We are incredibly excited for the EFG London Jazz Festival this year and to host some fabulous musicians on the Women in Jazz Media stage once more. November brings with it dazzling performances, dotted all over London, and allows us as an organization to platform some wonderfully talented jazz women. Including…

21st November 2024 - The Crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields: 

The All-Female London Gay Big Band In Partnership with the Talent Banq

The All-Female London Gay Big Band is a sensational all female jazz orchestra formed in 2021 in partnership with Women in Jazz Media and the London Gay Big Band for the EFG London Jazz Festival. Comprising predominantly of LGBTQ+ musicians, this exciting and rarely seen line up adds a refreshing, vibrant touch to the London music scene led by trumpeter and flugelhorn player, Charlotte Keeffe and vocalist Lara De Belder.

Hannah Horton spoke to Charlotte and Lara in the recent episode of our podcast In Conversation With...and you can listen here

The London Gay Big Band, founded in 2011, has garnered attention through their impressive performances. They have graced renowned events such as the EFG London Jazz Fest and London Pride, and have performed at notable venues in London and internationally, including; Ronnie Scott’s, BST Hyde Park Festival, Southbank Centre, Trafalgar Square, and more.

TALENTBANQ is an exciting and innovative organisation making a huge impact on the grassroots musical landscape. As a live music agency, they represent a fantastic range of independent artists with over 150 currently on their roster from a diverse range of genres. Experience the captivating performances of The London Gay Big Band as they continue to make their mark on the dynamic jazz scene in London and beyond. 

Tickets here

23rd November 2024 - Toulouse Lautrec:

Jazz Sisters: Networking, Community and Life in the Jazz Industry

A networking event for women working in the jazz industry over coffee and a nibbles. An opportunity to hear and share experiences in the jazz industry and find some useful advice from journalists, PR, event managers, musicians and photographers.

Doors: 1.00pm
Show: 2:00pm

Featuring guest speaker the award winning journalist Jane Cornwell.

Jane Cornwell is an author, journalist and critic and raconteur writing mainly about jazz and global music, arts and culture, and also about travel and luxury travel. Jane writes for major newspapers, magazines and online platforms in the UK and Australia. She is a contributing editor of Songlines magazine and is an interviewer and onstage MC for the likes of Womad, Womadelaide and the EFG London Jazz Festival. She also writes books, press releases and sleeve notes. 

This will be an educational and enlightening event that you don’t want to miss!

Tickets here

23rd November 2024 - Karamel Club:

Mary Sho: Kicking Down the Door

Mary Sho was a recipient of our Kicking Down The Door Creator fund in 2023 and now a member of the team, leading on our Kicking Down The Door podcast series, platforming inspirational black women working in the music industry. Her first guest was the mighty China Moses and you can listen here

 Mary Sho, a singer and songwriter hailing from South London with a worldwide sound which transcends time and space, offering a home to lovers of authentic, live sounds. Sho’s sound drops you into the late 70’s and early 80’s with tinges of contemporary soul infused with funk origins, creating sounds similar to if Lizzo met Solange met Childish Gambino met Sly and The Family Stone with Thundercat on additional bass! Mary Sho links click here

This will be a musically enriching evening in the heart of North London, passing on the ‘Kicking Down the Door’ torch to those who continue to benefit from this wonderful programme.

Tickets here

24th November 2024 - Toulouse Lautrec:

Two Voices for One Sound: Reconnecting with Ourselves  Here and Now

A workshop to explore and raise awareness about the voice as an internal dimension of expression of the identity of each of us. By two voices we mean a reflection on the voice as both human identity and on the voice as self-expression. Sound represents ourselves, our uniqueness with all the nuances that each of us brings with us and that makes us original.

The primary objective of the workshop is to develop awareness of the value of our voice and grasp the nuances that can improve the person's well- being. The first part of the workshop will be conducted by singer and psychologist Diana Torti. In this part, vocality and possible connections with the aspect of well-being will be introduced. 

The second part will be curated by singer Germana La Sorsa, who will share her own experience on finding harmony and balance through mindfulness and meditations and how these practices helped her to fully use her voice as an artist.  Germana will lead a collective meditation where participants will improvise with mindfulness, breathing through their instrument, ultimately creating an impromptu performance.

This will be a calming and interesting event, which will transport its audience to another realm, demonstrating the real beauty that lies in music as its own medicine. 

