African free improv sax titan Gétatchèw Mèkurya and Dutch free thrashers The Ex are hitting north London next week unleashing their ferociously uplifting brand of Afro-jazz-thrash at the Rich Mix arts venue on 10 December.
OK the jazz Grammys mean less in the UK than in the US and the nominations have even less significance than the big night next year when the winners are announced but nonetheless it would be foolish to ignore them.
Ever deepening and just as reflective and haunting as ever the Tord Gustavsen Quartet are to return with the release on 30 January of their latest album The Well.
Avishai Cohen returned to the UK for the first of a three-night sold out run at Ronnie Scott’s with his hot new trio that has toured on the international festival circuit to widespread acclaim this year.
Jazz musicians improvised to the sounds of the newly reopened Glockenspiel in Leicester Square earlier this afternoon as students from the jazz department of the Royal Academy of Music in collaboration with the Bern Conservatory in Switzerland took part in the reopening ceremony for the reinstalled Glockenspiel at Swiss Court.
Newcomer Gregory Porter has scooped the 2011 Jazzwise album of the year title with his debut album Water released on the Harlem-based Motéma label.
It’s been a busy year for London-based sax-bass-drums trio Partikel with numerous festival and club appearances and a burgeoning reputation as one of the hottest young bands on the UK jazz scene.
A key festival of improvisation to be held in Glasgow this weekend beginning on Friday is one of the last big UK gatherings of key Scottish, UK and international improv innovators and performers this year, with influential electronics man Jan Bang (left) and high energy improvising pianist Satoko Fujii from Japan among the key artists at Festival IV, hosted by the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, which runs until Sunday at the CCA on Sauchiehall Street.
Indelibly associated with the Bill Evans Trio, and as a drummer and bandleader as au fait with the complex early advances of bebop as he was with the constant ebb and flow of the post-bop avant-inclined new musical landscape, Paul Motian died at the age of 80 earlier today in New York City.
On Stamford Street in Southwark the Blue Train Jazz Club sets off next month with a busy programme featuring many leading UK jazz singers.
