Our new Women in Jazz Media Playlist is now out: Volume 25!

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 to this month's playlist on Spotify or Youtube.

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. If you have been in touch and you are not on a playlist yet, please don't worry, you will be on soon! We appreciate you sharing your music with us.

As always we would encourage you to buy directly from the artist where possible, and all the links are on our site here: 

Claire Victoria Roberts  Becky Sikasa  Faye Patton  Manou Gallo

Nicky Schrire   Jazmin Ghent   Kosmos   Laura Lantano

Tina Turner

Lakiko    Margherita Fava

Artemis    LAURA   Melissa Pipe   Yumi Ito

International Jazz Day , originally founded in 2011 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created to shine a light on the power of Jazz and the power of the jazz community across the world, chaired and led by UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay and legendary jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock.

‘International Jazz Day brings together communities, schools, artists, historians, academics, and jazz enthusiasts all over the world to celebrate and learn about jazz and its roots, future and impact; raise awareness of the need for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding; and reinforce international cooperation and communication. Each year on April 30, this international art form is recognized for promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for human rights and human dignity; eradicating discrimination; fostering gender equality; and promoting freedom of expression’  IJD

On this day of celebrating jazz and the importance of partnerships, Women in Jazz Media took this opportunity to shine a light on a partnership that is often unexplored and celebrated. There are many great partnerships in jazz that come to mind, but the importance of the relationship and powerful connection between musician and photographer is one we have all seen but rarely discussed. We have all admired inspired album covers, live performance photography, portrait shots and more but how did they happen? How was the magic created?  The multi award winning Argentinian photographer, Cinematographer and Professor, Adriana Mateo knows.

Having been taking photographs since childhood and growing up with an award-winning cinematographer Roberto Mateo, as a father, it was no surprise that Adriana Mateo has become one of the most successful contemporary photographers in the jazz industry and is a role model to many people across the world. Her portfolio is significant and includes heavyweights such as Dave Brubeck, Jimmy Heath, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Branford Marsalis, Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding, Wynton Marsalis, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter and she worked extensively with Roy Hargrove with her stunning photograph of him at Umbria Jazz festival, winning her the Photography of The Year award from the Jazz Journalists Association. Her partnerships with musicians have produced stunning work and it is no surprise that she has just recently been nominated for the Lona Foote-Bob Parent Award for Career Excellence in Photography by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Adriana’s work with the jazz master’s led her to meet and form an inspired partnership with trumpeter, producer and educator, Jeremy Pelt. Having worked with the Mingus Big Band early in his career, Jeremy’s work has seen him play with Ravi Coltrane, Frank Foster, Winard Harper, Jimmy Heath, Vincent Herring, John Hicks, Charli Persip, Ralph Peterson, Lonnie Plaxico, Bobby Short,Frank Wess, Nancy Wilson and The Skatalites and Cedar Walton, to name a few. It is in fact, through Cedar Walton that Jeremy and Adriana first met.

Jeremy performs alongside the Roy Hargrove Big Band, The Village Vanguard Orchestra and the Duke Ellington Big Band, and is a member of the Lewis Nash Septet and The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band featuring Louis Hayes. As a leader, Pelt has recorded ten albums and has toured globally with his various ensembles, appearing at many major jazz festivals and concert venues. His work is incredible.

It was a great pleasure to explore their work together, via Zoom, on this special International Jazz Day episode of the Women in Jazz Media ‘In Conversation With…’ series.

Fiona Ross

To explore Adriana’s work please visit her website here

To explore Jeremy Pelt’s work, please visit his website here

To find out more about International Jazz Day, please click here

Welcome to our latest episode of ‘In Conversation With’ featuring music from Hannah Horton! You can find our podcasts at number 9 in the top 60 Best Jazz Podcasts in FeedSpot! In this episode, host Hannah Horton welcomes our JAM Collective! Listen here

 J.A.M. STRING COLLECTIVE is an exciting new contemporary jazz string trio, playing their own re-imaginings of works by jazz heavyweights, such as Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk and Kenny Wheeler, alongside their own compositions. Their arrangements leave space for moments of freeness, with a heavy focus on interaction and improvisation.The trio features Annalise Lam (violin), Julia Dos Reis (viola), and Miranda Lewis-Brown (cello).

Julia and Miranda met in 2015 through Gary Crosby’s (OBE) Tomorrow’s Warriors Jazz String project, String Ting, with whom they have gigged extensively across the UK and Europe. They have toured with larger Warrior ensembles such as Peter Edward’s Nu Civilisation Orchestra, and Jazz Jamaica, as well as played their own gigs - as a trio and quartet - in venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Club Soho, The Purcell Room SBC. In 2019 they supported legendary saxophonist, Steve Williamson, in a UK tour.

