Leeds Jazz Festival is back. My question this year is – how will I choose?
Over the last few years, the number of events and venues that contribute to Leeds Jazz Festival has steadily increased. Unfortunately, there will be no outdoor stage this year, but there is a host of events across the City. The Festival runs to Tuesday 26 May.
Ray Productions started the proceedings on Thursday afternoon with The Showcase at The Attic. The two-day showcase presented Leeds local artists and bands with a heavy theme or influence in Jazz.
These are pay as you feel events. Catching the early set on Thursday at the Attic was easy, but then the choices started. Thursday evening saw gigs at the Howard Assembly Rooms, Hyde Park Jazz Club, Domino Club, The Wardrobe and Seven Arts. My choice was alto saxophonist Donovan Haffner at Seven Arts. Haffner was awarded Jazz Newcomer of the Year in this year’s UK Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
Friday evening provided a choice of six different venues and vastly different jazz offerings. City Varieties presented Blur the Lines, where Leeds-based poets, rappers, singers and musicians came together to show grassroots creativity in Leeds, Howard Assembly Rooms presented Cuban music and danced through a Night in Havana, while Northern Market opted for a Brazilian twist.
A new jazz venue is the Clothmakers Hall at Leeds University, where Ian Shaw will be singing Stephen
Sondheim lyrics.
The quietest day is Saturday with a mere three venues taking part. City Varieties will be hosting spiritual jazz ensemble Ancient Infinity Orchestra, who have produced two critically acclaimed albums since 2024. Hyde Park Book Club will be focussing on Jazz dance. Northern Guitars present Retrospect at 9.30pm.
On Sunday, the decisions get extremely difficult, with an amazing ten events on offer. You can fit in more than one gig, with music starting as early as 11.30am at Heart in Headingley and afternoon gigs at Seven Arts, Sela Bar, Northern Guitars and the Domino Club. The evening offers two great shows, featuring some of the best female jazz musicians currently playing in the UK. Howard Assembly Rooms hosts INKYRA, the new band led by Emma Rawicz. Over at City Varieties, you can listen to the Jo Harrop and Hannah Horton Quartet.
Monday sees three evening options. City Varieties welcomes Jazz Sabbath. Helmed by pianist Adam Wakeman (Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne since 2004), Jazz Sabbath explores the boundaries between jazz and the songs that defined heavy metal, revisiting existing jazz riffs and discovering new ones. Mill Hill Chapel will be hosting jazz pianist Kit Downes. Big Bamboo will play two sets of dance music from
Trinidad, Brazil, the French Caribbean and Jamaica, closing the Festival in style at The Attic.
If by Tuesday you have not had enough Jazz, or want to step it up to something a little heavier, Leeds aggro-jazz group Vipertime and Kent-based post-punk band Moron Butler launch their new collaborative album ‘Vipertime & Moron Butler’ at Wharf Chambers on Wednesday 27 May.
Photographs by Debbie Rolls.
