The festival finale will be something very special this year. Ribble Valley Jazz and Blues are over the moon to welcome the award-winning pianist and composer Nikki Iles with her 18-piece Jazz Orchestra featuring a host of the UK’s finest jazz musicians.

Pianist and composer Nikki Iles is national jazz treasure, a harmonically innovative composer and a piano improviser in the classic keyboard traditions of Bill Evans, John Taylor and Paul Bley

John Fordham, Guardian

Formidably creative…. The Heroine of British Jazz …

Dave Gelly, Observer

Nikki, winner of Best Pianist British Jazz Awards 2017, brings together commissions from over the years; new orchestrations of her own band tunes and new compositions, all played by the remarkable band she has assembled.

Recently she has been particularly busy – she was awarded the prestigious Ivors Academy Gold Badge and the Ivor Novello Award – winning the best large ensemble composition in 2021. Thorough lockdown, she won The Seattle jazz composition prize and was a recipient of both The British Jazz and Parliamentary Jazz Awards and in the Queens New Years Honours list 2022, a British Empire Medal for services to music. Her commissions include The London Sinfonietta, the UMO jazz orchestra in Helsinki and The National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Nikki is Professor of Jazz Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and Middlesex University as well as giving masterclasses around the world.

And here in the Ribble Valley the Orchestra will demonstrate the wonders that are Nikki’s original compositions and arrangements, together with great ensemble playing and evocative soloing. The depth and range of the exhilarating writing and arranging suggest it will be less like a debut, but more like seasoned hand and a distinctive voice, with the music bought to vivid life by a top-drawer band.

Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Festival Freedom Passes

If you are considering buying tickets for this event you might want to consider purchasing a Festival Freedom Pass which gives you VIP access to all the Headline and ticketed events across the four festival days.

Purchase here.

Pay what you can

We recognise that money can be a barrier to access quality live music.
Thanks to the support of the Arts Council England there is a limited supply of advance tickets available on a “pay what you can” basis.
Please send an email to [email protected] for further information.
Tickets will be made available on a first come first served basis.

Check out the title track from Nikki’s latest album Face to Face

Watch Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra live at the Vortex

Nikki Iles – Conductor, Piano, Accordion
Mike Walker – Guitar
Steve Watts – Bass
Ian Thomas – Drums 

Saxophones
Andy Schofield – Alto, Soprano, Flute
Paul Jones – Alto, Flute
Julian Siegel – Tenor, Bass Clarinet
Tori Freestone – Tenor, Flute
Karen Sharp – Baritone, Tenor, Clarinet
Gareth Lochrane – Flute

Trumpets
Tom Walsh
Henry Lowther
James Copas TBC (Flying in from New York)
Nick Smart
Trombones
Gordon Campbell
Richard Henry
Ollie Martin
Harry Maund