Created to support the development of outstanding female Black artists in the early stages of their careers and to support the creation of ground-breaking, genre-bending and alternative original music, our Kicking Down The Door Creator Fund aims:

• To break down assumptions and stereotypes within the music industry by encouraging role models for future generations of female Black Alternative artists
• To raise awareness of the female Black artists creating genre-bending and exceptional new music
• To increase the profile of female Black Alternative Music
• To encourage the creation of authentic music creation outside of industry stereotyping and assumptions

Huge shout out and thank you to everyone who submitted an application! Everyone who applied was amazing and it was incredible to see so much inspiring work by so many women! Sadly, this time around, we only have enough budget to support three applicants but we do want to shout out to you all and thank you for applying. We will hopefully be opening the fund again and everyone is welcome to apply again, even if you applied before and were not successful.

The Kicking Down The Door Creator Fund has been created by team member Ashaine White ‘I’m so honoured to be able to be a part the journey of these 3 talented artists! Women in Jazz Media aims to support artists being themselves, authentically - inspiring women making brave music, it’s truly a pleasure to represent the black alternative music space!’

We are absolutely thrilled to announce Mary Sho, Olympia Vitalis and Rybes as our first recipients!

'I am buzzing and full of so much gratitude. Thank you to Women in Jazz Media and Ashaine White, I'm so excited to use this funding to support an intimate live show where I will be sharing new music and use the studio time to finally record final versions of my new project. The support will really make an impact on my music journey'. Mary Sho

‘I am so excited to be acknowledged by such a wonderful organisation and community that I have followed for so long. With the fund, I am planning to improve my home studio set-up which is well overdue an upgrade! Big thank you, can't wait to start working together.’ Olympia Vitalis

‘The support from Women in Jazz Media has given me the confidence to believe in my artistry and carry out the next steps to release new music as an independent artist. I'm glad this fund exists.’  Rybes

Much to more to follow, but you can support these artists already by following on the links below:

Mary Sho  Olympia Vitalis  Rybes

We are hugely grateful to Barnes Code for sponsoring this initiative and whose funding has made this project possible. Barnes Code has great expertise in the music industry and specialises in bespoke software development and we are proud to have them as an official sponsor.

Our 3 successful applicants each get: £500 towards music project, 2 x 4-hour recording sessions, 1-1 mentoring/artist development discussions, networking opportunities, live performance opportunities, one photo shoot, interview published in our Women in Jazz Media magazine and promotion on our social media platforms.

Watch this space!

We are open and transparent in all the work we do and always happy to discuss any aspects of our work including decision making. If anyone would like to explore this or has any questions, please do get in touch. We are here to support.

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, we are busy working on our next magazine which is due to be published in July, so do look out for that. You can read our last edition here

We have held quite a few events since our last update and were thrilled to support the brilliant JAM String Collective launch their new album in partnership with Tomorrows Warriors at Toulouse Lautrec.

Our new ‘Kicking Down The Door’ initiative created by team member and Ivor’s Academy nominated Rising Star Ashaine White, has now closed. Created to support the development of outstanding female Black artists in the early stages of their careers to support the creation of ground-breaking, genre-bending and alternative original music. We will be sharing more news about this in our next magazine!

Big Mama, Aydenne Simone and Fiona Ross recently visited the Music Relief Foundation to explore some exciting projects and how we can further support their work.

Our wellbeing team Diana Torti Fiona Mactaggart Germana Stella La Sorsa and Laura Impallomeni have been working hard behind the scenes on our wellbeing projects and we will be launching an event soon. Stayed tuned!

Kim Cypher has been busy in the studio recording the final few tracks for her forthcoming 'Brighter Tomorrow' album featuring Liane Carroll, Ashley Slater, Antonio Forcione and Karl Vanden-Bossche. She has also been rehearsing for her performance in the Grand Finale of the hugely anticipated Barbara Thompson Memorial Concert, together with an ALL-STAR lineup, at Union Chapel on 2nd June.  Click here to BOOK TICKETS NOW or stream 'live'.

Diana Torti’s new album has been causing quite the stir and received amazing reviews.

Fiona Mactaggart for Jazz in Europe explains ‘Never before has an album’s deep lyrics contrasted so markedly with the lightness and sheer beauty of its sound.’ You can read the full review here. Nick Lea on Jazz views tells us ‘An album to luxuriate in as Sabino de Bari and Diana Torti embrace jazz, improvisation, contemporary classical and ancient music in an intoxicating and eclectic programme’ You can read the full review here. The brilliant Sarah Chaplin also interviewed Diana for JazzLondonLive and the incredible Sandy Letham, who is a huge supporter of female artists, played the new album on his Abbey 104 show. Album cover photo by our very own Monika S Jakubowska!

Paulette Jackson has been featured in two wonderful magazines recently The Lyfe Magazine and Pump It Up Magazine Paulette also attended a 2 day conference for entrepreneurs and creatives where her business, SCORP Lady Ventures was one of the businesses featured in the NDustri Magazine with actress Viola Davis on the cover, along with being a guest author panelist for a discussion about self-publishing at one of her local libraries.

Tatiana Gorilovsky has been capturing stunning moments around London and here are a couple of recent photos: Carminho, (Maria do Carmo Carvalho Rebelo de Andrade), one of the best Portuguese Fado singers and brilliant Alice Zawadski opening for her at Union Chapel, in London recently.

Esther Bennett is busy performing all over the UK and her upcoming gig at Sicily looks like a real treat! June 16th tickets here Esther is also excited to be part of The Music Mix’s final concert of the season on 18th June, Sunday, at William Loveless Hall in Colchester. Tickets here. We are also looking forward to physical copies of Esther’s brilliant CD Home is Where the Art Is which is coming soon!

Isabel Marquez had the opportunity to attend both the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and XJazz! Festival in Berlin as a reporter for Women in Jazz Media/Jazz in Europe! 'I got to interview some of my all time favourite musicians and enjoy some fantastic music'. You can read her Cheltenham Jazz Festival here and XJazz is coming soon!

And last but not least, we are all excited about new music coming from Lara Eidiwho is set to release her new album ‘Sun’. It’s a huge project with a lot of heart, so Lara has launched a crowfunding campaign which you can find out about here:

So much more, but thank you for reading some highlights!

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