The Shape of Jazz to Come is curated by Kathianne Hingwan and Dave Holland
The Producer for the series is Kathianne Hingwan
The Lucumi Project (Supported by the PRSF for Music)
Friday 17 March 2023 Forthcoming. After an exhilarating debut at the Feed the Soul Festival, The Shape of Jazz to come is delighted to present the LUCUMI PROJECT.
https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/the-lucumi-project/
Leon Foster Thomas Quartet
13 November 20
22 Part of the London Jazz Festival
https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/the-shape-of-jazz-to-come-presents-leon-foster-thomas-quartet/
Feed the Soul Vortex Jazz Festival 2021
24 September 2022 A two day festival in Gillett Square. Performing David Ijaduola’s Lucumi Suite performed by members of Ebony Steel Band (winner Of Panorama 2022). and Hackney talent RarelyAlways (Ricco Komolafe).
https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/2022/08/17/feed-the-soul-vortex-jazz-club-festival-2022/
Immy Churchill’s Tales from the Undertow
22 March 2022 Immy Churchill, Anatole Muster, Scottie Thompson, Matthew Berrill
Shake Keane: Man of Words and Music (Supported Hackney Council and the Vortex Foundation)
17 November 2021 Rowland Sutherland Quartet Man of Words and Music (Part 111)
30 September 2021 Shake Keane: Man of Words and Music Part 11 (Poetry and Jazz)
https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/man-of-words-music-shake-keane-part-ii-jazz-poetry/
Tuesday 22 June 2021 Streamed broadcast Man of Words and Music: The Poet and Trumpeter Shake Keane (Part 1)
https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/man-of-words-and-music-trumpeter-and-poet-shake-keane/
Laura Jurd (Cornet) Elliot Galvin (Piano) Duo
8 April 2021 Streamed broadcast Laura Jurd / Elliot Galvin
After cancelling all gigs in the Shape of Jazz to Come Series in 2020 due to Covid-19 the series re-opens with a fantastic duo that includes Laura Jurd and Elliot Galvin. The performance that was recorded at the Vortex Jazz Club will be streamed Thursday 8 April 8pm. Laura Jurd and Elliot Galvin have been making music together for over a decade, most notably as one half of the Mercury nominated band Dinosaur. Tonight they will be playing a set of original music written by both of them, in a rare duo setting.Together they form a formidable creative duo each bringing their own musical personality to both their compositions and playing. Both share a common in a background in classical music as well as jazz and are in their own element whether the work is composed or freely improvised.
REVIEW
Patrick Hadfield (London Jazz News)
For Black History Month: Echo in the Bones (Supported by the Art Council England)
31 October 2020 The second installment of a three-part work composed by Renell Shaw.
Music composed by Renell Shaw featuring Orphy Robinson MBE (Vibraphone, Marimba and Percussion), Cassie Kinoshi (saxophone), Samson Jatto (Drums), Sahra Gure (Vocals), Delycia Belgrave (Tap Dancing, Vocals), Afronaut Zu (Vocals), Charlie Laffer (Guitar), Mark Crown (Trumpet), Taurean Antoine-Chagar (Saxophone)
https://www.youtube.com/live/cVDAQylIMW0?feature=share
Review
https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/2020/12/21/echo-in-the-bones-review-by-kevin-le-gendre/
The Windrush Suite 22 June 2020. A suite of music composed and arranged by Renell Shaw (Supported by the PRSF for Music)
22nd June 2020 Streamed broadcast
Reviews
James Rybacki (Jazzwise)
https://www.jazzwise.com/review/article/renell-shaw-s-windrush-suite-shines-online
Alison Bentley (London Jazz News)
https://londonjazznews.com/2020/06/25/the-windrush-suite-by-renell-shaw/
https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/2020/06/25/review-the-windrush-suite-renell-shaw-by-aj-dehany/
In 2020 Renell Shaw won an Ivor Novello for The Vision They Had from the Windrush Suite
https://ivorsacademy.com/news/the-ivors-composer-awards-2020-winners-announced/
Written to mark the occasion of National Windrush Day, Renell Shaw’s ‘The Vision They Had’ picked up the award for ‘Jazz Composition for Small Ensemble’. Commissioned by the Vortex Jazz Club, Shaw’s work included words and audio recordings from his grandparents who are members of the Windrush Generation. Renell said “when I was writing ‘The Vision They Had’ the goal was simple – tell my grandparents’ story authentically and honestly. I didn’t want to just talk about Caribbean people who’d come to England. I wanted to talk about the deeper stories. I wanted to talk about love and loss, triumph, adventure and success.” The judges commented that “this is a work for our time…personally and politically resonant with emotional dialogue, it is beautifully composed with historical audio sampling and interplay of music and spoken word.”
