Bassist Ursula Harrison wins BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024

Bassist Ursula Harrison (22) from Pontygwaith, South Wales, is the winner of BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024. The announcement was made during the broadcast of the Competition’s Final on BBC Four on Sunday 24 November, presented by saxophonist and composer YolanDa Brown and DJ and broadcaster Huw Stephens.

A prolific composer, Ursula’s band Orbit Street was selected as a Forté Project artist for 2024, recording a new EP, Forest, and performing across Wales and the South West. Alongside playing her own material, Ursula has worked with a variety of large ensembles, such as the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain, the JM Jazz World Orchestra on their tour of Italy, Croatia and Montenegro and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam Jazz Collective with Michael Mayo in Bimhuis, Amsterdam.

Frequently in demand as a session player, Ursula has performed with the likes of Huw Warren, Ant Law and Angharad Jenkins. She graduated from Cardiff University in 2024 with BA Hons Mathematics and Music, studying with bassists Yuri Goloubev and Jim Vivian, and has recently begun her Master’s studies in the European Jazz Masters programme at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Ursula impressed the judging panel, which includes some of the most celebrated performers on the current international jazz scene (bass player Jasper Høiby, trumpeter Laura Jurd, saxophonist and broadcaster Soweto Kinch, singer and songwriter Zara McFarlane, and pianist Nikki Yeoh) with a performance of her compositions ‘Distant Haze’ and ‘Golden’, alongside her own arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s ‘Speak No Evil’. 

The four finalists had the chance to work with and were accompanied by a world class trio featuring Zoe Rahman on piano, Alec Dankworth on double bass, and Sophie Alloway on drums. For the first time in the history of BBC Young Jazz Musician, the final culminated in a group performance, with all the finalists gathering on stage to play Charlie Parker’s ‘Bloomdido’.

The BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024 final was held on Saturday 23 November at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, in collaboration with the EFG London Jazz Festival. Each finalist presented a set including their own versions of music from the standard jazz repertoire, and at least one piece of their own arrangement or composition.

Ursula Harrison said: “It’s very surprising and lovely to be chosen as the winner. The whole process has been amazing – it feels like we finalists have really bonded as a group and the band was amazing. It was just a pleasure to play my music on stage at the final tonight.”

Nikki Yeoh said: “Picking a winner was an incredibly difficult decision. They’re all such great musicians. We thought that Ursula was really unique in her approach, with very good technique. Also the emotional depth of her playing gave her a bit of edge. But they were all so brilliant! In the end there has to be only one winner, so our decision was down to some tiny details.

The BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024 Finalists were: 18-year-old trumpeter Klara Devlin, from London, 19-year old saxophonist George Johnson from London, and 22-year-old pianist Nils Kavanagh from Sligo.

To watch the final on BBC iPlayer visit www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer