We have all been busy with the recent publication of our July edition magazine which you can find here. The magazine team for this edition are Kim Cypher Wendy Kirkland Tatiana Gorilovsky Monika S Jakubowska Aydenne Simone Isabel Marquez Fiona Ross Paulette Jackson Esther Bennett Charlotte Keeffe Jasna Jovićević Fiona Mactaggart Fausta Joly Hannah Horton with a special article from our patron Maxine Gordon

We have recently published two podcasts. Hannah Horton talks to Collette Cooper in our recent ‘In Conversation with’ and Fiona Ross talks to author Tish Oney in ‘On The Bookcase’

Tatiana Gorilovsky has been sharing some incredible photos with us and says ‘July was very generous for amazing gigs and musical discoveries! I was lucky to photograph some of them. The most memorable were Love Supreme Festival that came back after 2 missing years and big concert celebrating life of John Cumming, the creator of London Jazz Festival. I gathered the best pics from each gig together just to show how many colours brings Music to our life!’

We were thrilled to see Isabel Marquez recently graduated from Cardiff University with a BA in Music! Isabel is writing multiple reviews for Jazz Views, as well as interviewing lots of amazing musicians. She has also been working with NYJC, and will be helping at their annual summer school this year. Isabel has started writing and making her first EP which will be out later this year! We were excited to publish her first article in our magazine, interviewing fellow team member and award winning journalist Mirian Arbalejo. You can read it here

Fausta Joly shares ‘Our month long, Fervor Festival launches next week with four weeks of incredible live music from soul jazz pop, to Swedish star Stina Wollter and her blues duo! 4th August - 27th August. Check out the press release attached and our website to book tickets now. www.fervorfestival.com/whats-on

Fiona McTaggart has been very busy at the recent Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival. You can read her live reviews here: SCuba - live review Alan Benzie - Tribute to the Headhunters - Live review De Beren Gieren - Live review Brian Molley Quintet play Getz and Byrd's Jazz Samba - live review Martin Kershaw Octet: Poets -Live review

We are very excited to share an exclusive video of Esther Bennett performing at her recent gig at Toulouse Lautrec: https://youtu.be/UYRjDy6QaAQ

Esther has also been busy working on her new album "Home is Where the Art is" which should be out by the autumn. Esther explains ‘I've decided to go for it and make an album rather than just an EP so this will involve recording more tracks 1 (or possibly 2) of which might involve me playing a standard (or 2) on alto sax....Yes. It's out from under the bed and I've been having fun playing through a few tunes I used to play regularly more than 10/15 years ago. Let's see what happens at my next recording session on August 2nd where I get to play them with pianist Terence Collie!

Meanwhile, I'll be spending my Birthday in Birmingham, visiting friends, researching archives for my spoken word album track and video called "My Birmingham" and soaking up the commonwealth games atmosphere 

And last but by no means least Kim Cypher is busy with her 'Brighter Tomorrow' project - A Tribute to The Arts which will be featured in our forthcoming magazine dedicated to the project. A brand-new original track and video with one of the UK's greatest jazz performers Liane Carroll is coming soon as part of the project! Here's a sneaky preview of Kim Cypher's 'Tomorrow's Song' filmed at London's 606 Club: https://youtu.be/PCUUsn8-G6

Photos by Ron Milsom and Tatiana Gorilovsky

Thank you, as always, for the incredible support and for reading our updates!

Our new Women in Jazz Media Playlist is now out! 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. 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.

The playlist is on Spotify here and You Tube here, but as always we would encourage you to buy directly from the artist where possible, and all the links are on our site here:

Betty Accorsi Tasha Smith Godinez Isabel Marquez Sarah Bernadette Rouhangeze Nancy Wilson

Jean Fineberg Lynne Arriale Melissa Aldana Megumi Yonezawa Jas Kayser Roxy Coss Somi

Idit Shner Yelena Eckemoff

Welcome to our 13th episode of ‘In Conversation With’ featuring music from Hannah Horton! You can now find our podcasts in the top 60 Best Jazz Podcasts in FeedSpot! In this episode, host Hannah Horton welcomes our special guest British singer-songwriter, actor, podcast host and all-round artist extraordinaire Collette Cooper. You can listen here

 Collette Cooper is a critically acclaimed artist signed to the independent label Thelonious Punk Records championed by BBC Introducing, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, Soho Radio and Jazz FM. Her influences go back as far as Bessie Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone, Kurt Weill, and Billie Holiday. 

​Collette is difficult to fit into any box – she has a unique sound of her own. Her music is eclectic with dramatic, dark, and sometimes theatrical tones, with a strong blues and jazz influence. Her truly unique style and visually captivating performance leave audiences enchanted and wanting more with her raspy, hauntingly unique vocals.

