EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025: COLLABORATION, COMMUNITY + CONNECTION

WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS

November is calling and, with it, ten days where London becomes a living instrument — the EFG London Jazz Festival returns from 14–23 November 2025, bringing with it a global tide of music, movement and conversation.

Now in its 33rd year, the Festival has built a world of its own: a meeting ground for icons, boundary-pushers and quiet radicals. This year’s programme leans into what jazz has always done best — collaboration, collision, and communion — with performances that stretch the form into something intimate, political and breathtakingly alive.

Below F Word showcases some must-see artists that will be sure to have you riffing through the rhythms of London.

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aja monet — Artist in Residence

Poet, activist and sonic shapeshifter aja monet holds the festival’s centre of gravity as its first Artist in Residence. Her Barbican takeover unfolds like a journey: from a workshop with young poets to a reading of her new collection Florida Water, before culminating in a live performance with an ensemble that crosses continents and genres. Monet’s presence feels like a quiet revolution — a reminder that jazz is also language, resistance and love.

Strings, Soul + Symphonies

A thread of orchestral storytelling runs through the 2025 line-up. Adekunle Gold brings Afrobeats into cinematic scale with the Guildhall Session Orchestra; Jasmine Myra reimagines her Rising album live with strings; and The Weather Station unveils her new record Humanhood with lush arrangements at EartH Theatre. It’s a sonic widening — proof that jazz’s next movement might be its most expansive yet.

The Evolution of UK Jazz

At the Barbican on 19 November, Shabaka Hutchings and Camilla George lead The Evolution of UK Jazz — 20 Years On, a tribute to the Take Five programme and the explosion it sparked. Expect new commissions, live collaborations and a sense of continuation — the past two decades of British jazz vibrating through one stage.

Voices That Stretch Time

From the unshakeable Dee Dee Bridgewater and Tanita Tikaram lighting up the opening night Jazz Voice gala, to Stella Cole’s golden-era glamour and Bilal’s velvet-futurist soul — the Festival packs a punch. Tune-Yards and Tortoise bring the avant-garde electricity, GeeJay the late-night pulse, and Tom Skinner and Nubya Garcia anchor the scene’s new edge with effortless urgency.

The Heartbeat of London

Beyond the big stages, free Freestage events across the Barbican and Southbank Centre open the doors to everyone — from youth collectives to cross-continental collaborations. This year’s Festival feels like a love letter to the future of sound — one written in many languages, across instruments, histories and heartlines. In a world so easily fractured, EFG London Jazz Festival remains a rare kind of unity — one built on rhythm, risk and real connection.

EFG London Jazz Festival runs 14–23 November 2025 across venues citywide.Tickets and full programme at efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk.

