We are excited to publish our #IWD2022 magazine! Nearly 200 pages of incredible women. It's fully interactive - and free! Huge thank you to our WIJM team members for all their amazing work for edition: Wendy Kirkland Pianist Singer Kim Cypher Lara Eidi Diana Torti Jiaowei Hu Fiona Mactaggart Fausta Joly Paulette Jackson and Monika S. Jakubowska

And a huge thank you to our special guest contributors Jordannah Elizabeth Jazz Views Carol Leeming Ron Milsom Nigel J. with stunning photography from Barka Fabiánová and Tatiana Gorilovsky and our poetry competition winners Helena Jane Summerfield and George Parker.

Lots of incredible women inside including Molly Johnson The Woodshed Network Elina Duni Barbara Thompson & Paraphernalia Zoe Rahman Tara Minton Ilaria Capalbo Patricia López Cecilia Sanchietti Shannon Barnett Alina Bzhezhinska Harpist and so many more...access it here

The fourth episode in our podcast series ‘On The Bookcase’, featuring female authors from across the world, with host Fiona Ross, with original music from Hannah Horton. In this episode we welcome the brilliant Maria Golia, who has an inspirational portfolio of work including her recent book ‘Ornette Coleman: The Territory and the Adventure’.  Listen here

'An American Author in Egypt. ‘Egypt where I’ve lived for thirty years, has been a source of inspiration in my life and writing.  My non-fiction books, Photography and Egypt and Cairo, City of Sand involved extensive historical research alongside an intimate understanding of the country’s present moment, its place in today’s world as much as in that of the past. In addition to many years as columnist and commentator for Cairo, Beirut and British publications (including the New Internationalist, Oxford), I’ve contributed to Vogue (New York), The International Herald Tribune, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich), and the New Statesman (UK). I’m currently Middle-East reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement (London).

Following Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising, as the unrest continued for over two years, writing about it all became rather fraught and frankly repetitive. The political side of the story may be summed up as follows: power seeks to preserve itself and Egypt’s seemingly inflexible authoritarian regime has so far managed to bend with the winds of the Arab Spring without breaking, while ensuring that no viable opposition can emerge. In terms of Egypt’s fragile desert environment, the subject of many of my articles over time, the main advances have been towards greater destruction. To achieve some intellectual distance, I turned to outer space. Meteorite, a cultural history of space rocks (2015). While writing Meteorite, I started listening Ornette Coleman(1930-2015), who I had the chance to meet while working at the Caravan of Dreams, in Fort Worth Texas (1985-1992), Ornette’s hometown. I hadn’t heard those CDs in over twenty years, nor had I been particularly receptive to Ornette’s music before. But the time had come and Ornette worked his magic. I was reminded of how little I knew about the musicians I booked to the club, and hung out with after hours. I grew up with jazz, thanks to my father’s love of music and my brother Frank’s decision to make a career of music and composition, but I had paid virtually no attention to these great artists’ lives. This knowledge gap needed to be filled in order to make those seven years of experience at Caravan mean something. Plus, someone needed to get the history of this progressive arts venue, located smack dab in the heart of defense-industry corporate American, on the record. It was quite a juxtaposition; while we were promoting the break-away arts in the 1980s, building on the gains of the 1960s and 1970s, corporate culture was consolidating, as a way of life and political force.

Hearing Ornette in the wake of Egypt’s uprising, when I had dared to hope that this part of the world would one day experience its summer of love, got me thinking about the 1960s. I was a little too young to experience it firsthand, but the ideas that emerged from that opening marked me. It was a time when artists of every genre were breaking with convention, convinced of their power to change the world, which for a while at least, they did. Ornette was not only there, his music was the soundtrack of the moment. In fact, Ornette was key to everything I needed to learn more about and to share: Texas music history, 1960s art collectives, the pre-internet 1980s, the role of jazz in the international avant-garde, and the life stories of some of the greatest American musicians of all time'

Maria Golia website

We are working on many projects at the moment and of course, celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8th. Do keep in touch with our news and updates and get in touch if you would like to know more! A few of you have been asking about everyone roles within the team, so we will shortly be sharing some more info on the work everyone does in the team.

As always, the team have been busy with various different projects both inside and outside of our WIJM work:

Our newest team member Diana Torti was invited to lecture to voice teachers and students of several Conservatories and Music Academies. The lecture title was: “The First Sound: Images and Thoughts about Voice and Identity”. The lecture was inspired by her own personal research entitled “The expressive urgency of the first sound”, and it is about the voice phenomenon, its intimate connection with everyone’s own internal reality, and the universality of human sound. The lecture was included in the VoCon program. VoCon is a Europe-wide platform for vocal Jazz, Pop, and all interested teachers in higher music education. It provides the need for sharing good practice, thoughts on education, and differences in vision and mission in the various European countries. The event was part of The AEC Pop and Jazz Platform meeting 2022 and took place at Akademia Muzyczna im. Grazyny i Kiejstuta Bacewiczow in Łódź, Poland, on 13th February 2022. 

