Written by Skye Slatcher
EFG London Jazz Festival
November is the best month of the year for London’s jazz scene. Europe’s biggest pan-city music festival means over 100,000 audience members are enjoying jazz at over 300 venues with the EFG London Jazz Festival. Since 1992, the festival has aimed to celebrate jazz, and its place in the capital, giving artists a platform and bringing a variety of music venues to life.
This year, I was able to attend four of the festival’s events at different venues across the city…
Friday 14 – Kinkajous at The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre
Kinkajous is an experimental, London-based group. They are led by drummer and producer Benoît Parmentier and saxophonist Adrien Cau, with Jack Doherty on the synth/keys and Andres Castellanos on bass. This was a pretty unique performance. They collaborated with multimedia artist Ke Peng for an entrancing light show behind them.
The lights and music combination certainly made them one of the most distinctive performances I got the chance to see. Perhaps not my favourite thing ever. But it was ambitious and interesting.
Unfortunately, for a while, Castellanos’ bass was not working (wiring problems?), and his signalling to the engineering team was hard to ignore, with the whole audience quickly becoming pretty invested in the resolution to his problems. When he finally was able to play, he received the loudest applause of the performance so far. I only wish he had more of a role in some of the songs they played. Typical bassist.
What do you call a guy who hangs out with a band of musicians?
A bassist.
Saturday 15 – Sam Amidon’s ‘Salt River’ and Thomas Bartlett at Union Chapel
I must admit before this event I had never heard of Sam Amidon— and I was perhaps the only one in the audience who hadn’t. When asked if there were fans in the house, everyone seemed to cheer. I figured I’d be in for a treat. I was.
The event started with an hour-long performance by Thomas Bartlett on the piano (a Yamaha— they made sure to emphasise this fact). It was a rare solo performance from him, and it was impressive. This was the first time I had ever seen someone play piano non-stop for an hour, while managing to take sips of his glass of wine at the same time. A skill I can only wish to develop someday.
When Sam Amidon’s set started, the vibe was rather different— certainly far more upbeat. Amidon has been on a long quest to recontextualise what it means to sing, make, and enjoy folk music. His new album, ‘Salt River’, encompasses a range of what folk music can be, from Appalachian ballads to reimaginings of old classics. I think my favourite part of his set was his rendition of Lou Reed’s ‘Big Sky’ (maybe because he kept saying my name over and over again). I also felt like I got a full lesson in shape-note singing—a hymnal singing style originating in his native Vermont.
He was joined by Thomas Bartlett on the piano and keyboards, Nico Muhly on piano, Bert Cools on electric guitar, and Tom Skinner on drums , with Beth Orton as a special guest. Orton was received by the crowd (clearly more knowledgeable than me in this genre) with huge applause—famous for her ‘folktronica’ style. Orton and Amidon are married (I just discovered this right now as I’m writing this sentence).
He was also joined briefly by Sascha Bota (viola) and Ganavya Doraiswamy (singer). I can confirm that since the show, Sam Amidon has become a fixture of my daily listening on Spotify.
Musically, this was such a great evening. My only gripe with this was how bloody uncomfortable church pews are. By the end of my three or so hours there, my spine was screaming for help and my legs were nearly numb.
Monday 17 – Olivia Murphy, Andrew Woodhead, and Lewis Daniel at The Elgar Rooms, Royal Albert Hall
This evening consisted of three 45-minute sets from these ‘Take 5’ alumni. One thing connected the three sets: they were all kind of nerds. I loved it.
Andrew Woodhead’s set was first. Wearing a Simpsons T-shirt, he explained his music is inspired by the Fleischer Studios’ surreal animations of the 20s and 30s, especially ‘Swing You Sinners!’. He brings the early jazz of Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway to a modern space. I thought it was a great set, and I’m sure I would have appreciated it even more. (An audience member sitting next to me said he had little appreciation of jazz and thought the drum solo sounded like ‘a dustbin rolling down a hill’. I disagree; I love a drum solo, but he said it with great conviction, so I felt I should share.)
Next was Olivia Murphy. She explores writing smaller-scale compositions, and has been described as one of the most innovative and colourful young artists in the UK jazz scene. The pieces she played with her Moonrise Ensemble were interesting, inspired by video games and sirens. This music wasn’t really my thing, but I can appreciate the creativity and uniqueness of her work. Also the room was freezing cold during this set. Like seriously so cold. Maybe in a warmer climate I might have felt differently about her set.
Lewis Daniel was the final set. He is a saxophonist, singer, and composer, and he performed with a large group, including a steel-pan musician. This was my favourite part of the night. He showcased pieces from his debut album, Defected Disk. It is a concept album, which plays in a perfect loop. It is set inside an immersive video game taking place in cyberpunk South London. He takes listeners from character creation to game over. He explained it was a creative outlet for him to express his own experiences with friendship breakups and mental health. I really enjoyed it. It was lively and engaging, and I felt like I could hear the video game he was envisaging as he wrote it.
Wednesday 19 – Dave O’Higgins at Pizza Express Jazz Club
What could be better than pizza and jazz?
To be honest, that could be my whole review of this event, but I’ll try to be a little more detailed. Dave O’Higgins, widely recognised as one of the UK’s greatest tenor saxophonists, led a quartet in a tour of Coltrane’s greatest hits and underappreciated works. He took moments to explain the significance of the pieces he played, and the stylistic elements that most intrigued him. I love Coltrane, so I was sold from the get-go, but this was a great night regardless of whether you know Coltrane or not. I have come to usually prefer improvised jazz, but to watch this performance of rehearsed tunes by one of the greatest jazz and blues musicians ever was a real treat. The Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho was the ideal setting for this performance. Perfectly intimate.
The EFG London Jazz Festival was undoubtedly a hit this year. Any jazz fans out there ought to keep an eye out for the 2026 event.
I would also like to send a massive ‘thank you’ to William Burgess from Practise Music for arranging my tickets and answering my many (MANY) emails, even late on evenings and at the weekend.