In more recent years Annalise also joined the larger collective of String Ting, first meeting Julia at a Warrior’s workshop led by jazz violinist extraordinaire, Benet McClean. Julia and Annalise struck up a relationship which continued through their Masters studies at Guildhall, where they would often meet to jam ideas, many of which have continued into J.A.M.

Tickets for May 5th event here

Hannah 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

https://hannahhorton.com/

Our new Women in Jazz Media Playlist is now out: Volume 24!

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 to this month's playlist on Spotify or Youtube.

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. If you have been in touch and you are not on a playlist yet, please don't worry, you will be on soon! We appreciate you sharing your music with us.

As always we would encourage you to buy directly from the artist where possible, and all the links are on our site here: 

Migdalia Van Der Hoven   Diana Torti   Mary Foster Conklin   Melvis Santa 

Judi Jackson    Rickie Lee Jones   Deva Mahal  Hailey Brinnel 

Joy Denalane   Terry Pollard   Isabelle Bodenseh   Cecilia Sanchietti 

Billie Bottle’s Temple of Shibboleth   Natalia Kordiak   Noga Ritter

Welcome to our latest episode of ‘In Conversation With’ featuring music from Hannah Horton! You can find our podcasts at number 9 in the top 60 Best Jazz Podcasts in FeedSpot! In this episode, host Hannah Horton welcomes our special guest, Betty Accorsi ahead of her performance at our final residency night at Jazz Café Posk, London. Tickets available here

 You can listen to the podcast here

I am an Italian saxophone player, multi-instrumentalist and composer, and my home is currently in the United Kingdom. I studied classical saxophone, piano and composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire in Milan. I was involved in projects spanning from contemporary music ensembles with composer Salvatore Sciarrino to the progressive rock band Psicosuono, which released two albums (Eta Carinae, Metropoli).
In 2018, I moved to London and started an MMus in Jazz Saxophone at Trinity Laban Conservatoire with a scholarship. Trinity's academic environment included leaders in the London jazz scene such as saxophonist Jean Toussaint and composer Bruno Heinen. Searching for a more open-ended approach to artistry and composition, I moved to Goldsmiths University of London in 2019, completing my Master's degree in Performance under the guidance of Mick Foster, Paul Bartholomew and Dr Pete Furniss. I graduated with a distinction presenting a programme of electronic rearrangements of classical music for soprano saxophone and Ableton Live and a jazz quartet performance.    

My main project is the Betty Accorsi Quartet. This was founded with pianist Finn Carter and drummer Scott MacDonald; they were the finest musicians in my year at Goldsmiths and very popular in the South East of London. We are joined by in-demand bassist Andy Hamill (Van Morrison, Martin Taylor, Ibrahim Maalouf). In December 2020 we released “The Cutty Sark Suite”, an album of my compositions blending Wayne Shorter, folk and punk. The Quartet was also part of 2021 Brighton Fringe Festival, playing The Cutty Sark Suite in its entirety on a live-streamed gig.  Our second album “Growing Roots” was be released on the 15th July 2022 featuring pianist Daniel Hewson (Groove Armada, Madonna, Incognito), Scott MacDonald on drums and Andy Hamill on bass.

 Hannah 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

Welcome to our monthly team news! We like to share some of the work the team have been doing both inside and outside of their Women in Jazz media work and we have all been very busy as always.

For some of our general news, our latest magazine came out on International Women’s Day and is full of inspirational women. Team articles from Sandra Booker Paulette Jackson Kim Cypher Lara Eidi Fiona Ross Esther Bennett and Isabel Marquez You can access the magazine here

Isabel Marquez has been busy curating our Women in Jazz Media playlist features, as always, a brilliant selection of women, do have a listen here and as always, do support by purchasing music when you can. You can also find Isabel’s articles in our latest magazine including Women in Experimental Jazz Today

Hannah Horton’s latest ‘In Conversation with...’ podcast episode features Lara Eidi, which you can find here. Next episode with Betty Accorsi coming very soon!

Migdalia Van Der Hoven’s latest ‘Sticks and Thrones’ podcast episode features Abbie Finn, which you can find here

We also recently launched our ‘Knocking Down The Door Creator Fun with Ashaine White. You can read about it here

Tatiana Gorilovsky shares a few words and several pics ‘about amazing women I was lucky to listen and to photograph in March. I'm glad that several fresh Grammy winners-Samara Joy and Madison Currington visited London.  Brilliant Lakecia Benjamin is also on the big tour promoting her new album. Here are also pics of Tawiah and Tyson, they experiment in combining electronic, folk and techno.

And from the theatric news - if you haven't seen new musical Sylvia with Beverley Knight, you have only one week, they are closing on the 8th of April. The musical is amazing, I saw it yesterday, it's about suffragettes movement, much, much recommended!!!'