At the end of January, Diana released a CD where she collaborated as a vocalist, “Lo racconta il mare” (Tales from the sea). The project is a musical work by the composer and guitarist Sabino de Bari dedicated to his own born town Molfetta (South Italy). It gives a voice to the sea, whose presence for people of that place is essential, making him tell the memories of an almost forgotten past: stories of tarantella, emigration, nursery rhymes, and so on up to echo themes of Molfetta's sacred music. The engine that drove the entire project was to give voice to memories that have been lost or that are being lost in the contemporary culture of the little Italian town. All vocal pieces are sung in the dialect of the town.

The CD is on sale here: www.sabinodebari.com and ‘All that jazz’ section on the https://www.jazzviews.net online shop.

Fiona Mactaggart has been busy running the brilliant Scottish Jazz Space but has also found the time to form a new organisation - Jazz Forward. Jazz Forward is a new Scottish Jazz Collective of three established jazz musicians/songwriters/composers and a jazz journalist. Promoting positivity, we aim to bring live jazz performances that celebrate a wide spectrum of creative music to communities across Scotland. Fiona tells us 'As you can see, Jazz Forward is a collective of 3 experienced jazz musicians - Sophie Bancroft, Marianne McGregor, Malcolm MacFarlane -plus myself. We hope to take jazz to the parts of Scotland that don't get to see live music very often. In time, we aim to enlarge our collective so as to support regular touring across Scotland for as many of the great jazzers here in Scotland as possible! We're applying for grants and setting up gigs at present which will hopefully start this May' For further info or to offer support do get in touch with this wonderful initiative!

Fausta Joly is working with us on a brilliant project for International Women's Day

Kim Cypher is busy with several exciting music projects. Following the release of her charity single 'Bring Your Own Sunshine' on 1st February, over £300 has been added to the continuing fundraising project which has now raised over £3000 for cancer charity Maggie's. You can listen to the track and find out more here: Bring Your Own Sunshine. Next up is the song video featuring US guitarist B.D. Lenz and London-based CK Gospel Choir. The video will be filmed in London in New York. Kim also has new music coming soon in the form of a selection of original pieces celebrating the Arts following the devastation of covid and lockdowns. The music is very much influenced by looking towards a brighter tomorrow. Keep an eye out for this later in the year. Finally, Kim is incredibly excited and honoured to be invited to spend an afternoon with one of her all-time saxophone heroes, the incredible Barbara Thompson MBE to chat about her life and browse through memorabilia. This will be featured soon by Women in Jazz Media.

 Aydenne Simone is back at the Piano Bar, Soho in London. Not to be missed! Tickets here

Wendy Kirkland is busy working on some brilliant articles for our next magazine and enjoying amazing reviws of her recent album 'Latin Lowdown Live' available here. She is also back at Ronnie Scotts on Feb 21st. Tickets here

Monika S Jakubowska has been working all over London taking incredible photos and her work was recently featured in The Telegraph and on the American NBC Today Show

And last but not least Esther Bennett! Esther has some brilliant gigs lined up for her Duncan Lamont Songbook project. 'For almost a decade, singer Esther Bennett and Duncan had been touring The Duncan Lamont Songbook in the UK with guest vocalists including Tina May, Norma Winstone, Sarah Moule, Daniela Clynes and Beverley Beirne' Esther tell us "It was in the 606 Club bar that I bumped into saxophonist & composer Duncan Lamont again. After a long chat about jazz and singers he suggested that I sing some of his songs. This sowed the seed for what was to become almost a decade of touring a project I performed in and ran called “The Duncan Lamont Songbook. Duncan sadly passed away in 2019, but I am continuing the project with his son Duncan Lamont Jnr." 

You can see Esther perform along with Daniela Clynes, Duncan Lamont Jnr on flute & saxes, Terence Collie on piano and Richard Sadler on bass at the Bulls Head, London on March 13th, tickets here and on March 23rd at The Red House with Aled Thomas on piano, Alexander Keen on bass and band leader John Withers on drums. Tickets here.

Beautiful shot of Esther at her recent Pizza Express gig by our Monika!

The third episode in our new podcast series ‘On The Bookcase’, featuring female authors from across the world, with host Fiona Ross, with original music from Hannah Horton. In this episode we welcome Jordannah Elizabeth. Listen here

Jordannah Elizabeth is an American journalist, commentator lecturer, music critic, author and founder of the literary organization and independent Small press, Publik / Private and author of recently published ‘She raised Her Voice! 50 Black Women who sang their way into Music History’

Elizabeth started her professional writing career by earning bylines in Vice Magazine, Nerve.com and Bitch Media in March 2013. In October 2013, she was brought on as a regular contributing writer and entertainment reporter for New York Amsterdam News arts and entertainment section where she has conducted high profile interviews with African American leaders of their fields like producer, Teddy Riley, Walter Williams of The O'Jays and Black Girls Code founder, Kimberly Bryant. As a national journalist, Jordannah wrote for a number of Bay Area publications in 2014 such as San Francisco Bay Guardian, East Bay Express, SF Weekly and worked as the associate editor of The Deli Magazine San Francisco from 2013 to 2017. Jordannah expanded her reach as a global journalist, writing for MTV Iggy, MTV’s (now defunct) world music blog and covering global Women’s and Girl’s Rights for Ms. Magazine.

