Photograph of Linda May Han Oh by Pam Mann

EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025

DAY EIGHT,  FRIDAY,  21/11/2025

The second Friday of the Festival found me spending the whole day at the Milton Court Concert Hall, home of the annual Guildhall Jazz Festival.

The Guildhall Jazz Festival is a ‘festival within a festival’,  an annual event that celebrates the work of the students and alumni of the Jazz Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  Part of a collaboration with the wider EFG London Jazz Festival and running from 18th to 23rd November all events at the 2025 Guildhall Jazz Festival were free admission and included student showcases in addition to concerts by established names such as vocalist Jacqui Dankworth and bassist / vocalist Linda May Han Oh. The GJF represents a great way for jazz fans who may be on a tight budget to see some top quality music for nothing and to do so in proper listening environment rather than a crowded foyer.

The programme is co-ordinated by the Australian born vocalist and songwriter Jo Lawry who is Head of Jazz at the Guildhall and acts as MC for all the performances.

Today I enjoyed two afternoon showcases by student ensembles before staying on into the evening to see the performances by Jacqui Dankworth, the Joe Garland Band and Linda May Han Oh in the evening.

AFTERNOON SHOWCASES

The annual visit to EFG LJF also presents us with the opportunity to catch up with London based family friends. Today we met my cousin for lunch and although it was my intention to catch all three afternoon showcases afterwards there was a lot to talk about and lunch somewhat overran.

As a result I totally missed the first showcase event featuring the duo of vocalist Lucy Joy and pianist Thomas Sladden. Sorry, guys.

OLESA QUINTET

The first act that I did manage to see was this quintet led by the Russian born vocalist and songwriter Olesa Zgurskaia, who, perhaps wisely,  just uses her first name, so I’m going to do that too! Olesa also plays double bass and piano but today concentrated on her role as a vocalist as the leader of a quintet also featuring drummer Frank Hawkes, pianist Hannah Richardson, electric bassist Jay Smith and a clarinettist / bass clarinettist whose name I didn’t catch.

The opening number “Woman” demonstrated that Olesa is an adventurous vocalist, this being a demanding song featuring odd time signatures. Olesa told us that it was written by an Estonian singer and pianist, and although I again didn’t catch the name I did wonder if it could have been Kadri Voorand, who memorably appeared at Kings Place in 2017 as part of that year’s EFG LJF.

Based on the writings of Charles Bukowski and composed by trumpeter Andre Canniere and vocalist Brigitte Beraha the next piece also featured Olesa’s accomplished wordless vocalising, plus a piano solo from Richardson. I don’t think the title of the piece was actually announced but suspect that it may have been from Canniere’s 2016 album “The Darkening Blue”, which explored the poetry of both Bukowski and the Norwegian Rainer Maria Rilke.

Olesa’s original “Minds” included more scat singing plus features for Richardson, the talented young clarinettist and finally Hawkes at the close.

Transcribed by Olesa herself the next piece was a version of “Ancient Observer”, a song by the Armenian pianist and vocalist Tigran Hamasyan. Featuring Armenian style folk melodies and Olesa’s wordless vocals the performance also included a liquid electric bass solo from Smith plus a dialogue between bass clarinet and Olesa, with the singer pushing her voice to its limits. Full of unexpected twists and turns this was a very ambitious piece to tackle and Olesa and her quintet acquitted themselves admirably.

Indeed this was a challenging and unusual programme overall, one that studiously avoided the usual jazz standards and which demonstrated an admirable sense of adventure.

LIOR SOLOMONS – WISE QUARTET
Lior Solomons-Wise – piano, George Johnson – tenor saxophone, Zaki Osahn – double bass, Sacha Harlan – drums

Pianist and composer Lior Solomons-Wise is a recent Guildhall graduate and I think his quartet lined up as advertised – I certainly recognised saxophonist George Johnson, who recently visited a Music Spoken Here event in Worcester as a ‘dep’ with guitarist Tom Ford’s band.

Today’s programme focussed on the leader’s compositions exclusively and commenced with a segue of “Beautiful Storm” and “To Live Is To Love”.
The first part of this sequence began with a solo piano intro subsequently joined by mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers. Gradually wisps of tenor sax melody began to appear before the music took a darker turn into almost free jazz territory with the sounds of cymbal crashes and pounding piano. The storm of the title no doubt, which blew itself out as the piece progressed by way of a lyrical piano episode, with Johnson’s return not breaking the mood.

A passage of unaccompanied double bass seemed to mark the transition into the next piece, “To Live Is To Love”. Solomons-Wise stated the melody on piano before handing over to Johnson, with Harlan’s crisp and increasingly dynamic drumming fuelling Johnson’s solo. Stylistically this piece reminded me of Keith Jarrett’s ‘Belonging Quartet’ with Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen.

“Dusk In The Woods” was inspired by a walk on Hampstead Heath and was a introduced by a duo passage featuring piano and tenor saxophone, with double bass and brushed drums subsequently added. A brief but lyrical solo from Solomons-Wise was followed by a longer excursion from Johnson before, the pianist and composer returned to make further explorations.

