After a short hiatus, the Jazz FM awards are back this year, with singer Melody Gardot confirmed as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Gold Award, which celebrates “extraordinary and sustained contributions to the world of music”. And Ms Gardot has certainly done that over a two-decade-long career.
- Several other jazz musicians have also made the list, including pianist Sultan Stevenson and jazz and funk band Mama Terra.
- Ni Maxine, a highly accomplished neo-soul singer, is also up for Breakthrough Artist.
The ceremony takes place on April 24 at Koko in Camden. The nominees for other gongs include many names familiar from this column – Ezra Collective (UK Jazz Act of the Year, which is a public vote), Nubya Garcia, Alice Zawadzki, Shabaka, Lakecia Benjamin, and Meshell Ndegeocello (Album of the Year, another public vote; the latter pair are also up for International Jazz Act).
Awards Season is Here
Of the Breakthrough Artist’s award, we have highlighted two of the three recently – pianist Sultan Stevenson and jazz and funk band Mama Terra. For a full list of Jazz FM nominees, see https://www.jazzfmawards.com
Red carpet and music highlights will be played on the station on the night and the next day.
Nominees Mama Terra has a new live album playing the music of Herbie Hancock (Chameleons, Acid Jazz), mostly from his iconic Head Hunters album. It contains a splendid sax-heavy version of Vein Melter, although its abrupt funk interruptus ending will probably send you back to the start again for more. Mama Terra will be playing Herbie and more at the Pizza Express Soho on April 14. See: https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/mama-terra
Herbie Hancock Celebrates his 85th Birthday
The man himself – Herbie Hancock, celebrating his 85th birthday – is over here this summer as part of promoter Serious’s Summer Jazz Season. He has a three-night residency at the Barbican on July 24/25/26. It’s been a glittering and expansive career – he’ll no doubt pack in as much as he can from the past six-plus decades of performing. Tickets: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/herbie-hancock
Other gigs that are part of the season include extraordinary prog-rock and Armenian folk-influenced pianist Tigran Hamasyan plus singer/songwriter/violinist Alice Zawadzki (June 16 – https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/tigran-hamasyan-the-bird-of-a-thousand-voices) and that great proponent of the art of the piano trio, Brad Mehldau (June 24 – https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/brad-mehldau-trio-with-felix-moseholm-jorge-rossy). For full details of the season and other jazz gigs see: https://serious.org.uk/whats-on/upcoming-events
Ancient Inspirations
My first exposure to the “nu wave” of jazz that features so heavily in the Jazz FM Awards was upstairs at the Camden Assembly four or five years ago, when jazz was still a minority (and relatively elderly) pursuit.
Pianist Ashley Henry was playing, supported by the supple fingers of Daniel Casimir on bass and a fiery Eddie Hick on drums. Here was a piano trio that, superficially at least, owed little to Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett or Brad Mehldau, although it shared an all-music-is-fair-game sensibility with the latter, roaming around hip-hop and funk, pulling in tunes from Naz and Solange to an audience that was young, diverse and dancing. For me, it was an eye-opening and exhilarating experience.
Since then, Henry has expanded his vision even further, co-opting a cast of well-known collaborators and releasing an EP (Easter) and two albums: the acclaimed Beautiful Vinyl Hunter (Universal) and, more recently, the equally well received Who We Are (Naïve). The latter includes some of my favorite artists as guests – sassy vocalist Judi Jackson, bright and brilliant trumpeter Theo Croker and scorching sax man Binker Golding (although he’s relatively restrained here), as well as some unfamiliar (to me) names – poet Aja Monet and rapper Mak. It’s a melange of funk, soul, rap, bossa and jazz.
It might sound a bit scattershot and unfocused but Henry’s cascading, hook-rich piano means it all hangs together nicely. He also ventures into singing, even covering Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam, which again works because he channels the passion of that song through his angular, percussive solo. He will be featuring that record and no doubt earlier material in his live show at the QEH (he’s well outgrown the Assembly) on April 12. Tickets: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/ashley-henry/
A Jazz Icon in the Making: Jacqui Dankworth
Daughter of jazz aristocracy Jacqui Dankworth – parents: Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine – has a new album out soon, called Windmills (Perdido). A selection of mostly familiar songs (London by Night, The Windmills of Your Mind, Send in the Clowns) are given a fresh, invigorating lease of life by her pianist husband Charlie Wood’s arrangements, with backing from the BBC Big Band and two string ensembles.
The singer’s peerless control, tone and emotional depth are on full display here – as well as echoes of her mother’s phrasing and timbre – and it is highly recommended for anyone whose heart lies with classic sophisticated jazz. Jacqui is a guest of Ian Shaw for a Saturday Brunch at Ronnie Scott’s on April 12, where she will be telling stories of her (and no doubt her illustrious parents’) career and singing some favourites. Tickets: https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/saturday-brunch-songs-stories-with-jacqui-dankworth
Also set to appear in this new brunch slot is the estimable bassist Gary Crosby OBE, co-founder of the Tomorrow’s Warriors mentoring programme and therefore a jazz godfather to many of the current crop of young players. Gary recently celebrated his 70th birthday and he’ll be talking to Ian Shaw at Ronnie’s about his five decades on the bandstand on May 3 (https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/saturday-brunch-songs-stories-with-gary-crosby).
The Brick Lane Jazz Festival
You can also catch him live at the fun, freewheeling and sometimes frantic Brick Lane Jazz Festival that inhabits 10 separate music venues (hence the frantic part), mostly based around the old Truman Brewery. It runs across the weekend of April 25-27 and tickets are moving briskly, so get in fast: https://www.bricklanejazzfestival.com (Note there is also a pre-festival launch party on April 16 at Ninety One Living Room, with Glasgow’s finest producer/DJ, Rebecca Vasmant, and her eight-piece Ensemble – https://91livingroom.com/about/).
The festival boasts a large and enticingly varied line-up that covers rising stars (Oreglo, Audrey Powne, Lox) and established names (Jay Phelps, Mark Kavuma, Xhosa Cole).
Africa Space Programme
Gary Crosby’s slot is on the Sunday, at the Village Underground, and very tasty it sounds too. The project is called Africa Space Programme and it features tenor and soprano titan Denys Baptiste, a Tomorrow Warrior’s alumnus, and his fellow sax star Steve Williamson, who was instrumental in the sound of the seminal Jazz Warriors collective that, thanks to Gary (and Janine Irons), produced the TW initiative.
news is a contributor at JazzyMood. We are committed to providing well-researched, accurate, and valuable content to our readers.
