With PizzaExpress' growing reputation of presenting wonderful big band music on Sunday lunch times, here’s another “must get to” gem: the Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra.

We bring this remarkable musician and her 18- piece Jazz Orchestra of award winning musicians to London for their Dean Street debut. This concert was originally planned for November 2020 so it’s great we’ve been able to welcome them now, marking a new chapter for Nikki in a long and distinguished career in British Jazz.

“Iles is a skilful improviser and displayed the rhythmic surprises, shape shifting phrases, playful dialogue with partners and a mix of ruggedness and reflection that at times make her comparable with the great John Taylor”. - The Guardian

Nikki, winner of Best Pianist British Jazz Awards 2017, brings together commissions from over the years; new orchestrations of her own small band tunes and new compositions, all played by the remarkable band she has assembled.

The depth and range of the exhilarating writing and arranging suggest this concert will be less like a debut and more like a well fitted suit and a distinctive voice, with the music bought to vivid life by a top drawer band.

The band won the “Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Ensemble 2020.

Well known as a solo pianist, accompanist extraordinaire and arranger, composition and education remains a major part of Nikki Iles musical life. Her commissions include The London Sinfonietta , the UMO jazz orchestra in Helsinki and The National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Nikki is Professor of Jazz Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and Middlesex University as well as giving masterclasses around the world.

In 2020 she won the Seattle Jazz Orchestra Composition Prize, plus The US based International Society of Jazz Composers and Arrangers Best Performance

Time for you to get along to PizzaExpress Jazz Club on Dean Street to experience this remarkable orchestra