Tickets here

24th November 2024 - Toulouse Lautrec

Anniversary Team Night

The last day of the EFG London Jazz Festival is also the 4 year anniversary of the award winning not for profit organisation Women in Jazz Media. Join us for performances from the team, some photography, talks and above all a sense of jazz community! 

Performances from: Mary Sho (Vox) , Wendy Kirkland (Piano) , Migdalia Van Der Hoven (Drums), Germana Stella La Sorsa (Vox) , Charlotte Keeffe (Trumpet) , Diana Torti (Vox), Laura Impallomeni (Trombone) Hannah Horton (sax) Betty Accorsi and more.

Mary Sho 'Armed with live instrumentation and striking, self-directed visuals, Sho’s spacey vocals float over bass-heavy, funk-soul sounds while highlighting the experiences of Black women and owning the power of her identity.’ 

Wendy Kirkland “One of the great unsung heroines of British jazz. The lucid warmth of her singing is accompanied by her highly accomplished piano playing.” The JazzMann.

Migdalia Van Der Hoven‘a new focussed, driven and exciting star has arrived, and her name is Migdalia van der Hoven’ . Jazz in Europe.

Germana Stella La Sorsa Her voice is powerful when required, but also capable of great variety and soulful subtlety” – Jazz Journal.

Charlotte Keeffe ”Her full-bodied broad tone and stealthy phrasing are effective regardless of the changes in instrumentation and stimulus… Keeffe shows notable strength of character as she runs the sonic and emotional gamut…” – Kevin Le Gendre, JAZZWISE.

Diana Torti”Diana Torti, another naturally gifted Italian singer”. Suzanne Lorge.

Laura Impallomeni‘composer and trombonist Laura Impallomeni is fearless. As a trombonist, composer, psychologist and an employee of Play For Progress, an award winning charity working for young people seeking asylum, Laura’s work beautifully connects and interweaves  life, love and her ever evolving journey.’

Hannah Horton“Hannah is real. She is authentic. She is an artist who draws you in, engages you, inspires you and captivates you” Jazz in Europe.

Betty Accorsi 'Accorsi impresses as both an instrumentalist and a composer. “The Cutty Sark Suite” takes the listener on a musical journey, with each individual movement representing a voyage of discovery in itself.' The Jazz Mann.

This will be a night filled with community and joy, a night of true celebration of everything Women in Jazz Media has achieved and looks to achieve in its future.

Tickets here

Welcome to the latest episode of ‘In Conversation With’ with host and producer Hannah Horton, with our theme tune Surfing Thermals from our host, Hannah too! In this episode, host Hannah Horton welcomes Charlotte Keeffe AND Lara De Belder

Our podcasts are named as one of the Top 15 Women In Media Podcasts on the web by Feedspot and you can also find our podcasts at number 9 in the top 60 Best Jazz Podcasts in FeedSpot!

You can listen on Spotify here

You can listen on Apple Podcasts here

Musician, trumpeter and flugelhorn player Charlotte Keeffe wears her love for freely improvising, free jazz and abstract music-making on her (brightly coloured) sleeve. Whether performing regularly as a soloist (Sound Brush), or leading a variety of different ensembles, including her RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW Quartet, with Ashley John Long on double bass, Ben Handysides on drums and Moss Freed on guitar, she meticulously carves out spaces for the free movement of ideas and individual expression. Inspired by abstract painters, Keeffe refers to her instruments as ‘Sound Brushes’.

Her debut album ‘Right Here, Right Now’ is where you’ll find her exhibiting a passion for vibrant soundscapes rendered in live spaces. Released in 2021 on Discus Music, Keeffe earned critical acclaim and carved out a niche on the imprint, also composing, performing and co-leading (with Discus Music's head, Martin Archer), for/on a number of the record label's artists/projects. Keeffe's 2nd album is out now (released September 2023) and features her RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW Quartet, ALIVE! in the studio... To date, her music has been significantly featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 6 and Jazz FM, where she's been described as a 'prolific', 'dynamic' and 'excellent improviser!', by the likes of Corey Mwamba, Stuart Maconie and Jez Nelson.

