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Swing, groove and hit high notes with masters of jazz

Jane Cornwell

THE EFG London Jazz Festival is 30 this year, and is celebrating with its biggest ever line-up: 2,000 artists in more than 70 venues. Artists of international renown and rising start. Singers and musicians who swing and groove, scat and soothe. Icons. Visionaries. Grammy-winners. Boundary-leaping experimentalists. Elders who’ve played with the greats. Musicians who remind us of the roots of jazz — in the blues of New Orleans, in West African music and culture — and of jazz as protest music. Tickets tend to sell out fast, though.

Jazz Voice

The festival’s traditional opening spectacle celebrates the voice with a line-up featuring eight soloists: jazz singer Dana Masters; alt-country diva Amythyst Kiah; Carroll Thompson, the queen of lovers’ rock; Grammy-winning crooner-turned-Beat-poet Kurt Elling and more. Each backed by the EFG London Jazz Festival Orchestra under the baton of Guy Barker.

• Royal Festival Hall, Friday, November 11

Nubiyan Twist

Leeds-born, London-based Nubiyan Twist draw from a range of influences: funk, reggae, hip hop, Afrobeat, Ethiopian jazz and Ghanaian highlife. All of which the 10-piece present via harmonic horns, electronic flourishes and a solid Brazilian/UK rhythm section, and front with different vocalists including rising star Ria Morgan and singer, rapper and dynamo K.O.G, aka Kweku of Ghana.

More guests will be announced.

• Koko, Thursday, November 17

Lady Blackbird + Doom Cannon

There’s a lot of hype surrounding LA-based soul-jazz diva Lady Blackbird. Her debut album, Black Acid Soul, is a haunting collection of songs that channel Billie Holiday and Nina Simone and came with a band including Miles Davis collaborator Deron Johnson. Live, she takes no prisoners and backlights filter through her peroxided Afro.

• Barbican, Friday, November 18

Emma-Jean Thackray It’s A UK Thing

South-east London’s Emma-Jean Thackray is a modern renaissance woman, a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ as at home with a symphony orchestra as she is fronting a live band — as she’ll do at this club night celebrating UK dance music. Thackray and her musicians have it covered. A Movementt, she calls it, for body, mind and soul.

• Village Underground, Sunday, November 20

Camilla George

Alto-saxophonist Camilla George, below, who I called “the golden girl of jazz” in 2017, has gone from strength to strength as a bandleader and producer as well as a composer and instrumentalist. Her third album, Ibio-Ibio, celebrates her Nigerian heritage with a blend of Afrobeat, hip hop and jazz, aided by some of the hottest names around. • Jazz Café, Wed, November 16

Don Cherry Tribute Featuring Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Neneh Cherry and more

The late Don Cherry was a trumpeter and world music fusionist whose solo catalogue and work with Sun Ra, Albert Ayler and, especially, avant-gardist Ornette Coleman changed the face of jazz. Among those celebrating Don’s life are his son, pianist and multiinstrumentalist David Ornette Cherry, his singer/rapper daughter Neneh Cherry and his grand-daughter, artist/spiritual jazzer Naima Karlsson.

• Barbican, Sunday, November 20

Melody Gardot

Born in Philadelphia, based in Paris, singer Melody Gardot has won acclaim for her astonishing alto voice. This London debut sees Gardot performing 2020’s Sunset In the Blue, an album full of romantic sentiment. Prepare to swoon.

• Royal Festival Hall, Saturday, November 19. efglondonjazz festival.org.uk

Upfront

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