We are thrilled to have the support and partnership of Jazz Views in a number of ways, including our 'Women Who Inspire' series. For our recent EFG London Jazz Festival event, we asked Nick Lea of Jazz views, to write some words to introduce Georgia Mancio:

"It is a real privilege for Jazz Views to have been asked to partner this event at this wonderful venue with Women In Jazz Media.

Over the last 12 months Women In Jazz Media, driven along by the incredible energy of founder, Fiona Ross, has worked tirelessly to give women in all aspects of the music a platform to express themselves whether it be as writers, performers, photographers, the organisation has brought to the fore the wealth of talent that has been sat right under our noses and at times unjustly not given due recognition of opportunity.

What is so inspiring is the sheer determination and positive attitude has been demonstrated time and time again by the Women In Jazz Media team, and especially their mantra that " We look for platforms and where no platforms exist, we create ones to ensure everyone can be represented." And this brings us nicely to all the incredible artists that have or will be performing at the Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, and the concert that you are about to enjoy this evening with the Georgia Mancio Quartet.

Although she has been an important presence of the UK jazz scene for twenty years, I must to confess to being rather late for the party, and my first serious encounter with Georgia's music was in 2017 with the release of the sublime Songbook album,  with pianist and composer Alan Broadbent that has brought forth one of the most formidable song writing partnerships of the 21st century.  This incredible writing partnership has continued to flourish with the release this year of a new recording,  Quiet Is The Star, and a book that presents music and lyrics to 33 of their songs, some of which you are more than likely to hear this evening. From that moment on, when first hearing Songbook, I have been totally captivated by Georgia's music and was honoured to be invited by Women In Jazz Media to write a piece about Georgia for their series of articles on Women Who Inspire.

And talking of women who inspire, Georgia is also joined by pianist Kate Williams with who she has collaborated on many occasions, and most recently on the exceptional album Finding Home with Kate's Four Plus Three ensemble, which was quite rightly the winner in the Best Album category of the 2019 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

However, no words can prepare you for the power of music, and the inspirational Georgia Mancio and her Quartet; and on behalf of all at Jazz Views I sincerely hope you enjoy tonight's concert and I'm just sorry that I am able to attend what I'm sure will be a most memorable evening."

Photos by Nolan Regent

Very happy to launch our third video as part of our Women in Jazz Media initiative to platform and support female photographers and composers. The stunning photography of Barka Fabianova accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack from Keyna Wilkins: 'So What Partita in C Minor'.

You can watch the video here: Barka and Keyna

Keyna Wilkins is a pioneering Australian/British composer-musician. She was one of three finalists for the Australian Art Music Awards for Individual Excellence in 2021 and 2018 (APRA/AMCOS). She has written over 60 art music compositions that are published by Wirripang and performed internationally  and self-released 8 albums of original music. As an innovative solo artist performing her own works/improvisations/reinterpretations, and leader of cutting-edge chamber groups, her music is characterized by a fascination with astronomy, Indigenous First Nations culture, jazz, dance forms and intuitive improvisation. She has performed around the world. Wilkins is an Associate Artist with the Australian Music Centre and has five tunes in the Australian Jazz Realbook. She also writes music for films and theatre including short film "Remote Access" which won Best Short Film at the Imagine This International Film Festival in New York 2019 and her composition New Galaxy has been recorded by and featured on ABC. 

Barka Fabiánová is a Prague-based photographer specializing in concert photography. She has photographed hundreds of concerts and several festivals. From small club shows to big stages, capturing atmosphere, emotions, and connection between stage and audience. Her work has been published online and in print in the following outlets: Fullmoonzine.cz, Headliner.cz, Huffington Post, NY Times and many others. Her images have been used for various CDs and other promotional work. The photo of Tcheka, Cape Verde guitarist and songwriter has been selected as one of the 30 finalists in Jazz World Photo 2015; the world competition for jazz photographers.

For those of you who would like to follow our team, we thought we would publish a monthly team update article to share some of the teams work both inside and outside of Women in Jazz Media. Our group is all volunteer based, so as you can imagine, everyone is working very hard doing their thing!

Esther Bennett was recently a guest for the Watford Jazz Junction podcast series where she talked about the London jazz scene, Duncan Lamont and women in jazz.Esther shares stories about her musical evolution in Birmingham and then onto the scene in 1980's London and talks passionately about her musical relationship with the late Duncan Lamont, and some of the hurdles she's faced as a woman in jazz. Definitely worth a listen! Available here: Chatting with singer Esther Bennett

Esther's most recent gig at The Bear Club had a fantastic line up including Hannah Horton, Terence Collie and Paul Michael. Great photo from Donna Canale:

Esther's next gig with Terence Collie, Richard Sadler and Sophie Alloway, as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, is at The Jazz Sanctuary on November 15th, tickets available here: Esther Bennett Tickets

To follow and support Esther's work, you can find her here: Esther Bennett Website

Fiona MacTaggart has mostly been busy setting up a brilliant jazz collective called Jazz Forward, with 3 established jazzers: Malcolm Macfarlane, Sophie Bancroft and Marianne McGregor. They are applying for grants for set up and launching costs, in order to do some pilot gigs which they will record etc.  Fiona will be doing the organisation/tour management/everything else other than the performances! Exciting stuff!

