RNCM stages a vibrant programme of rollicking live jazz concerts, including manchester jazz festival highlights

Featuring captivating collaborative improvisation and two standout shows from this year’s manchester jazz festival (mjf), one showcasing the innovative, genre-blending artistry of a British-Bahraini trumpeter, and the other delivering a stunning big band reinterpretation of Supertramp classics, the RNCM’s upcoming jazz concert programme celebrates the limitless creativity of the form with some of the best instrumental talent in the world.

Founded upon the twin pillars of spontaneity and instinct, the RNCM MIUAWGA (‘make it up as we go along’) Ensemble presents an unmissable night of thrilling improvisation on Fri 4 Apr, as the school’s Head of Jazz and Improvisation Steve Berry leads the trailblazing troupe in an exploration of intuitive creativity.

This year, MIUAWGA collaborates with composer, arranger and renowned multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas, a ‘boundary-blurring’ (Gramophone) artist whose catalogue includes reworks of J.S. Bach, innovative contemporary styles and beyond.

Ahead of the performance, catch a free cabaret show by RNCM students at 6.30pm featuring songs from Cabaret, Chicago, West Side Story, and South Pacific.

On Sat 17 May, the RNCM welcomes esteemed British-Bahraini trumpet player Yazz Ahmed, appearing as part of mjf. Her pioneering blend of jazz, electronic sound design and the unique style of her mixed heritage has earned her a reputation as one of the most exciting jazz musicians on the scene since the release of her debut album in 2011. Across a stellar career, she has collaborated with the likes of Radiohead, Lee Scratch Perry, Natacha Atlas and others.

Her brand new record, A Paradise in the Hold, is a ‘rich, powerful, colourful, exciting, and highly evocative’ (thejazzman.com) work which draws from an eclectic array of sources, from Bahraini poetry and wedding songs to the celebratory music of women’s drumming circles and the mournful work melodies of pearl divers.

‘They were songs that encouraged the fishermen to stay in good spirits, or songs about missing your loved ones…it gave me an opportunity to connect on a deeper level with the music that I grew up with as a child but didn’t really embrace at the time.’ – Yazz Ahmed on her newest album, A Paradise in the Hold.

The following Saturday, mjf and RNCM welcome the inimitable saxophonist John Helliwell with his Super Big Tramp Band. Showcasing his singularly sleek and breezy flair alongside a spectacular ensemble, they revisit the beloved sounds of the legendary supergroup for what may be the final time.

During a Supertramp hiatus in the ‘90s, after more than a decade of whirlwind global success, Helliwell returned to England to study at the RNCM and further cultivated his iconic style, before forming the Super Big Tramp Band at the school in 2013.