Sebastian writes: Over the course of the summer, London Jazz News will become UK Jazz News. The first step has been taken: we unveiled our new name branding at the jazzahead! conference in Bremen, where the banner in the photo above was officially unveiled by the CEO of jazzahead!, Sybille Kornitschky.

With writers and other contributors based all over the UK, we feel this change is now overdue, as many readers have been telling us. The full text of the banner briefly explains our essence, goals and aspirations:

jazzahead’s leadership team had invited us to run a UK umbrella stand, the UK as a whole having been unrepresented at the past few conferences. This was a one-off, a way to celebrate LJN’s 15th birthday. In the event, it was a resounding success! Participants from the UK including a team of volunteers on a rota, created a welcoming buzz about the stand, which was widely appreciated. A particular word of thanks to Nick Brown, project manager, who did a truly brilliant job, eg, co-ordinating video input from more than thirty organisations for an on-site display…devising the volunteer rota… keeping the place tidy and welcoming….all the way to dealing with lost property at the end of each of the three days as the halls were closing!

We were also thrilled to welcome musicians and organisations from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to make their home at jazzahead! on our stand.

The UK also had three showcases and two Clubnight events. Reports to follow.

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This success, it is clearly to be hoped, will be the beginning of a regular British presence at this important international music industry meeting, alongside and across the aisle from our Scottish colleagues. With its spirit of community and informality, jazzahead! is a unique event where independent UK musicians and also their agents can develop business. There is always latent, unmet demand all across continental Europe for what goes on in our unique and thriving music scene, and jazzahead!’s informal friendly vibe is the right place to build awareness of it to an audience of professionals keen to learn.

For 2025 we aspire to be part of building a collective of UK organisations which will all bring shared expertise, passion and skill. Our objective is to have a funded UK presence at the trade fair comparable with that of every single European nation.

(*) Our Tea and Cake party was sponsored by Pukka Tea and cake sponsor Jazz on the Beach Early morning coffee and biscuits were sponsored by the National Jazz Archive.

LIST OF 2024 Registered participants on 6A46 plus helpers on the stand:

Betty Accorsi Music
Rob Adams
Kevin Brady Music
Lauren Bush
Sara Colman
Ben Cottrell
Anova Music
ECN Music (Nadja von Massow, Elaine Crouch)
Nuovi Fratelli
FMLY (Agnese Daverio)
Joy Ellis Music
Ilario Ferrari Trio
Tori Freestone & Alcyona Mick Duo
Tap dancing Musician: Petra Haller
FUNKGURUS Artist Management (Craig Hume)
manchester jazz festival (Steve Mead)
National Jazz Archive UK (Mark Kass)
Helena Kay
Improvised Music Company (Kenneth Killeen)
Conor McAuley
HITar

Aaron Liddard
Phil Meadows
Rebecca Nash
Sorana Santos
Irene Serra
Henry Spencer
en Rapport / Keith Michael
Homemade Records (Tim Whitehead, Amanda Parkin)
Jazz Promotion Network (UK): Ros Rigby (Chair), Nod Knowles, Keith Michael, Mark Kass
Shiny Stockings LTD (Emma Smith)
South Bank Centre / Cheltenham Festival (Alex Carr)
Adjunct Ensemble (Jamie Thompson)
Copasetic Foundation (Alex Webb)
Perdido Records (Charlie Wood)
Vortex (Oliver Weindling)
London Jazz News (Nick Brown, Sebastian Scotney