The Forge on Delancey Street in London’s Camden Town, the venue where new Venezuelan piano star Leo Blanco made quite an impact by all accounts earlier in the year, welcomes another much talked about and very different pianist in Alexander Hawkins nestled within the venue’s London Jazz Festival programme. Their expansive LJF programme is looking like this. Opening night 15 November: London Vocal Project and Albert Hera + DJ Patrick “Rebirth of Cool” Forge; John Crawford on the lunchtime Sound Generation stage (16 Nov); guitarist Nate Najar’s trio (17 Nov, 2pm) and on-the-rise jazz singer/songwriter Melissa James performing that evening.

Moss Freed curates The Great Collision on 19 November (6.30), followed by the much talked about free improviser Alexander Hawkins' trio later in the evening. Hawkins hits Camden with Neil Charles (Zed-U, ex-Empirical) and Tom Skinner (Sons of Kemet, Mulatu Astatke Step Ahead band). JJ Wheeler plays on Wed 20 November, with Moss Project next night performing music from Moss Freed's literary meta-project What Do You See When You Close Your Eyes? (Babel). Nicolas Meier whose album Kismet is one of the big highlights of the autumn appears with his group on Friday 22 November and that night DJ Patrick Forge also plays a must-hear late night set afterwards. The penultimate day of the festival on Saturday 23 November has a Sound Generation stage in the early afternoon with singer Irene Serra and guitarist Jo Caleb and then a cappella singers Vive perform in the afternoon slot on Sunday 24 November, with harpist Park Stikney playing in the evening.
More at www.forgevenue.org/london-jazz-festival

Alexander Hawkins above
updated 1045 12 Nov