News

  • The Notes Between with Fabienne Ambuehl

    11th July 2025

    Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series’ The Notes Between’ with Lara Eidi. Conversations exploring everything behind and about the world of songwriting! Our theme music ‘Breathe Love’ is from Lara Eidi herself available here

    In this episode, Lara talks to pianist, singer and composer  Fabienne Ambuehl

    Available on Spotify Apple and all major podcast platforms

    Fabienne Ambuehl is a London-based pianist, singer and composer born in Switzerland. Her new album ‘Thrive‘ was released in January 2025 on the progressive label Ubuntu Music. The band successfully showcased the album at a

    sold-out show at the Vortex Jazz Club in London. ‘Thrive‘ has received glowing reviews from the international jazz press. Jazzwise Magazine rewarded it four stars and it has received regular radio play in the UK, including BBC Radio 3 Jazz Record Requests, ‘Round Midnight and Night Tracks. On the Catalan public radio 3cat, there is an hour-long programme about Fabienne’s music and the single “New Ones” was featured track and on the JazzFM C playlist for several weeks. The album was also presented on Deutschlandfunkkultur and ARD Jazz - Das Magazin and was selected “Album of the Week” on both Presto Music and the German Rondo - Magazin für Klassik und Jazz.

    Her band is a dynamic ensemble of brilliant musicians – Matt Ridley on bass (The Antidote, The Darius Brubeck Quartet) and Jon Scott on drums (Mulatu Astatke, GoGo Penguin, Sons of Kemet XL), with special guest guitarists Tom Ollendorff and Ant Law. Ambuehl has a strong sense of ensemble interplay and balance between individual expression and collective cohesion. As Rondo - Das Klassik & Jazz Magazin put it: “Thrive convinces with warmth, precision and excellent interplay of the band”.

    Ambuehl’s music is inspired by her surroundings, from the sounds and silence of the mountains, where she finds a deep connection with nature, to the rhythms and soundscapes of the big city. Her melodic ideas and detailed arrangements are rooted in jazz, playing with a folk-tinge and showcase her expressive and supple piano playing. Her vocals “are crystal clear, distinct and refreshingly free of jazz clichés” (Neil Duggan, AllAboutJazz) and as a writer she “has a poetic sensibility and uses expertly a range of poetic techniques in her lyrics” (Trevor Hodgett, RNR magazine). Her first album, ‘Glitterwoods’ with Yuri Goloubev on bass and Asaf Sirkis on drums, was released on Traumton Records 2015. The album was very well received in the European jazz press and listed by UKvibe.com as an “Album Of The Year”. “Stripped-back minimalism and emotional depth, playfulness and maturity, and a profound jazz sensibility combined with a powerful romantic imagination, forge her unmistakable style”, wrote Norbert Krampf about Glitterwoods. In addition to leading her trio and quartet and performing solo, Fabienne has collaborated with the Noga Ritter band and worked in Senegal as an Arts Council England-supported residency. With Neele & the Soundvoyage she released an EP and the album ‘Visions’ (QFTF Berlin 2018), touring in Switzerland and Germany. She has conducted choirs herself for many years and was the soloist for Jazz Choir Freiburg who she toured in Germany and Austria and was their improvising soloist at the Eurovision Song Contest for Choirs in Riga, Latvia (2017).

    Originally trained as a classical pianist, Fabienne fell in love with jazz after hearing a neighbour play the blues. At fourteen, she recorded her first album with a big band. She later completed a Master of Arts in Music from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, further developing her singing at the Complete Vocal Institute in Copenhagen. Fabienne is a winner of Friedl Wald Stiftung Price and Förderpreis of Kanton Zug. Fabienne Ambuehl website click here

    Athens born to Lebanese Canadian parents, Lara Eidi is an artist that thrives on being different. As an independent artist, singer and multi- instrumentalist, she has carved a path for herself that continuously aimed at reshaping and developing her voice as a storyteller. An accomplished and reputable singer-songwriter, pianist, recording artist and jazz- folk vocalist of her own accord based in London and Athens. Her music has gained her critical acclaim as a genre bending artist (BBC Artist, 2020), described as “a singer with true gift of a voice, a kind soul, and a captivating presence.” (Jazz UK). At the heart of her being as a multi-disciplinary artist, she is sought after as a composer for vocal film scores, writes as a freelance music journalist, and is in demand as a creative workshop leader. Her music seeks to elevate and heal, and as a result, she creates genre- defying songs with a great emphasis on story telling. Her latest album ‘Sun’, her long awaited debut album, is all about pulling the threads of her folk, acoustic rock and jazz-classical upbringing to her message of hope, empowerment, and freedom. As a soloist, her recent debut performance at the infamous Royal Albert Hall, singing select pieces from Greece and Lebanon form the Medieval Byzantine Traditions sees Lara engaging on a series of select and innovative performances with the SAUDHA Indian Classical Music Association. 

