Skip to main content

Introduction

Upon joining Trinity Laban’s Jazz Department, you will enter a vibrant and dynamic community of improvisers. Though grounded in the jazz tradition, we are constantly looking forward and we invite you to draw on a wealth of diverse influences within these traditions, and reinterpret them in new ways as you find your individual voice. We will support you as you develop as a musician, an improviser and an innovative performing artist, enabling you to reach your full creative potential.

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 including Emilia Mårtensson, who won Vocalist of the Year at the 2016 Parliamentary Jazz awards.

Teaching

Our distinctive and inclusive approach to improvisation ensures you will develop your creative skills to their full potential. Supporting classes include improvisation, jazz harmony, rhythm, jazz history, arranging and composition, as well as coaching, rhythm and horn sections. We celebrate the diverse global origins of jazz with opportunities to study African, Brazilian and Cuban music. All classes are practical and cover both established and emerging jazz genres and innovations.

The Jazz Singers’ Pathway enables singers to personalise their vocal study, allowing a degree of flexibility distinct from instrumentalists.

The Department attracts artists from across the globe who come to share their experience with you. Recent visiting artists include accalimed jazz singers Michelle Nicolle, Anjali Perin, Nia Lynn and Nicolas Kummert.

Performance is the beating pulse of the department. You will gain extensive performance experience in our larger ensembles, from the Big Band to the Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, to the Jazz Choir, which also provide opportunities for aspiring jazz composers.