown horns and rhythm section, mostly from Manchester and Leeds. It’s top flight, powerful stuff, especially heard live in an intimate venue. Tickets: https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/ubunye-2
The hip and happening Mildmay Club (which dates from 1888) over on Newington Green always has a busy schedule, involving everything from bingo to stand-up, record fairs to film nights. It also does an excellent line in jazz, including hi-fi hook-ups with Crouch End’s excellent equipment/vinyl shop Audio Gold (https://audiogold.co.uk). On Nov 20, as part of the EFG LJF it features NTBM (Not To Be Missed), a funky jazz-fusion band led by guitarist Tjoe Man Cheung, with the estimable jazz evangelist Jez Nelson playing vinyl through an Audio Gold Rig.
One of the Mildmay’s regular nights is “Cover to Cover” when a live band plays a classic album in full. I’m very much looking forward to Nov 28, which is a full version of Return to Forever/Chick Corea’s Light as a Feather, which was my introduction to the peerless Brazilian singer Flora Purim. This interpretation at the Mildmay features a crack ensemble: the exceptional Brigitte Beraha on vocals, Tori Freestone playing flutes and saxophone, Ivo Neame on Fender Rhodes, Dave Manington doing Stanley Clarke duties on bass and Tim Giles handling drums and percussion.
I can’t wait to hear what they do with the title track and the epic Spain. Note that you have to be a member to buy tickets (or know one to come as a guest) but at £35pa, it’s hardly in Soho House territory. Details of the gigs and membership at https://mildmay.club/
One last reminder of that EFG-LJF website – https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/ – where you can find gigs at Spice Jazz Soho at Crazy Coqs (check out the two shows on the Nov 17) Kings Place, Green Note, Hampstead Jazz Club (on my list: Pete Horsfall and Joe Webb on Nov 20, Jamie Safir on Nov 22), Lauderdale House, Karamel, Jazz in Kentish Town (at the Bull & Gate), the Union Chapel, the Vortex, Earth in Hackney (especially Jasmine Myra with strings and the Ancient Affinity Orchestra on Nov 18), the 606 and other venues right across the city.
It’s a surfeit of pleasures.
