Every November, London does something few cities on earth can match. It turns itself over to jazz. From the grand concert halls along the Thames to basement clubs in Soho and pop up stages in neighborhoods far from the center, the EFG London Jazz Festival transforms the British capital into one sprawling, ten day celebration of improvised music. The 34th edition opens tonight, Friday, November 13, 2026, and runs through Sunday, November 22, with more than 300 performances spread across over 60 venues. It is one of the largest and most adventurous jazz festivals in the world, and this year’s program may be its most ambitious yet.

Produced by the London music organization Serious and directed by Pelin Opcin, the festival has always defined jazz generously, and 2026 is no exception. Traditional swing and bebop share the calendar with soul, global music, electronica, drum and bass, and experimental composition. The lineup moves from legends to newcomers, from Grammy winners to local students, and from gala orchestral concerts to late night club sets that stretch into the early hours. Two centennials frame the season, John Coltrane and Miles Davis were both born in 1926, and the festival marks the anniversary with some of its most exciting programming.

Opening Night: Jazz Voice and Coltrane 100

The festival launches tonight with two marquee events. At the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the annual Jazz Voice gala brings together an all star roster of singers with the EFG London Jazz Festival Orchestra under conductor and arranger Guy Barker, with broadcaster Jumoké Fashola hosting. The 2026 edition features Lizz Wright, whose gospel rooted warmth has made her a festival favorite, along with Emma Smith, Laura Mvula, Liv Warfield, Marvin Muoneké, Rita Wilson, and James Emmanuel. Jazz Voice has become one of the most anticipated nights on the London calendar, a celebration of the song tradition in all its forms, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.

Across town at the Barbican, the Coltrane centennial gets an opening night tribute worthy of the occasion. Coltrane 100: Both Directions at Once unites saxophonists Joe Lovano and Melissa Aldana, South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. Rather than recreating Coltrane’s recordings, the quintet treats his compositions as a springboard for new exploration, an approach Lovano has described as creating in Coltrane’s spirit rather than imitating his sound. With a lineup that spans generations and continents, it is the kind of concert that shows why Coltrane’s music remains so alive a century after his birth.

A Global Roster of Headliners

The headliners read like a tour of the world’s great stages. Melody Gardot brings her sultry, cinematic songcraft to the Royal Albert Hall on November 16. Portuguese fado star Mariza fills the Royal Festival Hall on November 15, while Malian singer and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara takes over the Roundhouse on November 18. Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem presents his moving project After the Last Sky at the Barbican, and the pioneering Kronos Quartet adds its singular voice to the program. Cécile McLorin Salvant, one of the most imaginative vocalists of her generation, joins the BBC Concert Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Lizz Wright performs her own concert at Cadogan Hall with longtime collaborator Kenny Banks Sr.

The second weekend brings one of the festival’s centerpiece Coltrane celebrations. On Saturday, November 21, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and vocalist Dianne Reeves join forces at the British Airways ARC, the striking new venue at Olympia making its festival debut. Their program revisits the 1963 masterpiece John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, one of the most romantic jazz albums ever recorded, with Reeves lending her rich, velvety voice to the Branford Marsalis Quartet. The festival then closes on Sunday, November 22, with Samara Joy at the Royal Festival Hall, the six time Grammy winner returning to a city that has embraced her since her first festival appearance in 2023, fresh off the release of her first live recording.

Beyond Jazz: Goldie, Ben Folds, and Morcheeba

Part of the London festival’s charm is its refusal to draw tight borders around the music. This year that spirit is on full display. Drum and bass pioneer Goldie presents Dare to Dream, an orchestral work with a live band, choir, and guests at the Royal Festival Hall. American singer, songwriter, and pianist Ben Folds makes his festival debut, as do the trip hop innovators Morcheeba, who open their run tonight at the Troxy. The electro swing favorites Caravan Palace, the Manchester trio GoGo Penguin, keyboard visionary Robert Glasper, and Japan’s club jazz collective Kyoto Jazz Massive, joined by the Echoes of a New Dawn Orchestra, round out a cross genre slate that will draw audiences who might never think of themselves as jazz fans.

