The 32nd edition of the EFG London Jazz Festival ran this year from 15–24 November 2024. The biggest pan-city music festival in Europe, reaching over 100k people across 300+ live shows, we took the opportunity to highlight three main pillars of NYJO’s work: Performance, Learning, and Outreach.
Performance has always been a core aspect of NYJO, bringing engaging, high-quality jazz shows to audiences across the country since 1965. We believe in the value of performance to showcase the musical talent and creativity of the young musicians we work with, build their confidence and support their careers, always at the end of an enriching rehearsal and development journey.
Now, NYJO is also a Learning organisation, Performances exist as part of a NYJO Programme: a set of activities linked by a core idea such as an influential musician, iconic record label, or important sociopolitical theme. Programmes combine a focus on product — performances — with process, to create richer, deeper, and more embedded learning experiences for members. Programmes often draw together several areas of our work, beyond just our 18-25 Emerging Professional musicians, to include our Under 18s programme in Woolwich and national education partnerships under a single learning-driven theme.
A third pillar of NYJO’s work is Outreach, where we actively look to bring music-making to communities lacking in opportunities to access the first rungs of music. Jazz is the perfect vehicle for unlocking the benefits of music for young people, with a low barrier for entry (you don’t need to read music or play an instrument to a high standard to instantly engage in and enjoy first-access projects) but almost endless potential for growth (encouraging experimentation, initiative, and creativity).
All three of these pillars were reflected in NYJO’s EFG London Jazz Festival week:
Performance
NYJO & Cleveland Watkiss present: Sun Ra Reimagined, at Milton Court Concert Hall
On Saturday 23 November, a band of NYJO Emerging Professionals led by multidisciplinary artist, singer and bandleader Cleveland Watkiss took to the stage at Milton Court for the second performance of our tribute to the musician Sun Ra and Afrofuturism.
The programme came about after young musician Taylor Hylton saw Sun Ra’s Arkestra — his ensemble that has continued to perform after his death — at We Out Here festival in 2023, and brought the idea of a tribute to the NYJO team. Our version debuted at We Out Here this summer and was reprised for the London Jazz Festival after a successful first outing. In between the two performances, the programme was developed by workshops spent both with and away from instruments exploring the use and ethics of dress for the show, and a podcast episode featuring three musicians in the band.
Check out the Programme Notes for more info!
Photographer: David Biddlecombe
Learning:
NYJO Under 18s Ensemble & Band, at Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club
Monday 18 November saw a first for NYJO: the London Jazz Festival debut of our Under 18s groups who meet every Saturday at our base in Woolwich Works. Both the Under 18s Ensemble, led by drummer Winston Clifford, and Band, with Olivia Murphy, gave sets at Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club to a sold-out audience.
Our Under 18s programme is a prime example of a strand of work that has learning at its core, with performances serving larger educational aims of confidence, skills development, and joy. The Living Values that members created together to underpin their musical community give a flavour of the programme’s larger-than-sound ethos: Respect, Creativity, Skills, Teamwork, and Courage.
For our performance programmes to be incorporating more learning activities, and our learning programmes to be including more public performances, is a reflection of deliberately more joined-up thinking across our work.
Photographer: Taylor Hylton
Outreach:
Jam & Workshop for young people at Cardboard Citizens
On Wednesday 20 November, a group of NYJO Emerging Professionals visited the theatre company and homeless charity Cardboard Citizens at their new home in Hoxton. Together with educator and spoken word artist Lara Lee AKA FLOetic, they led a jam and workshop to launch the new year of the Cardboard Collective: a new music programme for young people with experience of homelessness, poverty, and inequity.
This is a continuation of several years’ collaboration with Cardboard Citizens, and just one of several outreach partnerships we maintain in London alongside further education college SoundSkool, Age UK Bromley & Greenwich, a growing network of secondary schools, and Music Services in Greenwich, Lewisham, and Southwark.
As well as a participatory music project for young people who have had extremely limited access until now, this was also an opportunity for musicians already engaged in our programmes to deliver paid outreach work, and develop their own skills as workshop facilitators and session leaders. As the pictures above make very clear, this was a day that was enjoyed and valued by all involved!
Photographer: Can Mehmethanoglu
These three activities falling within London Jazz Festival week together represent the breadth of our work, combining public performances for new and current audiences with learning experiences for young musicians, and a commitment to spreading our love of jazz and improvisation far and wide.
If any of this captures your imagination and inspires you with the potential of jazz for the future, please consider supporting our work by becoming a NYJO Friend, starting from £2.50/month. In return, you’ll have opportunities to get even closer to our work, and experience it first-hand — including but going beyond live performances.