Oxford to lose what has been a world class venue for jazz.

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

The music programme at St John the Evangelist Church, which has been run by SJE Arts is to close on 30 June 2025. Guest contributor Colin May reports.

Colin May writes;

Oxford to lose what’s been a world class venue for jazz.

The music programme at St John the Evangelist Church which has been run by SJE Arts is to close on 30 June. This decision has been made by the Board of Trustees of St Stephen’s House, the college that owns the church.

Jazz has been just one of several music genres that have found a home at the SJE. As well as SJE Arts an annual world class classical piano series, it’s been used regularly by promoters of other classical events e.g. Oxford’s renowned International Song Festival, and by promoters of folk and acoustic events e.g. local alt folk rock heroes Stornoway played a sold out unplugged concert there not long ago. Particularly the SJE has attracted promoters of national and international artists who have outgrown smaller venues and need a world class medium sized space.

Among the jazz acts I have seen there have been Tord Gustavsen, Tigran Hamasyan, Omar Sosa and Seckou Keita, Polar Bear supported by Shiver ( the loudest concert I’ve heard at the SJE) , and in the last two weeks the Fergus McCreadie Trio and Laura Jurd and Friends.

The SJE offers superb acoustics, a world class Steinway piano, capacity of 250 to 350 depending on requirements, a relatively big space in which an intimate atmosphere can be created, a bar, good toilets, ease of accessibility for wheelchair users and by public transport( there’s a bus stop right outside), and a dedicated team who do their utmost to always make performers and audience members welcome.

It will be difficult to find what the SJE offers elsewhere in the city, and there is a fear that Oxford will be dropped from the touring schedules of artists of the calibre of e.g. Tord Gustavsen, which would not only diminish jazz life but also wider cultural life in the city of Dreaming Spires.

SJE Arts have issued a short statement about the immanent closure of it’s music programme on it’s web site SJE Arts – Oxford’s Venue for Music and Arts.
https://sje-arts.org/

COLIN MAY