London Jazz Festival 2012

The story so far... Day six already?! The first half of the Festival has absolutely flown by. But do not fear, there’s plenty more in store over the remaining four days, so don’t go anywhere! Make sure you stick around and join us for the Festival's closing weekend.

PRESS HIGHLIGHTS There has been a phenomenal amount of 4 and 5* reviews in the press since the Festival got started last Friday. Here are a few of our favourites: Ambrose Akinmusire/Robert Glasper - 4* The Guardian Ambrose Akinmusire - 4* The Telegraph Jazz Voice, Terence Blanchard, Ambrose Akinmusire, Matthew Shipp Trio - 4* Financial Times Jazz Voice - 4* The Guardian Lucinda Williams - 5* The Telegraph Herbie Hancock - 4* The Guardian Ravi Coltrane - 4* Evening Standard Plus make sure to check out the Guardian music blogthis year, who are giving the low down on the Festival, with an abundance of reviews and featuring some superb pics from our Festival photographer Emile Holba. One of the Festival's longstanding partners Jazzwise Magazine have also published some great shots and reviews over on their website. Click here to take a look. MORE IN STORE Lots of people have been doing what we suggested, and getting to sold-out shows by late afternoon/early evening, and we’ve been able to pack lots of extra people in – a mixture of seats that are held off for PA and lights being released, and people with spare tickets giving them back for resale.  For clubs, you need to call now to check availability – for concert halls, some seats have been released on most sold-out shows, and a few more are likely to be released on the night.  Some of the shows you can still get into are: Tomorrow - Thu 15 Nov Trish Clowes plays Barbara Thompson St James Piccadilly Ian Shaw & Liane Carroll with the Bulgarian National Radio Big Band Clapham Grand Gwyneth Herbert sings Peggy Lee artsdepot, Barnet Karin Krog & Bengt Hallberg The Forge, Camden (and Fri) Transylvanian Jazz featuring Martin LubenovRich Mix, Shoreditch Friday 16 Nov Nublu - Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul SessionsCharlie Wrights (and Sat) Jazzpospolita POSK  Jazz Cafe, Hammersmith Saturday 17 Nov Neil Cowley Trio Barbican (matinee) Michael Garrick: A Tribute PR (matinee) Chick Corea/Christian McBride/Brian BladeBarbican Egberto Gismonti + John Law Trio QEH Parallel: A Tribute to Joe Harriott PR trioVD + Guillaume Perret  + PUMA Bishopsgate Institute Niney The Observer XOYO (this has moved from Thursday) World Sanguine Report + Nostalgia 77 + Golden Age of Steam Bethnal  Green Working Men’s Club Sunday 18 Nov John Surman QEH (matinee) Jeremy Monteiro PizzaExpress Jazz Club Mulatu Astatke + Criolo KOKO Camden There are dozens of FREE events too, so look out for those, especially across the weekend! STAY INVOLVED Over the first weekend, there were some fantastic workshops, masterclasses and talks to get involved in.  Way In to the Way Out – A talk with Alexander Hawkins and Corey Mwamba that delved into the history of jazz received a rave review on the Guardian music blog. Have a read of John L. Walters take on it.  The second weekend has an equal array of things to take part in beyond the concerts. You can still get tickets for Trish Clowes and Tom Cawley workshops andJeremy Monteiro’s masterclass is bound to be good.  More Details: http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk/events