    Lara Eidi website

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  • The Notes Between with Fiona Bevan

    30th June 2025

    Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series’ The Notes Between’ with Lara Eidi. Conversations exploring everything behind and about the world of songwriting! Our theme music ‘Breathe Love’ is from Lara Eidi herself available here

    In this episode, Lara talks to Canadian-British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Fiona Bevan

    Available on Spotify Apple and all major podcast platforms

    Fiona has just released her self-produced ‘Girl With Telescope’ EP, including her dazzling exploration of post-heartbreak ecstasy ‘Faultlines’, and her acapella clarion call of female freedom and pleasure, ‘Peaches’.

    She is now starting to release singles from her forthcoming self-produced EP ‘First Woman On The Moon’, a set of brand new songs exploring hope, love and female desire against a political backdrop, with otherworldly melodies on piano and unique guitar tunings.

    Written, performed and produced by Fiona, these two sister EPs form an emotional, organic, uplifting, psychedelic journey. Her previous EP, ‘Wild Angels Sweet Demons’, was produced by Grammy award-winning engineer Robin Baynton (Laura Marling, Isaac Gracie), released independently, and went straight to number 2 in France, and number 7 in both the UK and Canada iTunes singer-songwriter charts. The EP was an eagerly awaited follow up to Fiona’s debut studio album, 'Talk To Strangers', which was one of iTunes “best of 2014” and was released in UK, Europe, Australia and Japan in 2014 and in USA and Canada in 2015 with Conveyor/Universal Canada.

    Playing live, Fiona has toured Canada with Hawksley Workman and Whitehorse, Australia with Busby Marou, and in the UK with Ruston Kelly and The Wandering Hearts, after they met onstage playing at The Bluebird in Nashville; Fiona has also toured with Ed Sheeran, Nick Mulvey, Ingrid Michaelson, Adam Ant, and has played onstage accompanying Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney.

    In between releases Fiona has been working as a multi-platinum songwriter, writing hit songs for Billie Marten, Aurora, Lewis Capaldi, Tom Walker, Kylie, Ed Sheeran, Matthew E. White and many more.

    Fiona has played a throng of UK festivals including official showcases at Manchester Folk Festival and Great Escape, plus Isle Of Wight, Victorious, Cheltenham Jazz, Timber, and Smugglers, Red Rooster and How The Light Gets In, and is currently on a double headline UK 2025 tour with Adam Beattie.

    Fiona is currently the face of the Credits Due Campaign working with Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA to help songwriters in the music industry. She fights for songwriter rights as a Director of the Ivors Academy.

    Fiona Bevan website click here

    Athens born to Lebanese Canadian parents, Lara Eidi is an artist that thrives on being different. As an independent artist, singer and multi- instrumentalist, she has carved a path for herself that continuously aimed at reshaping and developing her voice as a storyteller. An accomplished and reputable singer-songwriter, pianist, recording artist and jazz- folk vocalist of her own accord based in London and Athens. Her music has gained her critical acclaim as a genre bending artist (BBC Artist, 2020), described as “a singer with true gift of a voice, a kind soul, and a captivating presence.” (Jazz UK). At the heart of her being as a multi-disciplinary artist, she is sought after as a composer for vocal film scores, writes as a freelance music journalist, and is in demand as a creative workshop leader. Her music seeks to elevate and heal, and as a result, she creates genre- defying songs with a great emphasis on story telling. Her latest album ‘Sun’, her long awaited debut album, is all about pulling the threads of her folk, acoustic rock and jazz-classical upbringing to her message of hope, empowerment, and freedom. As a soloist, her recent debut performance at the infamous Royal Albert Hall, singing select pieces from Greece and Lebanon form the Medieval Byzantine Traditions sees Lara engaging on a series of select and innovative performances with the SAUDHA Indian Classical Music Association. 

    Lara Eidi website

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  • Women in Jazz Media Playlist: Volume 43!

    26th June 2025

    Our new Women in Jazz Media Playlist is now out: Volume 43! 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: 


    Dee Dee Bridgewater      Brandee Younger    Marta Capponi      Germana Stella La Sorsa

    Amina Claudine Myers    China Moses      Sumi Tonooka      Lakecia Benjamin        

       Jane Ira Bloom       Katie Thiroux      Marie Mørck     Anneleen Boehme 

              Janette Mason      ‘Sweet’ Emma Barrett    Caili O’Doherty


    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.

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  • In conversation with...Klara Devlin

    11th June 2025

    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 Klara Devlin

    Our podcasts have been featured at number 7 on the Top 10 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

    Those in the know are already excited about the rise of trumpeter Klara Devlin on the Birtish jazz scene.

    A finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2024, Klara’s material draws inspiration mainly from the Bebop and Hard Bop eras, mixed with a soupcon of Funk and improv, while her influences span Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea, and Wayne Shorter.

