London Jazz Festival, in association with BBC Radio 3, Friday 13 to Sunday 22 November 2009

“The London Jazz Festival demonstrates what a broad and dynamic church  21^st century jazz is. There’s Indo-Jazz, hip-hop jazz, jazz metal, jazz-classical – you name it, the London Jazz Festival’s got it.” Robert Shore, Metro

This year the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3 raised its game once again, re-affirming its place as a vital part of the UK’s cultural calendar. For ten days the Festival welcomed world-class artists to London’s concert halls and clubs, presenting international stars and fresh new talent from the UK’s own burgeoning scene. Record audiences visited more venues than ever before, showcasing jazz right across the city. An unprecedented number of sold out shows and a multitude of 4 and 5 star reviews, happy artists and happy audiences made for a hugely successful 2009 Festival.

Download the post-Festival press release

For those of you already looking ahead to next year's Festival, here are the dates for your diary:

2010 : Friday 12 to Sunday 21 November

Dates for 2010 and 2011 have also been confirmed as:

2011: Friday 11 to Sunday 20 November

2012: Friday 9 to Sunday 18 November

The London Jazz Festival drew to a close yesterday, following a week of sold out shows and a multitude of 4 and 5 star reviews. Below is just a selection of these reviews to give you a taste of this year's highlights.

• Sonny Rollins and Jazz Voice / Guardian
• Sonny Rollins / Independent
• Roberto Fonseca / Guardian
• Marcus Roberts / Times
• Robert Glasper and Marcus Roberts / Financial Times
• Carla Bley / Telegraph
• Chick Corea and Bela Fleck / Guardian
• Bill Frisell / Guardian
• Stefano Bollani / Times
• Cleo Laine and John Dankworth / Guardian
• Esperanza Spalding / Evening Standard

It was great to see this year's London Jazz Festival identity, created by London-based IWANT design, getting recognition in the design world.

Digital Arts Online

Under Consideration

Visit IWANT's flickr stream to see the full set of designs including the print process.

Download our free Festival iPhone App, powered by Xomo.

*Find out what's on near you during the Festival
*Browse upcoming performances
*View artist profiles and concerts
*Visit iTunes to sample and buy music from artists
*View venue details and maps
*Build your 'Favourites' list to make sure you never miss a beat

Download the app directly from the app store

The London Jazz Festival is now in full swing with sold out shows across the capital and a raft of 4* and 5* reviews.

Check out what the Times, Guardian, Financial Times and Evening Standard had to say and get a taste of the highlights so far. 

Find out what Brass Jaw have been up to at the Festival on the BBC Radio 3 blog, where you can also see the latest happenings across the Festival...

Find out more

Get your daily Festival updates with this handy little widget from BBC Radio 3.

Keep up to date with BBC Radio 3's free text alerts
To register for this service simply text R3LJF to 83111 (normal text rates apply - any messages you receive from us will be free of charge).

To warm you up for John Scofield’s Piety Street Band concert on Friday 13 November at Queen Elizabeth Hall, watch Scofield and other band members talk about how the New Orleans, blues drenched project came about – features interviews with the musicians, behind the scenes footage and live concert excerpts.  The album Piety Street Band is out on Decca.

Video footage kindly supplied by Decca.

Five participants of The Write Stuff, the Festival's learning initiative for aspiring jazz journalists, went to see Richard Bona and Hindi Zahra at the Barbican on Monday night. Read Daniel Paton's review here.

For more information about The Write Stuff, visit the Jazzwise website.

The line-up for Cleveland Watkiss' 50th birthday bash at the Queen Elizabeth Hall has been announced..

You can catch all of the following on stage with Cleveland on Thursday 19 November: 

Alan Weekes, Alex Wilson, Bonnie Greer, Brian Edwards, Byron Wallen, Derek Richards, DJ Le Rouge, Gene Calderazzo, Goldie, Heidi Vogel, Jason Rebello, Jean Toussaint, Kenrick Rowe, Larry Bartley, Mark Hodsgon, Mark Mondesir, Martin Speake, Nikki Yeoh, Orphy Robinson, Shaney Forbes, Sheila Jordan, Simon Purcell, Steve Sidwell, Talvin Singh, Trevor Watkis, Tunde Jegede, Vayu Naidu, plus more special guests appearing on the night.

For more info

The Festival has teamed up with Dorset Cereals to offer you the chance to win tickets to a range of concerts, including Naturally 7, Cleo Laine & John Dankworth, Cleveland Watkiss and John Hegley & The Popticians.

Spin to win - to find out more visit Dorset Cereals

Great review by John Fordham in The Guardian for Stefano Bollani's latest ECM release, Stone in the Water.

Don't miss the charismatic Italian piano maestro live at Kings Place next month as part of the London Jazz Festival. He'll be playing a four-night residency, which kicks off on Wednesday 18 November with the trio that features on Stone in the Water.

Calling all musicians, rappers, beatboxers, lyricists or anyone who just loves music, aged between 10 and 16 years. Don't miss out on the chance to work with US rapper and beat boxer Napoleon Maddox.

Some of Napoleon’s thoughts on music:

“My view of music is that it is an expression, half technical and half social. It is important to understand and develop the skill of making sound and it is equally important to have something to express (and an audience with which to share it). The ideal situation is that the social helps to develop the technical and vice versa through interaction and documentation - whether the document is oral or written.  My favourite pieces of music communicate things that are universal in a unique way - even if the concept or feeling once seemed obscure.

My main musical focus is in hip hop. Hip hop is sometimes not treated as music by performers and sometimes is not acknowledged as music by critics. Contrary to what many may believe, hip hop involves a lot of technique. However, many of the skills developed around the genre do not come from conventional music practices.

The best hip hop connects a wide array of musical and cultural experiences. There are a million ways to express yourself within hip hop. This provides the freedom to connect with anyone whose feelings you understand, no matter the culture."

Click here for more information on the workshops Napoleon is running this October half term.

Photograph by Emile Holba

The Festival launched with a bang last week at the official launch party. The full Festival programme was announced in the fantastic setting of The Forge, the new live music venue in Camden. Take a look at the What’s On section or you can download the full brochure at the top of the page - if you'd like to be sent a brochure please email amy.coombe@serious.org.uk

One of the big announcements was the line-up for Jazz Voice, (the opening night at the Barbican) which will feature:

• Cibelle
• Kirsty Almeida
• Kurt Elling
• Natalie Merchant
• Natalie Williams
• Roachford
• Sarah Jane Morris
• Sheila Jordan

Photographs by Emile Holba

Welcome to our Festival blog – from here to November we’ll keep you posted with news on events, special offers and competitions. We’ll also be introducing guest bloggers in the lead up to the big event...as well as throughout the 10 days, when they will gain backstage access to interview the stars of the Festival, the artists themselves.