Saturday 3 March  6.00 -7.00pm Front Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX

The Tomorrow's Warriors Youth Jazz Orchestra is rapidly building a reputation as the hippest young jazz collective in the country. At the Front Room they are joined by four sensational young musicians from Norway's Voss Jazzskule: Sindre Medhus - piano, Ragnhild Kløve-Graue - bass, Sigurd Øygard Steinkopf - drums and Elisabeth Lid Trøen - saxophone.

This special free event  - part of the Music Nation weekend - will give London a first taste of the international collaboration between Tomorrow's Warriors and Voss Jazzskule that's opening up opportunities for young musicians from the UK and Norway.

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Our friend, the bassist and composer Yuriy Galkin releases his album Nine Of A Kind on the F-IRE label and is touring his nonet lineup (formerly the Symbiosis Orchestra) around the country. Go see him and this exceptional young band: Freddie Gavita (trumpet, flugelhorn), Steve Fishwick (trumpet, flugelhorn), Jon Stokes (trombone), George Crowley (tenor sax), Tamar Osborn (baritone and soprano saxes, bass clarinet), John Turville (piano), Dave Hamblett (drums) – and Russian Zhenya Strigalev (alto sax). Here are three tracks from the album.

Terminal X short.mp3 Listen on Posterous

One For Fred short.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Evolvent short.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Just in time for Valentine's Day, here's a beautiful Jazz Valentine composed of song titles that's perfect for musicians and the people that love them. Many thanks to Mia Truelove for the poem and illustration.

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Excerpts from 1) Blues Ostinata (Peter Edwards), 2. Maenad's Suite (Binker Golding), 3. Ebony Concerto (Stravinsky)

• Saturday 3 March at 7.45pm  Purcell Room, Southbank Centre SE1 8XX
• Saturday 28 April at 8.00pm  Turner Sims, Southampton SO17 1BJ

Firebird makes its London debut at the Southbank Centre and the Turner Sims Concert Hall at the University of Southampton following two hugely succesful performances by the Nu Civilisation Orchestra in Manchester and Sheffield during Autumn 2011. This exciting programme features a remodeled version of Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto, NCO MD Peter Edwards' Blues Ostinata and his arrangement of Steve Williamson's How High The Bird, Maenads Suite by Binker Golding and more.

Firebird is where jazz and classical music meet. It's a fusion of the musical worlds of 20th-century icon Igor Stravinsky and jazz superstar Charlie Parker. It's going to be a spectacular event, so book early!

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Our esteemed leader and Tomorrow's Warriors' Artistic Director Gary Crosby will be performing in a rare trio lineup with the excting young past and present Warrriors Nathaniel Facey (alto saxophone) and Moses Boyd (drums). If you don't know already, the weekly jazz:refreshed gig is one of the live music highlights of the week - their website is here and will have more information nearer the date. Tickets only £5.00 before 9.00pm.

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Photo: Gary Crosby

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Tuesday 6 December at 6.00pm  Front Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall SE1 8XX

TWYJO play an early 45-minute set where they will debut exciting new arrangements of Morcheeba's Rome Wasn't Built In A Day by Max De Lucia and a mix of Flying Lotus' Infinitum and Frank Loesser's If I Were A Bell by Tyrone Isaac-Stuart. They'll also be performing some Jazz Jamaica charts and with guest vocalists Kwabena Adjepong and Chanelle Hall taking part, this will be a great way to kick off a Tuesday evening. And as always at the Front Room, it's free admission!

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Elisabeth Lid Trøen is an exciting young talent and a student at the Voss Jazz School in Norway, the home of the Nordic Warriors. She's seen here performing at Evans Jazz Club with Rod Youngs on drums and double bassist Steinar Raknes.

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"Gary Crosby gave us (Nu Troop) all a great kick start in the right direction back then, we owe him so much for taking us under his wing and allowing us to speak in our own language. The language of truth."- Tony Kofi  2011

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Saturday 29 October at 3.00pm  Turner Contemporary, Margate CT9 1HG   £5.00, £4.00 concs

The Biggish Band are fast establishing themselves as one of the most exciting young groups in the country. The septet travel east to Margate on the Kent coast and play a special Saturday afternoon date at the spectacular new Turner Contemporary. Book tickets and get venue details here.

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This year's Tomorrow's Warriors annual showcase is a special Friday Tonic event in the Clore Ballroom featuring the rapidly developing Tomorrow's Warriors Youth Jazz Orchestra, the Yamaha Music Experience-winning Biggish Band and the latest troop of Youth Warriors.

As well as showing how these ensembles are progressing we will be showcasing the collaborations that we've been putting together in our weekend workshops at the Southbank Centre, with musicians from Kuumba Youth Music and the Royal Academy of Music's Junior Academy, poetry and spoken word from Mayhem Theatre Arts and dance from Verse Dance Arena. 

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After their storming performance in Birmingham at the Music For Youth National Festival in July, the Tomorrow's Warriors Youth Jazz Orchestra has been selected to perform at this year's Primary Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, hosted by Royal Albert Hall Learning & Participation. 

These free concerts target over 7,000 primary school children aged 4-11 years from London and home counties primary and middle schools and are aimed at enhancing their creative development through music. More information here.

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Following on from the Biggish Band's performance at last year's event, Tomorrow's Warriors will be represented by a quintet featuring Mark Kavuma - trumpet, Ruben Fox - tenor saxophone, Rosie Turton - trombone, Will Burcher - double bass and Mark Arnold-Forster - guitar. This will be the sixth year of the Gail's Garden Party which runs all day long with plenty of food stalls and live music.

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The Biggish Band are taking part in Junior Ignite at the Cafe Consort in the Royal Albert Hall. This free event runs from 12 noon to 1.30pm and there'll be food and drink available. The Junior Ignite series is a programme by the Royal Albert Hall Learning & Participation work and Music for Youth to give talented young musicians from around London a unique performance opportunity at the prestigious venue.

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This autumn, the Nu Civilisation Orchestra will present Firebird, a new programme of work exploring musical paths that converge at the crossroads of jazz and classical music, where Charlie Parker meets Igor Stravinsky, Wayne Shorter meets Jean Sibelius and Steve Williamson meets Arnold Schoenberg. 

Firebird features new original works by our composer-conductors – Peter Edwards, Binker Golding and James McKay – inspired by the work of Stravinsky alongside remodelled versions of the classical composer’s Ebony Concerto (originally commissioned by Woody Herman in 1946); Shorter’s Sibelius-influenced Dance Cadaverous; and a new arrangement by Jason Yarde of the British jazz composer Steve Williamson’s Soon Come. 

The premiere of Firebird was commissioned by Arts Council England to launch the Creative Case Symposium at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on September 12. The first public performance will be at Firth Hall, Sheffield on October 11, with more dates to be announced soon, including the Southbank Centre in Spring 2012.

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