With its programme of events in full swing, we round up the best of the festival still to come
The November chill may be drawing in, but things are only just heating up at the Cambridge Jazz Festival. Since its foundation in 2014, the event has been a staple of the local cultural calendar, celebrating jazz music in all its many guises including funk, blues and soul. Now in its ninth year and running from 12 to 26 November, the Cambridge Jazz Festival continues to bring an eclectic roster of performances to the city and surrounding areas.
WHAT’S ON?
Headline acts this year include YolanDa Brown, Incognito and A Certain Ratio – a band with a cult following who will be bringing their infectious combination of jazz, hard funk, dance, samba, post-punk and pop to the Cambridge Junction on 17 November.
Elsewhere, the award-winning UK saxophonist, Emma Rawicz, is this year’s artist-in-residence and will be gracing audiences with two headline performances – the first takes place at Cambridge Junction on 18 November alongside her quintet. Emma will then take to the stage once more for the festival finale alongside the Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra at West Road Concert Hall, to perform a new commission written especially for the event.
On 19 November, the international jazz musician and steel pan virtuoso, Leon Foster Thomas, will be playing at Jesus College, offering an exclusive opportunity to see this critically acclaimed musical talent play live.
Not to be missed on 25 November, join Jazz FM’s Ruth Fisher for ‘Prosecco Brunch’, presented with virtuoso vocalist Cleveland Watkiss alongside Pete Churchill and quartet for a performance of Jon Hendricks’ (aka the Poet Laureate of Jazz) Songbook.
Later that evening, return to Cambridge Junction for ‘Jazz in The Round’ with Maria Reháková, Rebecca Nash and Maddy Coombs. The late-night destination of choice for any discerning jazz-head, Jazz in The Round are well-reputed for their cutting-edge monthly events and this is bound to be no exception.
With over 40 events and more than 350 artists and performers to be discovered, this is just an enticing flavour of what the festival has to offer.
To view the full programme and book your tickets now, head to cambridgejazzfestival.info
