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With three major new jazz festivals, a purpose-built jazz club, top-class big bands, a thriving jazz education sector and a wealth of grassroots players and gigs, jazz has never been stronger or better represented in the Brighton area.
Yet it can still be hard for new acts to break through to connect with audiences outside London, and many younger music fans are often unaware of the wealth of great young players currently moving the music forwards.
New Generation Jazz is an Arts-council supported project that has been building bridges since 2015. The aim is twofold – to help young artists develop audiences outside the capital, and introduce young people in Brighton and the South-East to jazz and demonstrate what a vital, living tradition it is today.
In October 2015 NGJ launched their series of monthly gigs and workshops at the Verdict Jazz Club, featuring the best and brightest of rising UK jazz talent.
Artists who have participated include Nerija, Nubya Garcia, Seed Ensemble, Ezra Collective, Moses Boyd, Camilla George, Binker Golding, Mark Kavuma, Duncan Eagles, Ant Law, Sam Leak, Rory Ingham, Cherise, Emma Rawicz, Roello Oloro, Howes3, Steamdown, Nye Banfield, Jonny Mansfield, Alex Hitchcock, Tom Greene, Charlie Stacey, Henry Spencer, Ife Ogunjobi, Alex Ridout, KNATS, Jemima Whyte, and many many more, charting the rebirth of a new wave of UK jazz artists.
Since then New Generation Jazz has gone on to promote artists at major festival events, programming the Bandstand and Friday Arena Stages at Love Supreme Festival every year since the festival's inception, and organising stage takeovers at Soundcrash and Brighton Fringe. In 2021 they curated and promoted the return of Brighton Jazz Festival with a run of sell-out shows. New Generation Jazz have supported local promoters to enable them to launch their own jazz events successfully.
The New Generation Jazz Summer School launched in 2019 to resounding success.
Over lockdown in 2020 New Generation Jazz curated a series of cinematic quality Livestream gigs featuring a selection of cutting edge artists. They later expanded the programme in collaboration with Jazz South, and repeated the programme in 2021.
In 2021 New Generation Jazz developed their Jazz Futures educational programme for 8-18 year olds. Their Jazz Futures programme sits at the heart of the organisation and is now being delivered to over 100 young people across three locations in brighton, Shoreham By Sea and Hastings, all free at the point of access. Under the guidance of expert tutors, Jazz Futures runs weekly workshops for young people where they can learn how to play jazz in a fun friendly and supportive environment. They are organised into groups and led through a development programme where they learn repertoire together and are tutored in how to play together as an ensemble, how to improvise and memories, how to read charts, and how to deliver a confident performance on a professional stage. Jazz Futures emphasises a culture of respect and good professional practice both on and off the bandstand preparing the young people for a future in music and helping them gain confidence and interpersonal skills.
Each year we organise a range of performance events for Jazz Futures, ranging from major outdoor festivals Love Supreme and We Out Here to local events at Brighton Fringe and Brighton Jazz Festival and many others. Every summer, each ensemble gets a date in a fully equipped recording studio to record their repertoire and gain real-world studio experience. All of this contributes to starting young people off on a pathway to professional practice.
We regularly commission special bespoke compositions from front-rank young artists in the emergent UK scene for our ensembles to play, and invite major players to lead special masterclasses for our groups.
Our alumni have progressed on to major conservatoire jazz courses in London, Leeds and Birmingham and can be heard across the UK's jazz scene!
Our Jazz Futures talent development programme allows those participants who are inspired to attain the next level in professional practice to realise their potential, by funding recording sessions, helping them develop their media presentation, and mentoring them in taking their first steps.
New Generation Jazz are committed to fostering diversity within the UK jazz scene, and helping both artists and audiences from under-represented groups.
New Generation has partnered with educators, promoters and festivals in Brighton and beyond. The project will foster links between the many different participants in the local scene, and the City’s educators, to ensure the continuation of the music we all love into the New Generation.
