Kings Place, the lovely, fairly new arts centre in north London with a magical, oak-lined concert hall, has a superb three nights of jazz lined up for the end of this coming week. Each one features a star of the British jazz scene, each with a striking new work, or at least new to Britain’s jazz capital.

Jay Phelps

First up on Thursday is ex-Empirical trumpeter Jay Phelps, who is presenting a four-part suite called Movements For The Modern Artist. It’s partly inspired by Duke Ellington, and specifically by his tune My Uncertainty, but also clearly contains other flavours from the jazz orchestra and big band tradition, as well as his own thoroughly 21st century re-reading of this tradition.

Reviewing two parts of this suite performed by Phelps and his big band, Bruce Lindsay wrote for All About Jazz: “These two pieces emphasize much of what makes Phelps’ big band such an exciting musical prospect: they are ambitious, complex compositions that stretch the skills of the musicians, and they show Phelps’ superb command of dynamics and mood.”

Guests with the band will include singers Gwyneth Herbert and Michael Mwenso, as well as trombonist Dennis Rollins, saxophonist Soweto Kinch and pianist Alex Wilson.

Soweto Kinch

On Friday Kinch the saxophonist/hip hopper from Birmingham will be giving his new music, The Trials Of Mike Smith, its very first outing.

Who is Mike Smith, you ask? Well, I’m not quite sure, to be honest, but what I can tell you is he’s wrestling with some pretty wicked demons. The Seven Deadly Sins, in fact. The music will form the basis of Soweto’s next recording, due for release in September.

Kinch is not only a highly original and adept soloist, but takes a fresh approach to the music, blending sometimes age old jazz elements with the most contemporary of hip hop culture, and, most remarkably, making sound all one. Of course it is all one, in a way, but it takes a shrewd musical brain like Kinch’s to work out how best to draw out those common factors.

Helping him will be trumpeter Jay Phelps and pianist Alex Wilson, among others.

Alex Wilson

On Saturday at Kings Place, Soweto is back, and so is Jay, this time as part of pianist Alex Wilson’s band. Wilson will be introducing his kora concerto, commissioned by the Harrogate Festival, to London, an also playing with his trio which has Frank Tontoh on drums and Matt Owens on bass.

Wilson, who started out pretty much in the Latin jazz tradition, has, with the kora piece and in other ways, broadened and enriched his musical palette of recent years, drawing parallels between different areas of music as adeptly as Kinch.

All three of these exceptionally exciting evenings, brought together under the title eXplorations, starts at 8pm in Kings Place Hall One, and you can find out more, as well as buy tickets, here. Or you can call 020 520 1490.

Finally, here is even more to enthuse you: a podcast about it all.