From 13-15 March 2026, London’s Southbank Centre will explore the question ‘What is jazz today?’ through a series of performances and talks.
The residency, now in its second year, asks the question, ‘What is jazz today?’ and celebrates the life and career of jazz’s most influential and acclaimed figure, Miles Davis, a century after his birth.
On Friday, 13 March, trumpeter, composer, producer and bandleader Theo Croker will discuss and reinterpret key jazz pieces that have influenced him over the years. Five Points Project, a community that looks to alleviate loneliness through live music, improvisation, and open collaboration, will bring its multi-sensory celebration to the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Friday’s programme also features Women in Jazz – an organisation that celebrates the music and stories of women in jazz to inspire the next generation of talent.
Saturday’s programme welcomes music journalist Emma Warren for a talk with English singer-songwriter Celeste about her musical journey. Live storytelling event OneTrackMinds will also present Hidden Tracks, for which a selection of storytellers will discuss how one song or piece of music has changed their life, with the goal to inspire and help people develop their own stories. Saturday’s events end with a performance from Manchester soul and hip-hop duo Children of Zeus, with support from Tomorrow’s Warriors.
Sunday opens with a Hidden Tracks creative writing workshop, giving attendees the tools to write creatively about a piece of music, followed by a series of guest artists discussing different aspects of D’Angelo’s work and how it shaped their music practice. Multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer corto.alto will perform his improvised live set, and Swiss-Palestinian drummer Ramzi Hammad will play music exploring how migration has influenced jazz today.
More information and individual tickets to each event are available via the Southbank Centre’s website.
