The Watford Jazz Junction was founded in 2020 with a focus on inclusion, improving mental well-being for all through sharing in live music, and presenting the greatest jazz musicians working in the UK.

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Find out more about our team here and our values here.​

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Our history​

2020 and 2021

The first 2 editions of our festival took a bit of a knock from Covid but we still managed to crowd-fund and deliver a fabulous online performance from Emma Smith during lock-down and launch a 54-part podcast that was one of the UK’s most popular jazz-casts.

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First festival: 19-22 May 2022

Shri Sriram, Dennis Rollins, National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Tim Garland, and Ilario Ferrari, plus Sultan Stevenson, Mark Kavuma, Pete Churchill, Immy Churchill, Nikki Iles, Archipelago, Samuel Sharp, Jelly Cleaver, Emma Smith, Jo Harrop, and John Etheridge, plus 15 more grassroots & local bands.

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Second festival: 18-21 May 2023

Omar, Zara McFarlane, John Altman, Emma Rawicz, and Cleveland Watkiss (The Great Jamaican Songbook), plus Art Themen, John Watson, Oscar Lyons, Xhosa Cole, Esther Bennett, and Leon Foster Thomas, plus 15 more grassroots & local bands. We also delivered memorable workshops for young people and a live 4-hour broadcast on Jazz FM in 2023.

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Third festival: 12-19 May 2024

Ray Gelato & The Giants, Xantoné Blacq, The Ronnie Scott's All Stars, LoKkhi TeRra, and Jean Toussaint, plus Imogen Ryall, Fergus Quill, Maddy Coombs, Charlie Pyne, and Tom Ridout. Plus our first community Walksetra project.

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Fourth festival: 10-18 May 2025

Vanessa Haynes, Elaine Delmar, Tim Garland & Gwilym Simcock, Mark Kavuma,​ Errol Linton, and Alice Zawadzki, plus Ilario Ferrari, Janet Evra, City Funk Orchestra, Tony Kofi, Zayn Mohammed, Oscar Lyons, Harry T Pope, Nico Widdowson, Kate Shortt & Petra Haller. Plus our first primary school performance & writing competition with Watford Writers.

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Our support

We have been kindly supported by the Arts Council England, National Lottery Community Fund, Scops Arts Trust, Wavendon Foundation, Watford Cultural Support Fund, Watford Council, Watford BID, Sovereign Network Group, Watford Community Housing Trust, Magic Little Grants, Watford Community Lottery, & hundreds of local individuals. We have also received sponsorship from Lit Fibre, Ronnie Scott's, London Square, Classic Motor Events and Future Office Interiors, as well as many wonderful local businesses.

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Our venues & volunteers

We couldn’t do what do without working closely with our fabulous venue partners including the Watford Palace Theatre, Pump House Theatre & Arts Centre, and 6 pubs in Oxhey Village (The Railway Arms, The Villiers Arms, The Load of Hay, The Royal Oak, The Rifle Volunteer, The Victoria) as well as Oxhey Bowls Club.

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And of course not a lot would happen once things go live without our amazing volunteers, sound engineers, production crew, and every one of our audience members.

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Our ongoing work

In addition to the May festival, we also continue to put on shows across the year looking to showcase the most appealing and exciting jazz, soul and blues music around.

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Education

Since we founded we have committed to education projects, including with young people locally. To date this has included 3 interactive percussion workshops delivered with the Music Workshop Company for 4-12 year olds, an improvisation session at Purcell Music School, and live-performance within our festival Walkestra.

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In 2025 we are launching a series of immersive musical appreciation and improvisation workshops for local primary school children at Bushey Manor and Greenfields Primary, building around the history of jazz, music-making and personal creative expression.

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All photographs across the website are taken by and credited to Robert Crowley ©.