Her vocal style is often described as ‘Janis Joplin channeling Edith Piaf with a sprinkling of Esther Phillips’. Her original work is timeless yet fresh, and her versions of covers are unlike anything else you’ve ever heard, she completely makes them her own. Collette plays at all major venues in and around London with sold-out performances at the Jazz Café, the Blues Kitchen, The 100 Club, The Roundhouse, The Piano Bar Soho, amongst others.

Alongside her musical and acting career, Collette is also an activist. She currently has a piece of her artwork in The Now Exhibition curated By Leah Wood. An exhibition bringing awareness to the current climate and helping raise money for Drop4Drop charity. Collette has performed for Samuel l Jackson’s charity One For The Boys at Abbey Road Studios recently performed for Vivienne Westwood’s Cool Earth charity in an effort to save the planet and is an ambassador for the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity. She recently performed a gala night in their honor at the Grosvenor House Hotel alongside KT Tunstall and Texas. Collette is also a proud ambassador for the Wild at Heart Foundation, a London-based dog rescue charity.

Excited to launch our Women in Jazz Media Magazine July 2022 with Laura Impallomeni on the cover taken by Mark Lord Photography.

Over 200 pages full of incredible women! Click here

Including Kim Cypher Wendy Kirkland Hannah Horton Aydenne Simone Esther Bennett Charlotte Keeffe Music Maxine Gordon Ali Affleck Cecilia Sanchietti Ilaria Capalbo Natalie Greffel Deanna Witkowski Jasna Jovićević Jo Harrop Sheila Jordan Georgia Mancio Nick Lea Bradley M. Stone Tina May Alice Coltrane Alina Bzhezhinska Melba Liston Tiny Davis Tara Minton Emily Francis TOKUNBO Paulette Jackson Tony Kofi and so much more...

Excited to launch a brand new podcast series 'Sticks and Thrones' with guest host Migdalia Van Der Hoven. Migdalia's first guest is British drummer Ciara Chinniah and the episode is available here with music 'Girl Facing South' by Migdalia!

Migdalia van der Hoven is an International Award winning Mexican drummer currently touring with SIX the Musical across the UK. She is also a Vater Drumsticks, Bosphorus Cymbals and RTOM Corporation artist and a Berklee College of Music graduate (where she studied and performed with Jackie Santos, Terri Lynn Carrington, Victor Mendoza and Mark Walker). She is known for her groove, sensitivity and versatility across multiple genres such as funk, jazz, fusion, latin jazz, pop and world music. She became the first Mexican Female drummer to ever perform at Ronnie Scott’s and the EFG London Jazz Festival. Migdalia has become “Woman of the year 2022” in Mexico in arts and culture for her contribution in music nationally and internationally. Migdalia's Website

Ciara Chinniah is a British Drummer and Educator from Essex in the UK.
With a love of Odd Time signatures, Ciara has been described as a Pop/Rock drummer with a progressive/fusion edge. Upon graduating from the ACM, Ciara has played many theatre shows, performed in bands across the UK, Europe and America. Everything from folk, fusion and blues to Rock, pop and metal! Aside from ACM, Ciara went on to study intensively at LAMA in LA under Ralph Humphrey and Joe Porcaro. Subsequently she returned and studied with the great Jazz drummer Bob Armstrong. Ciara currently has a busy schedule, teaching and recording from her home studio in Essex.

She is the co-host of the Podcast ‘Drum Education Live’ and 'Drummer Mamas' a podcast opening up the conversation about juggling parenthood and a career in drums.Ciara plays for Electro Pop duo The Penelopes who regularly gig in Paris and London. Whilst she explores her love of odd meters with her band Red Monster and on her social media. Ciara endorses NickyMoon cymbals. Ciara's website

This special edition of ‘On The Bookcase’ is a live recording of the inspirational Maxine Gordon, in conversation with Fiona Ross during the ‘Sophisticated Giants’ event held on June 4th, 2022 at Jazz Cafe Posk, London to celebrate her incredible work. The event was a rare UK visit from Maxine Gordon and an opportunity for a Q&A couldn’t be missed! The first part of the event was dedicated to her award-winning book ‘Sophisticated Giant’ and her life with Dexter Gordon, with a special set of his music performed by an incredible line up of saxophonists Tony Kofi and rising stars Emma Rawicz and Hannah Horton. The second part of the evening with pianist Wendy Kirkland, vocalist Vimala Rowe and trombonist Laura Impallomeni, explored the rarely heard music of Shirley Scott, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, Maxine Sullivan, the focus of Maxine’s next book, Jazz Quartette. Photo by Bob Barkany

You can listen here

Maxine Gordon is an award-winning Arts Advocate, Jazz Historian, Archivist, Scholar, Manager & Producer and Legend. Author of Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, (which was awarded Book of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association) and forthcoming book, Jazz Quartette: Shirley Scott, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, Maxine Sullivan. Maxine is the President of The Dexter Gordon Society, consultant at the Bronx Music Heritage Centre, Jazz Researcher at the Bronx African American History Project, archivist for The Dexter Gordon Collections, Library of Congress and so much more…

https://www.maxinegordon.com/