​Harnessing the power of art for social change is a crucial part of Keeffe’s musical identity: she has served as Assistant Musical Director of the London Gay Big Band, champions gender and diversity equality, as part of the Parliamentary award-winning Women in Jazz Media team, and played in Marin Alsop's Taki Concordia Orchestra at the World Economic Forum 2019, in front of world leaders and celebrities including Sir David Attenborough. From stepping on Glastonbury and Wilderness stages alongside Charlotte Church, Laura Mvula and Kate Nash, to broadcasting to an international audience live from her bathroom during the global pandemic, Keeffe understands that embracing individuality and letting go of inhibitions is the surest way to grasp the transformative power of music.

Originally from North Yorkshire, London-based Actor, Singer & Writer Lara de Belder studied Music at the University of Leeds before training in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music in London. With a musical background spanning choral and classical music, musical theatre, jazz, blues and pop music, Lara has worked as a performer and creator in theatre, film, TV and concert and is the co-writer and creator of new British comedy musical, Bird Brigade, alongside Luka Antony Bjelis, directed by Grace Taylor (SIX) and long-listed for the Stiles and Drewe Mentorship Award 2021.

Lara's passion for an eclectic range of musical genres has influenced her as a solo artist and writer of original material fusing pop with flavours of jazz, blues, funk, soul, RnB, hip hop, folk and electronic dance styles, first launching in May 2021 with Turn It Over. Describing her music as 'jazzpop', Lara takes inspiration from artists such as Celeste, Jacob Collier, Melody Gardot, Jamie Cullum, Ella Fitzgerald, Erykah Badu, Lizzo, Amy Winehouse, Robyn and Jessie Ware. Her music has been featured on BBC Introducing on BBC Radio Tees with Rianne Thompson and Rachel Teate as well as other radio programmes and podcasts including a placement on Bulgarian National Radio.

Lara is the current lead vocalist for 25-year running The Red Stripe Band, performs regularly with the London Gay Big Band (Britain’s Got Talent) and has recorded vocals for the likes of John Owen Jones, Howard Carpendale and Danielle Steers.

She’s performed at various festivals and venues including Crazy Coqs, Above The Arts, Talouse Latrec, The Hideaway, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Edinburgh Jazz Festival, Derry Jazz Festival, Galway Jazz Festival, Burton Agnes Jazz Festival, Twinwood Festival and Pride festival main stages in London, Berlin, Sitges and the Channel Islands.

Lara is also a writer and vocalist with upcoming Sony-AMG artist EnEyeCee, DWB Music Publishers and Gift Of Music.

Hannah Horton is a British Female Jazz Saxophonist whose music is rooted in jazz, folk and funk. She has performed with many great jazz artists including Ian Shaw, Amy Winehouse, John Etheridge, Tina May, Georgia Mancio, Polly Gibbons, Natalie Williams, Esther Bennett and Irene Serra; and at venues including Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Dean St, The 606, The Pheasantry, Love Supreme Jazz Festival, Royal Festival Hall and The Barbican. She has also toured in Europe and USA with her own and other groups. Her latest album has been going down a storm across the world. “Hannah makes the big beast of a baritone sax sound like an angel” – Ian Shaw. Hannah Horton website

We publish a new playlist each month and try to share a wide range of women from across the world - new releases, legacy artists, new and established artists and also some women we think you should know about but maybe don't! 

This month we have a ‘special edition’ playlist, highlighting the incredible music of the 12 artists playing at our EFG London Jazz Festival events from the 21st- 24th of November!  You can listen on Spotify here or YouTube here - as always we would encourage you to purchase music directly from the artist through the links below.

Find out more about each event and get your tickets here: https://womeninjazzmedia.com/events/ 

Mary Sho     Hannah Horton        Betty Accorsi     

Laura Impallomeni       Germana Stella La Sorsa       Charlotte Keeffe

Lara De Belder      Migdalia Van Der Hoven     Diana Torti

The London Gay Big Band     Jane Cornwell     Wendy Kirkland 

Our new Women in Jazz Media Playlist is now out: Volume 38! We publish a new playlist each month and try to share a wide range of women from across the world - new releases, legacy artists, new and established artists and also some women we think you should know about but maybe don't!  We keep it to 15 artists per playlist to give you time to discover, listen and share these incredible women. 

You can listen here on Spotify or Youtube. As always we would encourage you to buy directly from the artist where possible, and all the links are on our site here: 

Eleonora Claps    Agnes Perrson    Sol Jang

Camille Thurman   Kari Van Der Kloot     Vanisha Gould

Säje  Asha Parkinson   Anna Maria Nordstrom

Carmen McRae      Holly Channell     Keiko Matsui

Audrey Ochoa      Tania Maria     NALEDI

Do please get in touch if you have music you would like us to include - either your own or recommendations. We are especially keen to share music from female instrumentalists and composers.