Murakami’s Peter Cat and a Cosmic Voyage

Some of the festival’s most intriguing programs are built around stories. Long before he became one of the world’s most celebrated novelists, Haruki Murakami ran a small jazz bar in Tokyo from 1974 to 1981, naming it Peter Cat after his pet. Murakami’s love of jazz runs through his fiction, and his personal record collection is said to number well over ten thousand albums. On November 21, the Barbican presents Haruki Murakami’s Jazz at Peter Cat: A Japanese Jazz Night, an immersive reimagining of the club featuring the Junko Onishi Trio, Sachi Hayasaka with TReS, and saxophonist Yoshio Suzuki’s group The Blend. It promises to be one of the most atmospheric evenings of the festival, a love letter to Japan’s deep and often overlooked jazz culture.

A week earlier, on November 14, the Barbican hosts The Cosmic Voyager, a rare UK concert by Mumbai born vocalist Asha Puthli, whose genre dissolving career spans jazz, Indian classical music, funk, disco, and soul. She is joined by an extraordinary set of guests, including sitarist Anoushka Shankar, trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, and percussionist Sarathy Korwar. Miles Davis also gets his due, with trumpeter Emma-Jean Thackray presenting Dear Miles: A Love Letter at the EartH Theatre on opening night, part of the broader celebration of 100 years of Miles and Coltrane that runs through the festival.

From the Concert Hall to the Club

The festival’s footprint covers the full spectrum of London’s music landscape. Large scale headline shows and orchestral collaborations unfold at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Barbican, the Royal Albert Hall, and Cadogan Hall. For those who prefer their jazz up close, the city’s great clubs offer late night sets and residencies, including the legendary Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, Blue Note London, the Jazz Cafe in Camden, the Crazy Coqs cabaret room, Kings Place, and KOKO. At Kings Place, bassist Dave Holland and vocalist Norma Winstone join the London Vocal Project for Vital Spark, a celebration of the music of the late Canadian born trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, a giant of British jazz.

The festival also keeps its doors wide open with free programming. The Jazz Social at City Point, near the Barbican, serves as a festival hub with intimate concerts and live broadcasts, while the Clore Ballroom at the Southbank Centre offers free daytime family events and pop up performances. The Guildhall School’s students present free concerts at Milton Court on several dates, giving audiences a glimpse of the next generation of British jazz.

The New Jersey Connection

For our readers in the New York and New Jersey area, this year’s London festival has a familiar ring. Two of its most exciting vocalists launched their careers just across the Hudson. Samara Joy, who closes the festival at the Royal Festival Hall, won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition at NJPAC in Newark in 2019, and Tyreek McDole, appearing at Lower Third on November 16, took the same prize in 2023. That competition crowns its next champion on November 22 as the finale of Newark’s own TD James Moody Jazz Festival, the same day Joy takes the stage in London. Dianne Reeves, meanwhile, has long been a beloved figure on both sides of the Atlantic, and Joy’s recent New Jersey appearance at State Theatre New Jersey was previewed on Explore New Jersey. It is a vivid reminder of how far the music nurtured in our own backyard can travel.

Why London Matters

The EFG London Jazz Festival has long been one of the essential stops on the international jazz calendar, a place where American legends, European innovators, African and Asian visionaries, and Britain’s own thriving scene all meet. Its willingness to blur boundaries, to place Goldie and Coltrane on the same program, has helped keep jazz in conversation with the broader culture, and its investment in free and family programming ensures that the music reaches far beyond seasoned fans. With the Coltrane and Miles centennials as a backdrop, a dazzling roster of headliners, and hundreds of performances in every corner of the city, the 2026 edition promises ten days to remember. The complete schedule, ticket information, and venue details are available on the official festival website, with additional listings from the Southbank Centre, the Barbican, and Cadogan Hall.