With an eclectic mix of performers from across the globe, organisers say this year’s Liverpool International Jazz Festival (LIJF) is the most multicultural it has ever been. The series of events organised and hosted by Liverpool Hope University runs from Thursday 24th February to Sunday 27th February 2022. The global pandemic meant the Festival wasn’t able to run in 2021.

But having first launched in 2013, the Jazz Festival has played host to some of the genre’s leading lights, including Courtney Pine, Denys Baptiste, Roller Trio, Impossible Gentlemen, Kit Downes, Led Bib, Philip Catherine, GoGo Penguin, Troyka, Neil Cowley Trio, and Dennis Rollins’ Velocity Trio.

One of this year’s Festival highlights - and perhaps the most accessible show for non-jazz aficionados - will see the Camilla George Band take to the stage on Saturday 26th Feb.

It’ll see Nigeria-born saxophonist Camilla George leading a funky, joyous celebration of the fusion between African and Western music.

The festival also encompasses Liverpool Sax Day, a day long event featuring workshops and masterclasses from BBC’s Young Jazz Musician of the year 2018 and rising UK sax star Xhosa Cole, plus the North’s leading jazz tenor man Dean Masser.

Festival organiser Neil Campbell, Venue Manager for Hope’s acclaimed Creative Campus, says audiences are in for a ethnically-diverse, mind-blowing treat.

He says: “We want to showcase innovative, instrumental jazz which crosses genre boundaries - but we also want to celebrate jazz that’s really accessible to audiences who might be new to this type of music. We’ve always tried to have a really international perspective to the artists we invite. And this year - more than any other year - the line-up for our long weekend is really diverse. That has almost happened accidentally. We’ve simply tried to pick the cream of the crop - and it just so happens that the most exciting performers in jazz right now come from a range of different cultural backgrounds.”

Tickets for the Liverpool International Jazz Festival are on sale now via Ticket Quarter or through the Capstone Theatre website. Individual show tickets are priced from £15, while you can enjoy a full weekend pass for just £50.

Meanwhile you can also get involved in various after-parties and alternative gigs - which link to Liverpool’s grassroots jazz scene - after each performance throughout the festival, including a live music event at Melodic Distraction Coffee & Bar on Friday 25th February, and a very special intimate performance by the stunning Neil Yates / Dean Masser Quintet at The Tempest on Sunday 27th.

DUOLOGY

Thursday, 24 February 2022, 7.30pm

Admission: £15

Tim Garland - saxophone
Jason Rebello - piano

Check them out on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpsQcO3ylQs

Award-winning saxophonist Tim Garland has recorded and performed with scores of legendary jazz musicians including Chick Corea, Ronnie Scott, Ralph Towner, John Dankworth and Bill Bruford.

Keyboardist Jason Rebello’s work has traversed the worlds of jazz and rock music. His 1990 debut album A Clearer View was produced by saxophonist Wayne Shorter (Miles Davis/Weather Report) and he has since gone on to record and perform live with artists including Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Chaka Khan. His most notable and enduring collaborations have been with Sting and Jeff Beck. In over thirty years of friendship both artists have toured, shared and recorded music which has spurred their artistic growth as separate artists and as band members. Now they feel the time is right to focus this long-honed rapport in a series of duet recordings entitled DUOLOGY.

JOHN LAW’S CONGREGATION

Friday, 25 February 2022, 7.30pm

Admission: £15

John Law - piano, keyboards, electronics
James Mainwaring - saxophones, guitar, electronics
Ashley John Long - bass
Dave Hamblett - drums

Check them out on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzgXA3ReuAk

Combining intricate yet strong, highly melodic acoustic instrumental compositions accompanied by subtle, electronic ambient textures, John Law’s music treads a path between contemporary jazz, rock and his original classical background, to produce highly visual music, almost Filmscapes, each one in its own particular emotional sound world.

John Law, 2020 winner of the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists, brings together, in his Congregation three outstanding young musicians from the world of contemporary jazz, each of them highly skilled in many musical genres.

James Mainwaring, from Mercury Prize jazz winners and European Jazz Competition finalists Roller Trio, plays both saxophone and guitar, and adds occasional subtle electronic textures to the music. Philharmonic Young Composer Ashley John Long is one of the most in-demand young bass players in the UK; alongside his varied work in jazz, from mainstream to freely improvised avant-garde playing, he is also a classical virtuoso, playing in many contemporary and baroque ensembles and is widely known as a contemporary classical composer. Drummer Dave Hamblett is the most in-demand and sought-after jazz drummer in the UK, a subtle powerhouse behind countless live British bands and recordings.

“One of the UK’s most imaginative and versatile pianists” - International Piano Magazine

“So full of joy that it can renew your faith not just in jazz, but music itself.” - Phil Johnson