Welcome to our podcast series ‘On The Bookcase’, featuring female authors from across the world, with host Fiona Ross and original music from Hannah Horton.  We were excited to find our podcasts named as one of the Top 15 Women In Media Podcasts on the web by Feedspot! Huge thank you to them! You can also find our podcasts at number 9 in the top 60 Best Jazz Podcasts in FeedSpot! 

In this episode we welcome Dr Alexis McGee, to talk about her new book, From Blues to Beyoncé: A Century of Black Women’s Generational Sonic Rhetorics

You can listen to the episode on Spotify Apple and all major podcast platforms

Dr. Alexis McGee received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at San Antonio where she also received two certificates of concentration in Linguistics and Rhetoric and Composition. Drawing from this background, McGee is an interdisciplinary scholar who engages with various fields and sub-disciplines such as Rhetoric, Composition/Writing Studies, Black Studies, Critical Pedagogies, Sound Studies, as well as Women and Gender Studies. Her concentrated research interests, more specifically, focus on Black women’s rhetorical uses of voice, literacies, and expression.

McGee’s book, From Blues to Beyoncé: A Century of Black Women’s Generational Sonic Rhetorics, (SUNY 2024), amplifies Black women’s ongoing public assertions of resistance, agency, and hope across different media from the nineteenth century to today. By examining recordings, music videos, autobiographical writings, and speeches, Alexis McGee explores how figures such as Ida B. Wells, Billie Holiday, Ruth Brown, Queen Latifah, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Janelle Monáe, and more mobilize sound to challenge antiBlack discourses and extend social justice pedagogies. Building on contemporary Black feminist interventions in sound studies and sonic rhetorics, From Blues to Beyoncé reveals how Black women’s sonic acts transmit meaning and knowledge within, between, and across generations. Her work has been featured on BBC Radio4 and published in various venues including College, Composition, and Communication (forthcoming, 2022); Rhetoric Review (2021); Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies (2018); Obsidian (2017); and Pedagogy (2016).

From Blues to Beyoncé: A Century of Black Women’s Generational Sonic Rhetorics: Available to purchase here

Welcome to the latest episode of ‘In Conversation With’ with host and producer Hannah Horton, with our theme tune Surfing Thermals from our host, Hannah too! In this episode, host Hannah Horton welcomes Kai Hoffman

Our podcasts are named as one of the Top 15 Women In Media Podcasts on the web by Feedspot and you can also find our podcasts at number 9 in the top 60 Best Jazz Podcasts in FeedSpot!

You can listen on Spotify here

You can listen on Apple Podcasts here

Originally from Boston, MA, USA, Kai Hoffman is a blues, jazz & cabaret singer, songwriter, bandleader and recording artist based in the United Kingdom. Kai’s international reputation is growing steadily with shows including Don’t Tell Mama and the Metropolitan Room in New York City, The Blue Note in Milan and the European Jazz Expo, with further performances in countries as varied as Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Russia.

Kai is also the founder of the Herne Bay Jazz Festival:

Founded by artistic director Kai Hoffman, Herne Bay Jazz Festival CIC became a registered non-profit community interest company in February, 2024. As a CIC, we are currently expanding our year-round programs which will include workshops and performances over the course of the year as well as our August events. With a strong emphasis on exploring this genre of music without the barriers of cost or travel, our program includes new and established performers across a wide range of jazz styles, with free workshops for children and adults to explore their own creativity, offering our audiences the broadest selection possible, with an emphasis on inclusivity.

Kai’s links here

Hannah Horton is a British Female Jazz Saxophonist whose music is rooted in jazz, folk and funk. She has performed with many great jazz artists including Ian Shaw, Amy Winehouse, John Etheridge, Tina May, Georgia Mancio, Polly Gibbons, Natalie Williams, Esther Bennett and Irene Serra; and at venues including Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Dean St, The 606, The Pheasantry, Love Supreme Jazz Festival, Royal Festival Hall and The Barbican. She has also toured in Europe and USA with her own and other groups. Her latest album has been going down a storm across the world. “Hannah makes the big beast of a baritone sax sound like an angel” – Ian Shaw. Hannah Horton website