Performance is the heartbeat that pulses through the Jazz department.
You will gain extensive performance experience in our large ensembles, from the Big Band playing classic jazz compositions to the Jazz Orchestra, which focuses on contemporary composers and – importantly – on students’ original writing.
When you join the Jazz Department, you will enter a vibrant and dynamic community of improvisers. Although we are grounded in tradition, we are constantly looking forward and want you to reinterpret jazz traditions in new ways. You will learn to interact and collaborate with your fellow musicians through playing in a range of ensembles and combos. Our staff, drawn from London’s exhilarating jazz scene, play and perform with students, replicating the feel of today’s jazz community.
Big Band
The Big Band, run by Winston Rollins, is a training band for all first- and second-year students. It runs weekly and focuses on giving students the ensemble skills vital for becoming a versatile and grounded jazz musician. This is the classic model where students learn by doing, and by doing it together with intensity and regularity.
Jazz Orchestra
The Trinity Laban Jazz Orchestra showcases final year jazz composers and improvisers making waves before they hit the wider jazz scene for real.
Jazz Choir
Jazz Choir, led by the renowned pianist and educator Pete Churchill, is a special opportunity to get involved as a singer on a termly basis. Jazz Choir is open to students across all departments in the Faculty.
World-class Jazz venues
London is buzzing with hundreds of jazz gigs and venues, ensuring there is always somewhere to perform, jam or just hang out and listen. Our regular Beats in the Bar series takes place at Blackheath Halls and Oliver's Jazz Bar in Greenwich meaning you will never be short of somewhere to play. Our excellent relationships with jazz clubs across the capital result in regular opportunities for students and graduates to perform at exciting London venues such as Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Southbank Centre, the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Dean Street and the Vortex Jazz Club
Student-led performances
As a final-year student, you will lead a small band, developing your own compositional and improvisational concept, choosing repertoire and personnel and receiving constructive feedback on your performance from tutors and peers in the weekly fourth-year showcase.
Thriving Alumni Community
Our success in supporting students to develop their creative voices is reflected in the professional accomplishments of our graduates, who include many of London’s finest emerging jazz musicians. Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia, Elliot Galvin, Laura Jurd and players in the Ezra Collective are just some of the talented young musicians on today’s scene who started their journeys at Trinity Laban.
Alumni talk CoLab
Femi Koleoso
Jazz Performance Groups
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News
Trinity Laban alumni perform at world-class London Jazz Festival
The talent, diversity and creativity of Trinity Laban’s Jazz Department is showcased at this November's EFG London Jazz Festival, as alumni from the past three decades perform across the city’s venues.Tue 13 November 2018 -
News
Celebrating Gary Crosby OBE
Stars of the new jazz generation join forces to honour the jazz legendTue 14 May 2019