Festival Director Pelin Opcin introduces the EFG London Jazz Festival 2021

Looking ahead to this year’s EFG London Jazz festival, its director Pelin Opcin is hoping it will signal a return to the kind of wide-ranging event, both geographically and stylistically, that it was until last year.

“2020 was an incredible roller coaster,” she says. “It started off by looking like a normal edition, then it was going to be hybrid, and it ended up being purely digital. It was not easy, but the silver lining for us was that we had to fully embrace new media, and find new ways of supporting our artists. 2021 will be a transitional year, but we have planned live events across a range of different sizes and types of venue, while using all our efforts to ensure the safety of both our audiences and the musicians.”

The festival has always been aware of the jazz tradition. One event that stands out is the concert featuring Archie Shepp and Jason Moran at the Barbican: “I was aware of their newly released album Let My People Go, which is a very intimate, spontaneous collection of moments when they got together during various other events where they were both playing. They weren’t thinking of deliberately planning to work together or touring, but when I asked them if we could bring them together for a full-scale concert, they both immediately replied, ‘Yes!’ So we can expect a very intimate, stripped down duo from them, and although the Barbican is a big space, we have successfully presented solo or duo artists there, such as Cécile McLorin Salvant, in 2019 – She’s also back this year at the Cadogan Hall!”

Talking of the Cadogan Hall, it’s the venue for two back-to-back shows by guitarist Julian Lage, and I suggest to Pelin that he embodies the connection between the tradition and contemporary scene.

“Yes, he’s such a thrilling musician, and one of the few who has successfully brought the virtuoso tradition to a younger generation of listeners. He uses traditional forms, melodies and grooves, but he can also be very avant-garde, such as his projects with John Zorn’s music. He’s really developed his own language and we’ll see how that connects to what I think will be an audience of guitar fanatics and jazz enthusiasts!”

The intergenerational aspect of the festival will also be uppermost in the double bill with pianist/composer Greg Foat and drummer Kassa Overall. Pelin points out that Greg’s huge range of musical interests and activities will be reflected in a line-up that brings together young musicians with such senior figures as Art Themen. And Kassa, whom some UK audiences will have heard with trumpeter Theo Croker, combines jazz beats with hip hop in his own work.

“I’m excited about the venue they’re both playing,” adds Pelin, “Because I think the Colour Factory in Hackney is somewhere we can bring this music to a younger generation. But we’re not ignoring the jazz venues that have always been part of the festival, like Ronnie Scott’s, where bassist Richard Bona and Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez will be working together on the back of their album Tocororo, which was produced by Quincy Jones. And then there are artists who are working in more than one venue, such as pianist Jamie Safir who is at Hampstead Jazz Club (where he has been artist in residence) with his trio, but will also be playing at Crazy Coqs with Barb Jungr. He’s another musician with a huge range of work.

“And talking of range of work, one thing that’s most important for us is the showcase for the Serious Take Five programme, at the Purcell Room. This is a professional development scheme that’s intended to help young artists develop their skillset. For a long time it was mainly internal, an industry-facing scheme, about mentoring, not a public showcase. Eight artists each year would come in for a residency to work on marketing, publicity, publishing and so on, and they also have musical coaching, working together in a live setting as well, our current coach being Jason Yarde. And it doesn’t stop with the residency, we keep working with them: if they need advice we give it, and we help with things like album launches. I think it was something of a well-kept secret. So this year we want to make the programme far more public. And this showcase is important, because not only will we invite UK promoters to come and see them, but we will also add an international dimension.

“Of course, many players are no strangers to international audiences. Drummer Romarna Campbell, for example, has worked and studied in the US, and saxophonist Samuel Eagles has played widely in Europe after winning an award at the Bucharest Festival. But there’s no doubt that this will help put them on the global map!”

Explore this year's festival: efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk