April was another inspiring month for us in Camden. The venue was left awestruck by the unique storytelling format of The Blues Chronicles on it’s debut outing in London while fans of classic UK hip hop were treated to the triple bill of stalwarts Ty, Rodney P and Blak Twang all in one night. Brother of legendary producer J Dilla, Illa J played to a sold out venue ahead of his festival performance with us at Maiden Voyage in August. Jazz Cafe favourites Jazz Jamaica returned for another spectacular performance to prove that the old guard of UK jazz is still alive and strong...
As May approaches we’re especially looking forward to the return of R&B queen Jocelyn Brown who takes up a traditional three-date residency which never disappoints. There are more Jazz Cafe favourites in the program as Benjamin Zephaniah, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and DJ Premier are back in London to play intimate shows with us.
As usual we’ve got our eye on the full spectrum of jazz from around the world. London Saxophone Festival kicks off with the opening night at The Jazz Cafe! We’ve invited one of the most impressive lineups of the program as Collocutor, Denys Baptiste, Binker Golding and Nat Burchall all play on the same night – a heavy dose of UK talent.
Butcher Brown arrive from the states, Cuban jazz master Omar Sosa performs for the first time since his massive Barbican show last year and there’s a celebration of the legend Rubén González (of Buena Vista Social Club fame). Finally we celebrate Miles Davis’ birthday on Sunday 26th May with In A Silent Way.
We’re on the frontline of cutting edge talent once again this month and expanding our programme to take in the full extent of the best music city in the world. We head South with Louis Cole at Heaven in Vauxhall, alt-rap star Open Mike Eagle is in North London at Islington Assembly Hall, and jazz vocalist Charlotte Dos Santos plays EartH in Hackney. Here in Camden we’ve got something for everyone at The Jazz Cafe with Turkish folk (Altin Gün), Portuguese classical (Miguel Araújo) and even some prog-rock when Soft Machine play at The Jazz Cafe.
