Peter Bacon reports:

The first London Saxophone Festival will be held at various venues in London from 21 to 27 May 2018. Among the headliners are Bob Reynolds from Snarky Puppy and Casey Benjamin from The Robert Glasper Experiment. Other saxophonists giving live performances will be BBC Young Musician of the Year Alexander Bone and Mobo-winning reggae-soul player YolanDa Brown.

There will also be a wide range of workshops and educational events for families to encourage young people to take up the instrument.

The press release adds: “A free ‘Sax Village and Family Day’, will be open to the public on the Sat 26 May between 11am and 8.30pm in the foyer of the beautiful Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square. Newcomers will be able to assemble and play the saxophone for the first time and be shown techniques, while experienced players will be able to converse and consult with leading musicians and industry figures. The day will feature concerts for babies and children, as well as saxophones to hire or to purchase at special Sax Fest rates.”

Other venues which will be hosting events include the Jazz Café, Pizza Expresss Holborn and the Vortex Jazz Club, and there will be special screenings of films with predominant saxophone soundtracks at the Everyman chain of cinemas. JazzFM, Howarth of London, sax.co.uk and D’Addario Woodwinds will also be working with the festival.

LINK: For full details see the festival’s website