An extended passage of unaccompanied piano introduced the closing “Onwards Light and Dark”, which also included an expansive solo from Solomons-Wise in the piano trio format. Johnson was featured more extensively later on before this sequence ended as it began with a passage of unaccompanied piano.

This was an impressively mature performance from Solomon-Wise, who excelled as both a pianist and a writer. He was awarded the Dankworth Prize for Composition in 2023. Online research suggests that he’s also a talented multi-instrumentalist, producer and educator. On the evidence of today’s performance he’s definitely a name to look out for in the future.

JACQUI DANKWORTH QUARTET

One of the problems at this year’s GJF was that the inside of the Milton Court Concert Hall was absolutely freezing cold. I don’t recall this being a problem in any shape or form in 2024. Yes, there had been a cold snap and with this being a free ‘drop in drop out’ type of event the theatre doors were often left open. Even so I watched most of the shows still wearing an outdoor coat and even resorted to a woolly hat on occasion. We did have a word with the staff on Thursday, but Friday was no better.

We were actually on the verge of bailing out and going into central London to find something else to watch, but eventually decided to tough it out.

We were rewarded with an excellent set from vocalist Jacqui Dankworth and a stellar quartet featuring her life partner Charlie Wood on piano and vocals, together with the superb rhythm section of bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Ralph Salmins, two highly experienced musicians.

The prospect of seeing one of the UK’s leading jazz vocalists for free had certainly drawn in the crowds, the 5.00 pm time slot also tempting people to drop in on the way home from work. This was the biggest crowd at GJF thus far and the hall was nearly full, which at least helped to warm it up a bit.

We’d had to vacate the hall after the showcases and actually had a bit of a job getting back in again. Consequently we missed the first number of Dankworth’s set, but the rest of it was top drawer, beginning with the standard “Baubles Bangles and Beads”.

This was followed by Dankworth’s soulful rendition of her original song “Sweet Devotion”, which included a melodic double bass solo from Hayhurst.
Dankworth studied at the Guildhall herself and was obviously keen to support her alma mater, hence this free show from an artist whose undoubted talents would normally command a pretty hefty ticket price.

Dankworth also informed us that she used to work in musical theatre and particularly in Stephen Sondheim shows. From the Sondheim repertoire came “No One Is Alone”

Charlie Wood took the lead on an arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “I’m Beginning To See Th Light”, played in a New Orleans ‘second line’ style with Wood duetting vocally with Dankworth as well as featuring as a piano soloist. The performance was then crowned by a colourful Salmins drum feature.
Dankworth returned to the Sondheim repertoire for an intimate rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch”, which commenced as voice and piano duet. Similar qualities informed a similarly tender and emotive interpretation of Ewan McColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”.

Dankworth’s latest album release is titled “Windmills”. From this came a remarkable arrangement of what is essentially the title track, “The Windmills of Your Mind”,  given a distinctive jazz / flamenco treatment complete with handclaps, a playful and innovative take on the song that is a complete contrast to the solemnity of the original.

The performance concluded with a swinging blues style arrangement of “Sitting On Top Of The World” with Wood’s suitably bluesy piano solo representing the instrumental highlight.

It has to be said that this was an excellent performance. As a vocalist Dankworth is pure class and she was given superb support from an equally accomplished band. I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this show and my satisfaction was shared by a highly enthusiastic audience, most of whom were specifically there to see Dankworth and her group. I didn’t attend every GJF event but I’d be very surprised if this wasn’t the biggest attendance of the entire Festival.

JOE GARLAND BAND

Joe Garland – guitar, Scottie Thompson - piano, Cody Moss – keyboards,  Josh Short, Ed Hogben – trumpets, Tom Jarvis – tenor sax, Matt Cooper – trombone, Murray Dare – electric bass, Simon Spires – drums

The evening at Milton Court began with a set from a nine piece led by guitarist and composer Joe Garland, a recent graduate, like all eight of his bandmates.

The Joe Garland band plays a blues and rock infused blend of jazz funk and fusion, citing acts like The Yellowjackets, John Scofield and Tribal Tech as influences. Their material is all original, presumably written by Garland, and the band opened up as they meant to go on with “Deadline”, announced by an opening drum salvo and featuring the punchy sounds of the four man horn section. Garland’s guitar playing exhibited strong rock and blues influences, as evidenced here by his guitar solo and his set of exchanges with saxophonist Jarvis.

The rhythms on the opening tune were pure rock but the next item introduced more of a funk groove with Moss adopting an organ sound at the keyboard. He specialised on electric keys while Thompson focussed purely on acoustic piano. Garland again featured as a soloist, his playing exhibiting a particularly strong Scofield influence. One of the trumpeters was also featured as a soloist, although I wouldn’t like to speculate as to exactly which one it was.

Drums introduced the next piece, which saw the other trumpeter being given his chance, alongside Jarvis on tenor and the leader on guitar.

Again ushered in by Spires at the kit the next item was particularly powerful and featured a blues rock guitar solo from Garland alongside further features for trumpet and trombone plus a dynamic drum feature from Spires. 