Fiona Mactaggart has been spending time trying to build up the Scottish Jazz agency, Jazz Forward. ‘We're currently gradually uploading professionally recorded videos of our bands, as on our YouTube channel and actively seeking more gigs’. But as always, Fiona has been busy writing articles for a range of publications including:

Live review: Ben Shankland Trio

Album review: Poiesis, by Haftor Medboe and Konrad Wiszniewski

Live review: Tele-Port and AKU!

Live review: Dock In Absolute and Dave Milligan Solo

Live review: Daniel Migliosi & Peter Johnstone Trio and Helena Kay Trio

Live review: Meis Bowden Quartet and Kershaw, Stephen, Dick

Live review: Demuth & Wiszniewski Quartet and NooVision

Wendy Kirkland has many great gigs coming up including:

6th Apr – JazzSteps (Bonington Theatre, Nottingham) Get Carter Reimagined with Dennis Rollins MBE - www.jazzsteps.co.uk

17th April – Jazz at the Manor Tamworth with Esther Bennett - Bolehall Manor, Tamworth (pay on door)

20th Apr – Chesterfield Jazz Club with Esther Bennett, vocals  - www.chesterfieldjazz.co.uk

4th May – Guildford Jazz with Marianne Windham (db) feat. Roger Beaujolais - https://www.guildfordjazz.org.uk/listings/wendy-kirkland

18th May – Chesterfield Jazz club with Dean Masser, sax - www.chesterfieldjazz.co.uk

25th May – Wendy Kirkland Quartet at The Musician, Leicester - https://www.ents24.com/leicester-events/the-musician/wendy-kirkland-trio/6688042

27th May – Trio featuring Roger Beaujolais at Monks Eleigh Village Hall - https://www.villagehall.me/post/jazz-the-wendy-kirkland-trio-saturday-27th-may-at-7-70pm

15th Jun – Chesterfield Jazz Club with Vimala Rowe, vocals - www.chesterfieldjazz.co.uk

Ashaine White has launched her new single Right Here. ‘Soulful, dark and melancholic in tone, new single ‘Right Here’ serves as a taster to the future starlet’s work, and showcases her self-described style of ‘grunge soul’ beautifully.’ Alfitutde. You can buy the single here

Diana Torti has a new album coming out on April 7th. You can read all about it here. Also, there will be a preview of the song 'The Extra Something' from the album in the Filomena Campus show on Jazz London Radio (next Sunday at 3:00 pm and Fridays at 5:00 pm.) Diana shares that ‘Filomena is doing a great job with this show especially in promoting mostly female artists’. Thank you and shout out to Filomena! We were also very happy to publish an interview with Diana for our Jazz in Europe column, which you can read here

Hannah Horton is launching the Swinging Cat Club on 29th April. ‘Saxophonist and composer Hannah Horton is back at HAC with a brand-new jazz club that is causing a significant buzz in the jazz industry. Keen to bring international standard jazz music to Haverhill, A-list guests and up-coming artists, Hannah is an artist who has carved her own unique sound and vision over her career. She will be bringing her highly acclaimed quartet which includes Tim Lapthorn on piano, Rob Statham on bass and Nic France on drums.’ Tickets for the opening with Natalie Williams available here

You can also see Hannah playing in her new Official Video  as well as the following gigs:

Hannah invites you into her cottage for an hour of intimate, chilled, Sunday vibes. April 2nd – Jazz at the Cottage livestream online show. Tribute to Stanley Turrentine. Hannah Horton Trio. 7.30pm.  Click here for tickets

April 15th – Hannah Horton Quartet – ‘Inside Out’. Peggy’s Skylight. Click here for tickets

Kim Cypher continues her 'Brighter Tomorrow' project with the focus now firmly on creating new original music as part of the project. Last month saw her latest release 'Tomorrow's Song', an original track recorded and filmed at London's 606 Club with the sensational Liane Carroll: https://youtu.be/NAzE7U5Unq0

Later this month Kim will be recording more of her original music featuring Italian guitarist Antonio Forcione and trombonist Ashley Slater, and so the celebration of those who contribute to our brighter tomorrow for The Arts continues #brightertomorrowforthearts Kim's new album is coming soon!

Esther Bennett new album has been getting rave reviews and she is busy performing across the UK. Next gigs include:

The Esther Bennett Quartet live at ‘The Manor’, Monday 17th April. Tickets here

Esther Bennett at Chesterfield Jazz Club with Wendy Kirkland April 20th. Tickets here

And lastly, Fiona Ross has a new album coming out April 28th Thoughts, Conversations and To Do Lists, with the album launch at Pizza Express Soho on April 27th. Tickets available here

Album cover photo by our very own Monika S Jakubowska