EFG London Jazz Festival Shows

12 - 14 Nov - aja monet (Artist in Residence) - Barbican

14 Nov - Hossein Alizadeh - Cadogan Hall

14 Nov - Jazz Voice - Royal Festival Hall

14 Nov - K-Music Festival: Won Il’s Dionysus Robot - Queen Elizabeth Hall

14 Nov - Kinkajous - Purcell Room

15 Nov - Sam Amidon ‘Salt River’ & Thomas Bartlett - Union Chapel

15 Nov - Marysia Osu + Rory Green (Take Five matinee showcases) - Purcell Room

15 Nov - Sarathy Korwar Drum Ensemble - ICA

15 Nov - Joan As Police Woman - EartH Theatre

15 Nov - We Exist! The Dee Dee Bridgewater Quartet - Barbican

15 Nov - Tanita Tikaram - Royal Festival Hall

15 Nov - Chris Thile - Queen Elizabeth Hall

15 Nov - Kurt Elling and The Yellowjackets Celebrate Weather Report - Cadogan Hall

15 Nov - L’Antidote - Kings Place

15 Nov - K-Music Festival: Gray by Silver - Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall

16 Nov - Mulatu Astatke - Royal Festival Hall

16 Nov - Stella Cole + Elysia Biro - Cadogan Hall

16 Nov - Brainchild Presents: Flu + Rosie Turton & Miryam Solomon - The Lower Third

16 Nov - Matt Carmichael + Gloria Yehilevsky (Take Five matinee showcases) - Purcell Room

16 Nov - Marco Mezquida: Tornado - Purcell Room

16 Nov - Dhamaal + Shri Sriram - Milton Court

16 Nov - Idrîsî Ensemble - Union Chapel

16 Nov - Michael Wollny Trio + Emma Rawicz INKYRA - Queen Elizabeth Hall

16 Nov - Bilal + Arjuna Oakes - Village Underground

17 Nov - Mulatu Astatke - HERE at Outernet

17 Nov - Anthony Joseph + Dave Okumu - Milton Court

17 Nov - Take Five Presents: Olivia Murphy’s Moonrise Ensemble, Andrew Woodhead’s Swing You Sinners & Lewis Daniel - Elgar Room

17 Nov - Levitation Orchestra - Islington Assembly Hall

18 Nov - Moments Notice - Union Chapel

18 Nov - Eska + Max Pope - The Lower Third

18 Nov - Nigel Kennedy “Spiritual Connection” - Cadogan Hall

18 Nov - Jasmine Myra with Strings - Hackney Church

19 Nov - The Evolution of UK Jazz – 20 Years On ft. Camilla George and Shabaka Hutchings - Barbican

19 Nov - Taylor Eigsti Group ft Becca Stevens - Cadogan Hall

19 Nov - Adrian Dunbar presents T.S.Eliot’s The Waste Land Music by Nick Roth with Guildhall Session Orchestra - Queen Elizabeth Hall (6 & 8pm)

19 Nov - Queer Jazz: B.H.A.M w/ Abi Asisa - Vortex

19 Nov - Makaya McCraven - KOKO

19 Nov - Rita Payés + Pol Battle - Union Chapel

19 Nov - Binker Golding - The Lower Third

20 Nov - Bryony Jarman-Pinto - Toulouse Lautrec

20 Nov - Dark Days Neil Charles, Mark Sanders and Cleveland Watkiss - Camden Arts Centre

20 Nov - Ana Carla Maza - Cadogan Hall

20 Nov - Emma-Jean Thackray - KOKO

20 Nov - London Sinfonietta with Marius Neset - Queen Elizabeth Hall

20 Nov - Fergus McCreadie + Laura Jurd - Union Chapel

20 Nov - GeeJay - Islington Assembly Hall

20 Nov - Triveni Quartet: An Homage to Zakir Hussain - Ismaili Centre

21 Nov - Aga Khan Master Musicians & Friends: A Celebration of Music from the Great East

21 Nov - Adrian Younge / Jazz is Dead - KOKO

21 Nov - Tom Skinner - Queen Elizabeth Hall

21 Nov - Gary Crosby's Africa Space Programme featuring Denys Baptiste, Winston Clifford + Guest - Vortex

21 Nov - The Weather Station with Strings - EartH Theatre

21 Nov - Bill Frisell Trio - Cadogan Hall

21 Nov - Hiromi’s Sonicwonder - Barbican

22 Nov - Aga Khan Music Awards Night - Queen Elizabeth Hall

22 Nov - Somi - Jazz Cafe

22 Nov - Bill Laurance - Cadogan Hall

22 Nov - SpiceJazz presents Rosie Frater-Taylor - The Courtyard

22 Nov - Tortoise + Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer - Barbican

22 Nov - Tune-Yards - Royal Festival Hall

23 Nov - Nubya Garcia - HERE at Outernet

23 Nov - Oumou Sangaré with BBC Concert Orchestra - Queen Elizabeth Hall

23 Nov - Ilhan Ersahin Istanbul Sessions - EartH Theatre

23 Nov - Adekunle Gold with Guildhall Session Orchestra - Royal Festival Hall

23 Nov - Japanese Jazz - Barbican

23 Nov - Swingin’ With Strings - Cadogan Hall

23 Nov - Herbert & Momoko - Village Underground

23 Nov - Soumik Datta - Purcell Room