    “Klara Devlin, remember her name, she is in my opinion one of the most amazing and unique new trumpet voices to emerge onto the UK jazz scene. To coin the famous quote ‘if ya ain’t got it in ya, ya can’t blow it out’. Klara Devlin definitely has it, and definitely blows it out of her horn! I’m about 2-3 jazz generations in front of her and I’ve never been this excited about a young musician in a while, definitely a stylist who’ll be making new waves for the next generation.”Tony Kofi, saxophonist

    Klara Devlin instagram

    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

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  • Women in Jazz Media Playlist: Volume 42

    28th May 2025

    Our new Women in Jazz Media Playlist is now out: Volume 42. 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 release part 1 of a special edition playlist showcasing some of the legendary women who paved the way. You find it here on You Tube

    Vi Redd - click here to read Mia Jenkins article ‘Vi Redd: the under-recorded, over-looked empress of jazz’

    Melba Liston - click here to read our patron Maxine Gordon’s article ‘Dexter Gordon and Melba Liston: The “Mischievous Lady” Session’

    Hazel Scott - click to read about Hazel Scott at the National Women's History Museum 

    Velma Middleton - click here to visit the virtual Louis Armstrong museum: “Solid!” A Celebration of Velma Middleton’

    Tiny Davis - Click here to read Charlotte Keeffe article about Tiny Davis in our magazine 

    Maxine Sullivan - click here to read the feature in the National Museum of African American History and Culture

    Dotty Dodgion - click here to purchase The Lady Swings: Memoirs of a Jazz Drummer

    Shirley Scott - click here to read Christina Pazzanese interview in The Harvard Gazette with Maxine Gordon and her time with Shirley Scott and more.

    Valaida Snow click here to read ‘The Stage Belonged To Her’ in the National Museum of African American History and Culture

    Viola Smith - click here to read Cree McCree article in Downbeat ‘Pioneering Drummer Viola Smith Was ‘An Advocate For The Rights Of All Women Musicians

    Lil Hardin - click here to read team member Aydenne Simone’s article in our Jazz in Europe column ‘Lil Hardin: A Pillar in the Rear View Mirror by Aydenne Simone’ 

    Mary Osborne - click here to read Unsung Women of Jazz – Mary Osborne in Jazz Arts

    Betty Carter - click here to read ‘5 mins that will make you love Betty Carter’ in the New York Times

    Alice Coltrane - click here to read Stuart Nicholson’s Alice Coltrane: the high priestess of spiritual jazz in JazzwiseDorothy Ashby - click here to read How Dorothy Ashby Made the Harp Swing’ by Julian Lucas  in the New Yorker

    ...
  • The Notes Between with Naadia Sheriff

    21st May 2025

    Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series’ The Notes Between’ with Lara Eidi. Conversations exploring everything behind and about the world of songwriting! Our theme music ‘Breathe Love’ is from Lara Eidi herself available here

    In this episode, Lara talks to Singer, songwriter and producer Naadia Sheriff

    Available on Spotify Apple and all major podcast platforms

    Naadia Sheriff is a UK Jazz Pianist, Composer, Musical Director Arranger, and educator. She is a founder member of Yazz Ahmed’s Hafla band with whom she appears on the Jazz FM award winning album ‘Polyhymnia’ and in tribute to Chick Corea on the recent Bluenote “Re-imagined volume II’ and on Yazz’s latest release ‘A Paradise in the Hold’

    Naadia has been collaborating with Kate Dimbleby for over ten years, and their duo album of Dory Previn songs was an iTunes number 1 album on its release in 2015. She also appears on two other of Kate’s albums including 2024’s ‘Deep Waters’ (where the track ‘Endings’ is from). Over the last few years she has also worked with Lara Eidi, with whom the track ‘Anon’ was recorded, remotely during lockdown.

    Naadia was a member of the band ISQ for three years until PhD studies took over! The track ‘Where Beauty Lives’ is from the album Requiem for the Faithful—the Remixes, in which a different musician reimagined a track from the original album of the same name.

    As an educator, Naadia teaches at St Paul’s Girls’ School and Merchant Taylors Boys’ School and is an ABRSM examiner.  She also has three arrangements of jazz standards in the current Trinity exam board piano syllabus.

    Naadia is currently a doctoral student at the University of Kent researching ‘Women in Contemporary UK Jazz’

    Athens born to Lebanese Canadian parents, Lara Eidi is an artist that thrives on being different. As an independent artist, singer and multi- instrumentalist, she has carved a path for herself that continuously aimed at reshaping and developing her voice as a storyteller. An accomplished and reputable singer-songwriter, pianist, recording artist and jazz- folk vocalist of her own accord based in London and Athens. Her music has gained her critical acclaim as a genre bending artist (BBC Artist, 2020), described as “a singer with true gift of a voice, a kind soul, and a captivating presence.” (Jazz UK). At the heart of her being as a multi-disciplinary artist, she is sought after as a composer for vocal film scores, writes as a freelance music journalist, and is in demand as a creative workshop leader. Her music seeks to elevate and heal, and as a result, she creates genre- defying songs with a great emphasis on story telling. Her latest album ‘Sun’, her long awaited debut album, is all about pulling the threads of her folk, acoustic rock and jazz-classical upbringing to her message of hope, empowerment, and freedom. As a soloist, her recent debut performance at the infamous Royal Albert Hall, singing select pieces from Greece and Lebanon form the Medieval Byzantine Traditions sees Lara engaging on a series of select and innovative performances with the SAUDHA Indian Classical Music Association. 

    Lara Eidi website

    ...