From Thursday 12 November through Sunday 15 November, London’s live calendar offers a concise route through improvisation as a present-tense club practice. The useful thread runs from Cafe OTO’s commission-minded SPACE 5 programme, through Chiminyo’s late-night percussion-and-electronics session at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, to George Crowley’s trio at Green Note during the opening weekend of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Each show puts the emphasis on musicians building a shared language in the room: through new pairings, triggered sound and collective response.[1][2][4]

Thursday: SPACE 5 opens the conversation at Cafe OTO

Cafe OTO begins the route at 7.30pm on Thursday with SPACE 5, curated by Regan Bowering. Michael Barthel heads a bill whose combinations include Luciano Maggiore with Seijiro Murayama, Silvan Schmid with Zara Joan-Miller, Ellis Berwick, and a Bowering solo piece. The series is explicitly built around new work, creative risk and first-time collaborations across improvisation, composition and concept-led practice. That framing makes this the most open-ended entry point: a programme structured around encounters, with the details of interaction central to the evening’s purpose.[1]

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Friday: Chiminyo turns the late slot into a live circuit

At 11.15pm on Friday, Chiminyo brings Late Late Electronic to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. The London-based drummer, percussionist and electronic producer works with a setup that joins percussion’s physical immediacy to electronic texture; Ronnie’s describes the format as strictly improvised, high-octane and jazz-infused. Reuben Abela-Adeyemi, DoomCannon, Alex Cosmo-Blake and Yves Fernandez join the billed session. It is a valuable reminder that the city’s jazz infrastructure holds space for beat-making, instrumental dialogue and spontaneous form after the main-stage hours.[2]

Saturday: George Crowley’s trio at Green Note

Saturday afternoon shifts the thread to Green Note, where George Crowley appears with Ruth Goller and Will Glaser at 2.30pm. Presented as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival’s Celebrating the Jazz Clubs strand, the trio places Crowley’s saxophone and electronics alongside Goller’s bass and voice and Glaser’s drums. The festival describes their approach as intuitive group improvisation alongside Crowley’s melodic compositions, coloured by electronic textures. After Cafe OTO’s deliberately fresh combinations and Chiminyo’s late-set rhythmic charge, this is the compact ensemble version of the same local instinct: composition remains present, while the players retain room to steer the music together.[3][4]

Plan the three-stop route

Start at Cafe OTO on Thursday 12 November at 7.30pm, continue at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club on Friday 13 November at 11.15pm, then catch the Green Note matinee on Saturday 14 November at 2.30pm. These are three sharply different rooms and time slots, so choose by appetite as much as geography. Recheck each official venue or festival page before travelling for tickets, access information and any changeable event details.[1][2][3][4]

Concert details

Michael Barthel at Cafe OTO
2026-11-12 · London
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Also this week

Sources

  1. SPACE 5: Michael Barthel / Luciano Maggiore + Seijiro Murayama / Silvan Schmid + Zara Joan-Miller / Ellis Berwick + Regan Bowering — Cafe OTO
  2. Late Late Electronic hosted by Chiminyo — Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
  3. Green Note — Green Note
  4. George Crowley / Ruth Goller / Will Glaser (matinee show) — EFG London Jazz Festival