Iggy Pop joins EFG London Jazz Festival Line-up plus Soweto Kinch, Jazz Voice stars and ECM 50th Anniversary Acts

The singer will give an exclusive performance of music from his acclaimed recent album, Free, which he’s described as a reaction to being ‘drained’ after frequent touring, the album’s loose jazz-rock influences indicative of a new sense of musical freedom in his work. The album follows a series of jazz-inspired collaborations with the likes of Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte on 2017’s Loneliness Road and his album of jazz, chanson and literature readings on 2009’s Préliminaires.  

This concert joins those announced in the full programme which also include the premiere of a new multi-media music and dance project from award-winning saxophonist and MC, Soweto Kinch, which will be performed at EartH, Hackney on 22 November. Entitled The Black Peril, the conceptual piece is inspired by the turbulent century of race relations and cultural clashes 100 years after the post-war ‘Red Summer’ riots of 1919 in the US and UK, seeking to tackle many of the thorny sociopolitical issues that still remain pertinent today. Reimagining ragtime, proto-jazz, West Indian folk music and the classical works from black composers of the period via hip hop and contemporary sounds, the music will be performed by a high-calibre 14-piece ensemble including musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago jazz stars Makaya McCraven and Junius Paul as well as dance choreographed by rising star Jade Hackett, all against a backdrop of news and archive film footage from 1919. An album of the music will be released on 18 November, with Kinch set to tour the project in the Spring of 2020.

Also announced are some of the special guest vocalists who will perform at the opening night Jazz Voice concert at the Royal Festival Hall (15 Nov) who include Cécile McLorin Salvant, Urban Flames, Raul Midon, Judi Jackson, Cherise Adams Burnett and Corinne Bailey Rae. The full line-up of gigs celebrating the ECM label’s 50th anniversary now include several Southbank Centre shows on 17 November by pianist Julia Hülsmann’s Quartet (Purcell Room), saxophonist Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry with Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi (Queen Elizabeth Hall) and the Jan Garbarek Group (Royal Festival Hall). There are also opening night performances from ‘Zen-funk’ pianist Nik Bärtsch and artist Sophie Clements’ audiovisual project When The Clouds Clear: A Light and Sound Poem (Barbican) and leading Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski’s Trio (Cadogan Hall), both on 15 November.

Another epic opening nighter comes from renowned bassist/composer Barry Guy who performs the UK premiere of his stunning large scale work, The Blue Shroud (Purcell Room, 15 Nov) Inspired by Picasso’s powerful painting ‘Guernica’, the stellar pan-European ensemble includes the likes of singer Savina Yannatou, trumpeter Percy Pursglove and tenorist Per Texas Johansson among others. These concerts join those already announced in Jazzwise, who is festival media partner.

For the full programme and tickets visit www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk