Vicente Magalhães Octet and Diggory Wood Trio explore two sides of contemporary London jazz, from expansive large-ensemble composition and improvisation to the close interplay of a piano trio where three distinct musical voices meet. LAANI closes out the evening with a club session until 2am.


Vicente Magalhães


Lisbon-born pianist, composer and arranger Vicente Magalhães trained at the Lisbon Conservatoire before moving into jazz and improvised music.


Since establishing himself in the UK, Vicente has performed alongside Norma Winstone, Elaine Delmar, Dave Green and members of Loose Tubes. His work as an arranger and musician has also seen him work with artists including Nile Rodgers, Kaiser Chiefs and Embrace.


For this show, Vicente brings his new octet to Grow. The project is inspired in part by Duke Ellington’s approach to composing for the individual musicians in his ensembles, combining Vicente’s original compositions and arrangements with plenty of space for improvisation.


Diggory Wood Trio


London-based drummer and percussionist Diggory Wood is joined by pianist and composer Sam Johnson and double bassist Georgia Johnson.


Sam is known for his work with the Sam Johnson Big Band and BBC Balcony Sessions, while Georgia is an internationally touring double bassist and educator with longstanding connections to the Yorkshire jazz scene.


Together, the trio plays original music with improvisation at the centre, giving all three musicians space to bring their own ideas to the session.


LAANI


Closing out the evening until 2am is London-based DJ, radio broadcaster and Jazz re:freshed Event Producer LAANI. Her sets move across nu-jazz, neo-soul, broken beat, Afro rhythms and house, drawing on her longstanding involvement in London’s jazz and underground music scenes.


Alongside her work at Jazz re:freshed, LAANI is the founder of FULLJOY MUSIC and has previously worked with Brownswood Recordings and Strut Records. She has also programmed music for We Out Here Festival and played at venues and festivals including Fabric, Printworks, The Jazz Cafe, Montreux Jazz Festival, Worldwide Festival, We Out Here and Primavera Sound.