EJBF Staff Picks

The Edinburgh Jazz &Blues Festival team are all incredibly passionate about music, and we carefully curate each programme to make sure there's something for every taste. Obviously, we would reccommend every concert in our festival, but here are some of the concerts that our team are particularly excited for.

We will be adding to this list as we get closer to the festival, so check back for more!

Immanuel Wilkins

As programmer for the Festival, I am lucky enough to get invited to jazz festivals all over Europe and in May 2025, I attended Nattjazz in Bergen, Norway. The buzz was all about American saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, so we pushed into the crowded room and bagged some seats. For 70 minutes we were blown away – delivering consummate torrents of sound mixed with moments of simplicity and delicacy, the band’s empathy is extraordinary. Think of the excitement of John Coltrane meeting Ornette Coleman and you start to get the picture.  His credentials are impeccable: Grammy nominated, Blue Note recording artist, New York Times Album of the Year. I urge you to check him out.

Fiona Alexander, EJBF