Star saxophonist Soweto Kinch to present his first jazz programme for BBC Four

A new series of jazz programmes is set to appear across BBC Television and Radio this autumn, it was announced at the launch of the EFG London Jazz Festival (Monday 17 September).

Published: 18 September 2018

Highlights include:

  • Jazzology With Soweto Kinch, the first programme on BBC Four to be fronted by the acclaimed saxophonist and BBC Radio 3 Jazz Now presenter
  • The final of the BBC Young Jazz Musician award, to be hosted at the festival for the first time
  • Over 15 hours of EFG London Jazz Festival coverage, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3

Jazzology With Soweto Kinch will follow Soweto on a personal journey into jazz. Travelling to New Orleans, New York and London, Soweto will meet and play with fellow musicians and discover the roots behind the music that is political, spiritual and rooted in African American history.

With jazz undergoing a revival, Soweto shines a light on a 100 year-old art form that’s showing no sign of slowing down. On his travels he meets many of today’s jazz greats, including singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding and saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who both featured on David Bowie’s album Blackstar.

Soweto also speaks to the latest wave of young British jazz musicians, including saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and composer and arranger Cassie Kinoshi, who, despite their roots in jazz traditions, also look to the future of the art form by drawing on contemporary influences found in grime and dubstep.

BBC Radio 3 will once again broadcast the first night of the London Jazz festival on the 16 November with a live broadcast of the star-studded opening gala, Jazz Voice, from the Royal Festival Hall. The evening will continue with another live broadcast of Radio 3’s popular contemporary jazz programme, Jazz Now.

There will be further Jazz Now broadcasts of concerts from across the festival, featuring artists including trumpeter Dave Douglas, Komeda’s Incarnations led by James Morton, the Avishai Cohen Trio with Mark Guiliana and Shai Maestro. Meanwhile, BBC Radio 3’s J To Z programme will record a special edition of the programme in front of a live audience at London’s Southbank Centre on the 17 November. Additional highlights will also feature in the station’s Late Junction and Music Planet programmes.

For the first time, the final of the BBC Young Jazz Musician award will be hosted at the EFG London Jazz Festival, as part of a new relationship that will further the competition’s aim of showcasing the most talented young jazz performers to audiences across the UK. The BBC Young Jazz Musician Final will be held at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Saturday 24 November.

Notes to Editors

BBC Young Jazz Musician was established in 2014 to shine a spotlight on and provide a platform for the UK’s most talented young jazz performers, echoing the way in which BBC Young Musician showcases young classical performers.

BBC Young Musician and BBC Young Jazz Musician are run and produced by BBC Studios Music and Entertainment Wales, and are broadcast on BBC Four television.

SRB

Tagged: