EFG London Jazz Festival 2023: 10 Unmissable Gigs To Book Now

30.10.2023 - 21:32 / forbes.com / London

The capital’s biggest annual music event, the EFG London Jazz Festival, hits town next month, running from 10-19 November and tickets are already selling out. Big name international musicians like Charles Lloyd, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Joshua Redman join excellent local acts including pianist Joe Webb and saxophonist Alex Hitchcock. Look out for interesting collaborations too.

The festival takes over more than 60 London venues, with 300 shows and over 2000 artists, at major venues like Cadogan Hall, the Barbican and the Southbank Centre, as well as at numerous jazz clubs and independent venues including Cafe Oto, The Parakeet and the 606 Club. Here are ten gigs to book now.

One of the hottest tickets is for this free jazz collective formed in early 2015 by saxophonist Keir Neuringer, poet Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) and bassist Luke Stewart, who came together to perform at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event organised after the slaying of Akai Gurley by the NYPD. Trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmeshave since joined and perform together in London in what is sure to be a fantastic evening of avant-garde jazz.

Renowned pianist Joey Calderazzo has played with jazz geniuses like Branford Marsalis and Dave Holland. And as a brilliant composer, improvisor and band leader of his long running trio, he recently recorded Live From The Cotton Club Tokyo. For the London gig, he’ll be joined by bassist Orlando Le Fleming and drummer Donald Edwards as they perform original material and choice cover renditions.

Three-time Grammy award-winning jazz legend and the most recorded jazz bassist in history, will be making his first appearance in the UK in over eight years with his ‘Foursight’ quartet. The group includes drummer Payton Crossley, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Green and pianist Renee Rosnes. With over 60 albums recorded as bandleader, plus countless others as a sideman, including as part of the second Miles Davis Quintet, don’t miss out on seeing the world class musician with a career spanning several decades.

Norwegian saxophonist and composer Marius Neset and his quintet reunite with London Sinfonietta for a third exciting time to perform “Geyser.” Tension boils under the surface of this piece, unleashed intermittently in ecstatic outbursts of rhythmic energy. The quintet includes Marius Neset (saxophones), Ivo Neame (piano), Jim Hart (vibraphone/marimba/percussion), Conor Chaplin (bass) and Anton Eger (drums). Geoffrey Paterson is conductor of the London Sinfonietta.

Multiple Grammy award-winner Cécile McLorin Salvant’s wide-ranging repertoire embraces vaudeville, blues, folk traditions from around the world, theatre, jazz and baroque music. Described by Jazz FM as “one of the