The band signed off with a sturdy mix of rock and funk, with a solid backbeat providing the platform for solos from trumpet, Josh Short, I think, and Garland on guitar, the group reduced to the classic blues rock power trio mode at one point.

This set scored highly in terms of pure energy and it was hard not to get caught up in the excitement of it all. The playing was excellent but it might all have been a bit too rock for some jazz purists. There was no doubting whose band it was and Garland very much stole the show, soloing expansively on every piece, although his bandmates seemed more than ready to support him and also produced a few individual fireworks of their own. On this evidence Garland could easily make it as a rock guitar hero, should he choose to follow that path. He’s a huge talent whose future progress will be followed with interest.

LINDA MAY HAN OH with the GUILDHALL IMPROVISERS ENSEMBLE

It represented quite a coup for GJF to have one of the world’s leading double bassists and composers on the bill. Linda May Han Oh is a bandleader in her own right who has released seven albums under her own name, the latest the widely acclaimed “Strange Heavens” (2025), a recording that has made many critics’ ‘Best of Year’ lists.

In addition to her work as a leader Oh has also been featured as a prolific sidewoman, most notably with guitarist Pat Metheny, trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Vijay Iyer, among many others.

Born in Malaysia, raised in Australia and now resident in the US Oh is a close associate of the Guildhall’s Jo Lawry and appeared on Lawry’s excellent 2023 album “Acrobats”, the trio line up completed by drummer Allison Miller. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/jo-lawry-acrobats

I assume that it’s the friendship between Lawry and Oh that brought the bassist to the Guildhall, where Oh had conducted a number of workshops with the students prior to tonight’s performance in the company of the student ensemble the Guildhall Improvisers Ensemble.

The line up included Oh on double bass and vocals plus piano, guitar, a second double bass, two tenor saxes, with one doubling on flute, alto sax, electric bass, drums, with two players alternating, and four female vocalists, one of whom I recognised as Olesa Zgurskaia, who had led her own Olesa Quintet at one of the earlier Afternoon Showcases.

Things began instrumentally with a performance of Oh’s composition “Halo”, a piece dedicated to all supporters of live music. A highly rhythmic, Mingus-like piece this featured the attacking sound of Oh’s double bass as she shared the solos with alto sax, tenor sax, and piano with a drum feature at the close.

The title track of “Strange Heavens” was actually a feature for James, the second double bass player, who shared the plaudits with the alto saxophonist who delivered a towering, anthemic solo during the course of an arrangement that also included the sound of flute and Oh’s wordless vocals.

From Oh’s 2023 album “The Glass Hours” her composition “The Imperative” was described as being about “grit and resilience”. Again featuring the composer’s wordless vocals this complex, fast moving piece also included features for tenor sax, guitar, piano and drums.

The appropriately titled “Acapella” saw the four singers joining Oh in a vocal chorale, with Oh later taking up the bass to engage in a dialogue with one of the tenor saxophonists, underpinned by the harmonies of the vocalists.

“Hatchling”, dedicated to Oh’s four year old son was introduced by electric bass, with the band, including the four vocalists subsequently added. This was a piece distinguished by soaring wordless vocal melodies underpinned by propulsive electric bass and drum groves.

Tune announcements got rather more sporadic after this. The next item was a duo performance of an Oh original that featured the composer’s double bass in a dialogue with vocalist Olesa. The piece originally featured Oh and the American vocalist Michael Mayo.

The next piece featured folk like melodies and featured the vocalising of Oh and the four other singers, the music later diverting into more abstract, loosely structured territory.

The next item was introduced by a vocal chorale before developing an electric bass driven groove that provided the impetus for a solo from the ensemble’s guitar player. The piece then ended with a combined horns and vocal chorale.

The closing “Block Party” was sourced from “Invisible Threads”, a recent commission for Oh from the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. This was introduced by the twin double basses of Oh and James, who traded bass licks with the support of drums. Mingus again seemed to be a likely reference point and the performance included vocal features for two of the singers Kira and Anna, I think, Oh credited them by their first names. One of the tenor players was also featured and there was also a series of exciting exchanges featuring the horn section as a whole.

The deserved encore was a version of the Geri Allen composition “Skin”, led by Oh’s double bass and featuring the sounds of an insistent vocal vamp underpinning the raucous chorusing of the horns. It all culminated in a squalling free passage at the close of this brief but spirited romp through Allen’s tune.

Overall this was a very enjoyable performance with Oh successfully marshalling her young charges through some pretty complex original material. The leader impressed with both her playing, she was frequently featured as a soloist, and her writing and she proved to be an able vocalist too. The young instrumentalists all impressed, as did the singers, although there were a few too many vocal items for my personal tastes and it might have been nice to have mixed the vocal and instrumental items a bit more, although I appreciate that this would have entailed a lot of to-ing and fro-ing for the singers.

An adventurous but rewarding performance that must have stretched the players, the young musicians responding to the challenges with considerable aplomb.

I had hoped to pick up a copy of “Strange Heavens”, a trio recording made with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire after the show but Oh had no albums on sale. I may have to take a visit to Bandcamp instead.

 

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