Among the emerging musical strands weaving their way through this year’s star-packed London Jazz Festival, a series under the banner of Jazz in the New Europe is to take place at various venues around London during the ten-day event. The LJF has always shone a light on the creativity and artistic excellence of European jazz artists and this year is no exception as this eclectic series sees established and emerging artists rub shoulders on special commissions, new collaborations and projects shaped around artists from different European communities living in London. The first details of these concerts feature three nights from ACT Records taking place at the acoustically resonant setting of the Wren-designed St James’, Piccadilly. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the label continues its forward looking approach to presenting the contemporary jazz scene with a trio of concerts that reflect its strong roster of leading jazz pianists and its embrace of classical and folk influences.

Presented by Basho Records the ACT strand opens on Monday 12 November with a set from dazzling German pianist Michael Wollny (pictured). The latter’s trio [em] were a runaway success at the Jazzwise to the power of Fifteen at Ronnie Scott’s in March this year, earning a rare five star review in The Guardian – and here he will be performing alongside emerging Finnish piano talent Iiro Rantala. The pair will be joined by Polish violin phenomenon Adam Bałdych for a rousing finale. Friday 16 November sees the City of London Sinfonia perform Milhaud’s ‘La Création du Monde’, a story of creation based on African folk mythology, before collaborating with multi-award winning UK pianist Gwilym Simcock. This concert will feature newly composed Simcock pieces ‘Simple Tales’ and ‘Move’, his latest orchestral work, to be recorded for ACT the following week.

The final night of the ACT series on Saturday 17 November features remarkable Polish piano star Leszek Możdżer in collaboration with wildly imaginative radio.string.quartet.vienna for what should be a highly dynamic mix of improvisation and rich harmonic textures. Further details of other top European jazz stars appearing at St James’s throughout the LJF week are to be announced soon when the full festival line up is revealed in early September.

For more info see www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk/events

– Mike Flynn