From 2015 through 2018, Jordannah’s work became more focused on literature, jazz criticism and global feminist reporting,Elizabeth has shared panels with esteemed journalists like Greg Tate, Lara Pellegrinelli and Michelle Mercer. Her bylines have expanded to Chicago Reader, DownBeat, LA Weekly, Hearst Magazines, NPR Music, Popsugar and other publications. Elizabeth’s writing ranges from interviews, music journalism, personal essays, articles on healing in relationships and trauma to literary journalism. Her broad voice has made her an active teacher and lecturer,teaching writing and journalism workshops at institutions like Maryland Institute College of Art and Center for New Music in San Francisco.

She has lectured at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, De Montfort University in Leicester, England, and was invited as a guest journalist at Harvard University’s Black Lives Matter: Music, Race, and Justice Conference in February 2017. She has also moderated panels on literature and film at Baltimore Book Festival and Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD. Jordannah is the author of an anthology of 40 of her articles entitled, “Don’t Lose Track Vol 1: 40 Articles, Essays and Q&As published by UK based publisher Zero Books” and the existential chapbook series, “The Warmest Low” published by Publik / Private Small Press. https://jewriting.com

She Raised Her Voice: 50 Black Women who sang their way into Music History

Here is the link to the book Jordannah recommends: Where and When I Enter

The second episode in our new podcast series 'Knocking Down the Door' with partners Céline Peterson and Black Lives in Music, produced and hosted by Ashaine White is out now!

In our second episode, we have Ifelayo guest hosting her first ever podcast and speaking to the inspirational Camilla George.

Camilla George is a London based saxophone player, improviser, composer and teacher.She began playing when she was 11 years old where she won a music lesson and as a result, won saxophone lessons. Camilla has studied with many jazz greats such as sax giant, Jean Toussaint (of Art Blakey fame), Tony Kofi, Christian Brewer, Julian Siegal and Martin Speake. In 2012 she graduated with a Masters in Jazz from Trinity College of Music where she also won the Archer Scholarship for outstanding performance.Since 2004 Camilla has been working with both Tomorrows Warriors and the Nu Civilisation Orchestra (including a UK tour performing at many prestigious venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall), as well as leading workshops for the younger members of The Warriors family.

In 2009 she joined award winning band, Jazz Jamaica whose alumni have included Jason Yarde, Soweto Kinch and Nathaniel Facey. In October 2009 she performed with Jazz Jamaica and Ernest Ranglin at London’s Ronnie Scotts jazz club. In 2013 Jazz Jamaica were nominated for a MOBO award for Jazz Performance. Most recently in October 2014, Camilla performed at Ronnie Scott’s for 3 consecutive nights with Jazz Jamaica. The performance received rave reviews and was a sell out performance. In 2014 she also joined Courtney Pine's Venus Warriors, an all female super group who had their debut gig at The Hideaway jazz club.

Camilla’s love of fusing African and Western Music to make her own unique style is a key reason why she is a firm fixture on the new London Jazz scene alongside peers such as Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings and Zara McFarlane. Her music is a hypnotizing blend of Afrofuturism, hip hop and jazz. Camilla’s music is politically minded and heavily linked with African history and in particular slavery. Her latest album looks at tales that slaves passed onto their children through generations and whilst full of sorrow, is essentially a story of hope for black people and mankind that we can one day live together in harmony.  

Camilla George Website

Black Lives in Music website

Celine Peterson website

We are thrilled to have tempted back Hannah Horton as a special guest host for our latest 'In Conversation with...' and also thrilled to welcome her guest Claire Martin OBE In Conversation with...episode 9

Hannah is a British Female Jazz Saxophonist who’s 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 latets 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/

‘One of the finest jazz singers in the world today’ Jazz Journal. Linn recording artist Claire Martin has to worldwide critical acclaim established herself as a tour de force on the UK jazz scene gaining many awards, including winning the British Jazz Awards eight times during her career which spans over three decades. At the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2011 Claire was delighted to be awarded an OBE for her Services to Jazz and in 2018 she was the proud recipient of the BASCA Gold Badge Award for her contribution to jazz. Full her full biography and to find out more about her work please visit: https://clairemartinjazz.co.uk/

Claire Martin OBE and Chris Traves have vast combined knowledge from over 60 successful years in the music industry and have joined forces to provide a state of the art recording facility for both singers and instrumentalists.Soup to Nuts Productions offers the perfect package to turn an initial idea for a recording project into the end result of placing a mixed and mastered CD in your hands.From advice on repertoire, arrangers and arrangements, booking and suggesting musicians, vocal tuition before and during studio sessions, the whole journey of making a recording is seamless and professionally delivered so that the artist can just concentrate on making music. https://souptonuts.productions/