The Shape of Jazz To Come Dates: 2020
JOEL WATERS TRIO + SAM NORRIS TRIO
JOEL WATERS TRIO (first set): Deschanel Gordon (piano), Benjamin Crane (bass), Joel Waters (drums)
PLUS
SAM NORRIS TRIO (second set): Sam Norris (alto saxophone, melodica), Will Sach (upright bass), Boz Martin-Jones (drums)
The Shape of Jazz To Come Dates: 2019
Ife Ogunjobi plus George Winstone Trio
26th February
Olly Chalk Trio plus Matt Sulzmann Trio
Joe Downard
Barnacles
Renell Shaw
REVIEWS
(Vortex, 23 September 2019. Review by Dominic Williams (London Jazz News )
This gig was part of The Shape of Jazz To Come, a Vortex programme supported by the Dave Holland – Evan Parker Fund. It takes its title from the Ornette Coleman album which was a high water mark for free jazz. Although the programme does not always mirror Coleman’s aesthetic precisely, it does showcase performers with a cross-genre and multi-media background – people who are breaking boundaries. More
Meg Morley Trio / Yana / Dub All Vision
Improvisations and impressionism at The Shape of Jazz to Come Festival 2018, London
(Vortex 19 September 2019. Review by Mike Hobart for the Financial Times 21 December 2018)
https://www.ft.com/content/9aa37b76-050d-11e9-bf0f-53b8511afd73
It was ironic that the Vortex’s two-day Shape of Jazz to Come festival included a farewell gig from the Yana trio. Vibraphonist Corey Mwamba, Dave Kane on bass and drummer Joshua Blackmore called time on their 10-year partnership with an uplifting set of through-improvised constructions that brought the opening night to a bittersweet high. A band as good as this really shouldn’t be going their separate ways.
The second day of the festival presented two continuous electronica-driven sets by Orphy Robinson’s Dub All Vision/Double Vision quartet. Voice-overs, samples and chunks of pre-recorded roots reggae acted as cue, spur and backing for a series of improvised set pieces. Bass guitarists Renell Shaw and Ricco Komolafe delivered a continuous undertow of funky riffs, twangs and grimy rumbles while Zuri added space-age keyboards and stripped-down expressionist piano. Robinson, orchestrating the evening from his laptop and keyboard, deconstructed a multitude of spoken-word samples into rhythmic loops and turned in a standout marimba solo in the second set. More
The Shape of Jazz To Come Dates: 2018
Aubin Vanns Trio plus Michael Shrimpling Quartet
Elephant Talk (GUILDHALL), Wilbur Whitta Trio PLUS (RAM) Will Cleasby Band (TRINITY LABAN)
Forj plus Nima (Irini Arabatzi – vocals, Luca Manning – vocals, Seth Tackaberry – Bass, Sam Every – Drums/BVs)
Ms Maurice
23 October
TreeClimbers 8.30pm + Maria Chiara Argirò Quintet
Cassie Kinoshi’s Seeds Ensemble
Meg Morley Trio 8.30pm + Yana
Orphy Robinson’s “Dub All Vision”
The project
The Shape of Jazz To Come is a series of performances supported by the Dave Holland – Evan Parker Fund and hosted by the Vortex Jazz Club. Its mission is in line with the Vortex’s mission of nurturing new and emerging talent although sometimes we mix old and new. Nevertheless the emphasis is always on quality and innovation.
For 25 years, the club has been serving as a platform for jazz, improvised and experimental music. The Vortex has been instrumental in the launch of up and coming artists’ careers, such as Mercury-nominated bands including Polar Bear and Portico Quartet. Saxophonist Evan Parker who has had a monthly residency at the club for a number of years described the Vortex as ‘my haven from the demands of the road… the Vortex is for me, a space to play “free jazz”. I cannot imagine life without it’. New York-based Holland has dropped into the club on a few occasions to take in the odd Evan Parker gig as well as to take in the unique Vortex vibe created by the musicians who perform here and volunteers who look after the place. Holland says ‘…the Vortex plays a vital role in the cultural life of London providing performance opportunities for both a UK and international community of musicians… its imaginative programming introduces new listening experiences to its audience’.
March 2 2018 two iconic musicians and old friends Dave Holland and Evan Parker joined forces in a fundraiser to show, as well as give their support to the Vortex Jazz Club – a fine institution that has help many a musician at the start of their career. The club has existed without any core funding after its establishment by founder David Mossman over twenty-five years ago.