Fiona has also been busy writing and her recent articles published on London Jazz News and the Scottish Jazz Space are:

‘Roberto Bonati / Tor Yttredal – Some Red Some Yellow: An album of understated beauty’

‘Andrea Massaria: New Needs Need New Techniques’

To follow and support Fiona's work, you can find her here: The Scottish Jazz Space

Ashaine White has been performing all over London as well as doing some incredible work behind the scenes. Her EP launch is in London this month on October 19th, tickets available here: Ashaine Tickets

To follow and support Ash's work, you can find her here: Ashaine White

Jiaowei Hu has been busy attending the Jazzful Mid-Autumn Festival in Shanghai and says ‘I have been working with Blue Note China since 2017 and published over 50 articles related to musicians before & after concerts, jazz culture, sociological topics and so forth, I can’t quite find the right, precise words to describe how much I am looking forward to our next five years together. They owned my first compensated writing and have become my biggest (vice versa) and mostly trusted partner ever since. Apart from work, the friendship which I have gained and will always cherish with some of their amazing ladies is more precious than gold. Since we have survived the pandemic together, we will live through anything else as well’

To follow and support Jiaowei’s work, you can find her here: Jiaowei Hu

Rouhangeze has her picks and reviews for Jazz FM's Bandcamp Friday Picks published here: Bandcamp Friday Picks

To follow and support Rou's work, you can find her here: Rouhangeze website

And last but not least Kim Cypher has been very busy lately: ‘I love nothing more than working with amazing musicians, it's my absolute favourite part of the job. So, the past few weeks have been awesome. I got to record with musician, producer, singer-songwriter Harlano Weekes and his incredible CK Gospel Choir. They added the finishing touch to my forthcoming charity song and music video as part of my 'Bring Your Own Sunshine' project, due for release early next year. I also worked with two of my favourite female artists, our very own Fiona Ross for her 'Red Flags and High Heels' album launch at Pizza Express Soho plus Bulgarian jazz vocalist, composer and band leader Ami Oprenova as part of her UK album tour. I am currently writing a feature about Ami and an album review of her forthcoming album 'Precious Day's, to be published in the coming weeks. 'Precious Days' is available for download now on Bandcamp and will be released on all platforms on 5th November’: Precious Days

Photo by Mike Cypher

To follow and support Kim's work, you can find her here: Kim Cypher website

We are thrilled to launch the first 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. Platforming inspirational black women in the Jazz industry. Available on all platforms: Knocking Down The Door: Episode One

In our first episode, host Ashaine White talks to our partners Céline Peterson and Roger Wilson.

Artist Representative and Producer Céline Peterson has presented concerts and given inspiring speeches all over the globe (Canada, The United States, Denmark, Barbados, Switzerland, and South America), and manages some of the most exciting jazz artists on the scene today, including JUNO Award winner Robi Botos, 2018 Ellis Marsalis Piano Competition winner Ben Paterson, and Member to the Order of Canada, Dr. Dave Young. She is a producer of the Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which takes place every September in the heart of downtown Toronto and over the course of 3 days and presents over 400 local artists in 24 venues to 5000+ patrons. This artist-driven and volunteer-fuelled festival is led by singer, songwriter, philanthropist, and Officer of the Order of Canada, Molly Johnson. Céline has also worked extensively with Coalition Canada and their Youth4Music initiative as an Ambassador. Céline has always been a proud ally to the up-and-coming generations of musicians, and along with her work at the Coalition, has done workshops at various schools including Durham College, and The Chicago Academy for the Arts. "Working with Music Makes Us, and specifically as a youth ambassador for the Youth4Music program, Céline has consistently proven to be an articulate, passionate and inspiring leader who motivates others in person and through her writing." - Holly Nimmons • former Executive Director, Music Makes Us, the Coalition for Music Education in Canada.

Black Lives in Music addresses the current inequality of opportunity for black people aspiring to be artists or professionals in the Jazz and Classical music industry. Black Lives in Music believes in real equality for Black people to learn musical instruments at grassroots level and to allow them to pursue and realise their musical ambitions. Made up of a number of partners who are all working towards the same goal: to dismantle structural racism in our industry, they aim to support the industry in providing better professional opportunities and achieve equality for Black professionals at all levels and in all areas of the UK Jazz and Classical industry. Representation matters, we need to take action together and create a level playing field for everyone to have an equal chance to succeed. Black Lives in Music stands for equal opportunities – for Black people to be able to work successfully in the UK music industry without being the subject of discrimination.

Roger Wilson has many years of experience on both sides of the stage as musician, educator, tour manager and administrator. Conservatoire trained, he has worked extensively in the commercial, jazz and classical sector with a wide range of artists from Lesley Garett and Bryn Terfel to James Brown and Quincey Jones. He has also played in some of London’s most successful music theatre productions. As an instrumental teacher and lecturer, Roger has worked throughout the UK music education sector at all levels. In recent years, he has been dedicated in his support for the professional development of aspiring young jazz musicians.