Guildhall Jazz Festival x EFG London Jazz Festival: Saturday 19 November

Rachael Cohen saxophone
Lewis Wright vibes
Joe Downard bass
Jason Brown drums

Rachael Cohen, a London-based alto saxophonist and composer, is one of the brightest emerging stars of her generation. Her skills as a composer and improviser have gained her a great deal of attention in the UK and beyond.

The Guardian notes: “Cohen takes a softly devious approach reminiscent of Lee Konitz – but, as with the canny Cool School veteran, the quietness is deceptive and the subtlety is in the weighting of phrases and the hipness with which she plays off the rhythm section.”

This session offers the chance to see Rachael's Quartet lead an open workshop. 

Featuring special guest Wayne Escoffery 

Twenty-five years after its 1962 Town Hall debut, the original 500-page score to Epitaph was discovered by Montreal-based musicologist Andrew Homzy and pieced together bar by bar from hundreds of yellowing manuscripts he found in a wooden trunk in Sue Mingus’ living room. Finding Epitaph, says Homzy, was like discovering Beethoven’s “Tenth Symphony.” 

Following Gunther Schuller’s 1989 performances and recording, Scott Stroman and the Guildhall Jazz Orchestra were next, performing it at the Barbican in 1998. To mark Mingus’ centenary year and as the gala event of the 2022 Guildhall Jazz Festival we welcome Mingus Dynasty saxophonist Wayne Escoffery to present the most complete version of Epitaph to date. A sprawling masterwork of 20 pieces written between 1940 and 1962, it includes sections previously recorded by Mingus in small-band settings including Better Get Hit in Yo’ Soul, Peggy’s Blue Skylight, Chill of Death (written when he was 17), This Subdues My Passion, and big band pieces including The Soul, written in the late 1940s for the Lionel Hampton band. 

Sara Dhillon Quintet plays a mix of original compositions fusing her love of Jazz, Classical Music, Pop songs, and Bollywood Film Music. Pianist and composer, Sara has worked or collaborated with various artists from different musical genres and composed the music for a contemporary version of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" set in modern day India which was a mixture of Jazz, Indian Classical Music and Hindi pop songs. Her current project with the quintet, gives free rein to her love of different styles of music and brings all those influences together, with improvisation being the common thread. 

Rūta Sīpola flute 
Eliāna Veinberga voice 
Harry Toulson alto sax 
Rory Hudson bass 
Ralph Porrett guitar 

Ralph Porrett Quintet are an exciting young jazz ensemble who perform original material and explore the repertoire of composers as diverse as Bill Frisell to Maurice Ravel. Jazz pianist Barry Green has described the quintet as “world class”, and they have entertained audiences across the UK, including a sold-out show at Pizza Express (Dean Street) and a slot at EFG London Jazz Festival. An unconventional frontline (alto sax, voice and flute) paired with a drummer-less rhythm section (double bass and guitar) creates a distinctive sound world rife with musical opportunity. 

In 2020, Ralph Porrett was the first ever guitarist to perform in the BBC Young Jazz Musician Final. The competition was broadcast from Cadogan Hall on BBC Four. He has also performed at the Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, 02 Arena and Wembley Stadium.  

Dates at The Jazz Café, Royal Festival Hall and touring Spain are some of his highlights as a member of YolanDa Brown’s band and he looks forward to recording a new album of jazz infused reggae with her soon. Ralph toured extensively with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra throughout 2022, celebrating the life and music of Amy Winehouse. He has performed in arenas across the country with the Young Voices house band, accompanying the largest children’s choirs in the world. Ralph has played with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was commissioned by the CBSO to arrange a set of pop music for orchestra which was performed at Symphony Hall in 2019 by ‘Project Remix’.

Rachael Cohen saxophone
Lewis Wright vibes
Joe Downard bass
Jason Brown drums

Rachael Cohen, a London-based alto saxophonist and composer, is one of the brightest emerging stars of her generation. Her skills as a composer and improviser have gained her a great deal of attention in the UK and beyond. The Guardian notes: 

“Cohen takes a softly devious approach reminiscent of Lee Konitz – but, as with the canny Cool School veteran, the quietness is deceptive and the subtlety is in the weighting of phrases and the hipness with which she plays off the rhythm section."