On 25 November 2024 the BBC hosted the Young Jazz Musician 2024, celebrating the competition’s tenth anniversary, and which featured four talented young performers competing for the title BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024. Hoping to take the coveted title were 19 year-old saxophonist George Johnson, 22 year-old bassist Ursula Harrison, 22 year-old pianist Nils Kavanagh, and 18 year-old trumpeter Klara Devlin. They each performed a set in front of a live audience and a formidable judging panel, consisting of pianist, bandleader and educator Nikki Yeoh, saxophonist, producer and MC Soweto Kinch, award-winning trumpeter Laura Jurd, bassist, composer and band leader Jasper Høiby, and vocalist and composer Zara McFarlane. They were backed by three of the UK's leading jazz musicians, Zoe Rahman on piano, Alec Dankworth on bass, and drummer Sophie Alloway, and while Thompson performed one single self-composed piece, the other three musicians offered a mix of their own compositions and their takes on some of their favourite classics, from artists like Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver and Chick Corea. Because the finalists were a pianist, bassist, saxophonist and trumpeter, they were able to form a quintet with drummer Alloway for an ensemble rendition of Charlie Parker's 'Bloomdido' to close the show, naming the group GUNK after the initials of their first names. Ursula Harrison eventually won the competition, but even as I was watching it I heard a couple of pieces that I really wanted to hear again, in particular Kavanagh's lovely 'Hazelwood Home', and so when it was over I recorded the whole thing and compiled an album of my favourite performances. If you are into jazz in any way then give this a listen, as these four musicians could be at the forefront of British jazz in a few years, and you can then say that you heard them here first.
Track listing
01 For Sean (Nils Kavanagh)
02 Peace (Klara Devlin)
03 Golden (Ursula Harrison)
04 Hazelwood Home (Nils Kavanagh)
05 Who Shall Guide Me (George Johnson)
06 Speak No Evil (Ursula Harrison)
07 Bloomdido (GUNK)
08 Litha (Klara Devlin)
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