The history of the London Jazz festival dates back to the 1970s, when the London Borough of Camden had the idea of adding a Jazz Week to the already popular Camden Festival, held during the spring. A variety of venues in north London got involved, promoting international jazz stars as well as providing a platform for up and coming British musicians to showcase their talents. The popularity of the Camden Jazz Week led to a second week being added in some years during the autumn.
However, by the early '90s the Camden Festival had ceased to be, and while the Borough continued to support the Jazz Week for a number of years, many felt a new direction a necessary step due to the Borough’s changing priorities and budgets. Serious, an international organisation that produces live events was a key factor in engineering the evolution of a London Jazz Festival, and with the help of the London Arts Board, the first festival was held in 1993. Not only promoting shows from renowned international musicians, the festival also put an emphasis on educational activity, with Serious using the festival as a way of helping young people and promoting cultural understanding throughout London. In 2005 special shows just for young people were started, including workshops and writing sessions, and are now a permanent fixture of the festival.
Over the years, the Jazz Festival has spread from north London throughout the entire city, developing into one of the world’s premier jazz events. Previous years have seen unique, landmark performances from a number of different artists. Jools Holland performed his first ever show with the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra at the Hackney Empire during the festival, while the Monk Liberation Front played all 70 of Thelonious Monk’s compositions during an all-day show at one of the festival's free stages. Respected musician Andy Sheppard also led 200 saxophonists in an unforgettable performance outside the Vortex Jazz Club to open the festival in 2006.
This year’s festival - to be held in November - sees Serious and Arts Council England team up with a number of organisations from around the world, uniting in their love of the arts and, more specifically, jazz. Long time supporters such as BBC Radio 3 and Jazzwise Magazine are back on board, following a number of years of support, while many contemporary and stylish hotels in London are offering discounted rates for festival visitors as well as doubling as venues themselves.
Last year’s festival saw 192 shows performed in 41 different venues and, with this year’s event set to be even bigger, the London Jazz Festival is a veritable feast for any lover of ground breaking and innovative music.
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