Featuring some of London’s premiere jazz musicians, at a variety of exciting venues across Battersea and Wandsworth.
The Battersea Jazz Festival
History
The first Battersea Jazz Festival took place from the 15th-17th July 2022 and celebrated both the incredible and diverse talent of the London jazz scene, as well as the wonderful settings and community that Battersea has to offer. The festival featured a wide range of acts, ranging from swing bands, to cabaret acts, to bebop, and original material. All events were well-attended and succeeded in showcasing top class musicians to a wider audience. Venues included, but were not be limited to, upstairs at the Prince Albert pub, the Magic Garden on Battersea Park Road, and the wonderful riverside setting of St Mary’s Church, Battersea, where there was also the world premiere of an original “Jazz Mass” on the morning of Sunday 17th 2022. On the afternoon of 16th July, the festival presented “Jazz in the Square”, where hundreds of people came to Battersea Square to enjoy an afternoon of live jazz from four different bands. Read More about the Inaugural Festival.
There were collections in aid of the Battersea Summer Scheme at the 2022 performances. The Battersea Summer Scheme (BSS) is the principal project of the Battersea Crime Prevention Panel (BCPP) and organises a number of events in the holidays for children in Battersea. Over £1000 was raised.
2023 Festival
In 2023, the festival took place over a whole month, from the 6th July to 6th August. There were ten events in total, with two sold out performances at the Landor Space in Clapham North, a return of the “jazz mass” at St Mary’s followed by an afternoon of live jazz in the church yard, three pop-up outdoor gigs at the Nine Elms Pavilion, another gig at St Mary’s featuring all-star band “Five-Way Split”, and an evening at the Duchess Belle pub. On the final weekend of the festival, there was a sold out celebration of the music of Nat King Cole at the World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens concert hall, and the final event end the month of live jazz with a huge bang, as over 600 people came to the Clapham Grand to hear the UK Premiere of Skip Martin’s “Scheherajazz”. The work, recorded in the 1950s, combines the original music of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade with a variety of big band interludes. The piece was performed by Social London Orchestra and a big band of London’s top musicians, conducted by festival founder Hugo Jennings. Read More about the 2023 Festival.
The Battersea Jazz Festival returned in July 2024 for another successful run. Visit this website for continued updates about events and how to buy tickets.
The festival is the brainchild of musician Hugo Jennings. He came up with the idea of a Battersea Jazz Festival when he was composing a “jazz mass” for the choir of St Mary’s Battersea, and wanted to create a platform for jazz musicians in London, as well as to celebrate the community of Battersea.
Battersea Jazz Festival is a Community Interest Company (CIC), registered in England and Wales, company number 14633499.
This Website
Website built to support the Jazz community by engineers at 2020Media.com – a locally based company providing website services for over 25 years and supporting local community organisations.