31 Mar - 3 Apr Chucho Valdes

The classic jazz club performer has earned international renowned and devoted audience as an imaginative composer, virtuosic improviser, commanding bandleader and invaluable collaborator. With his 2002 release, Fantasia Cubana: Variations on Classical Themes, his sixth CD on Blue Note Records, Valdés embraces works by Chopin, Debussy, Ravel and his inspirational mentor Ernesto Lecuona, in a solo setting, demonstrating through sensitive interpretations and original compositions a nuanced lyricism that illuminates acknowledged classics.

Ronnie Scotts, W1 020 7439 0747 Call for time. £15 - £41.50

5 Apr - 6 Apr Pee Wee Ellis, Jazz Quartet

Please note on Monday April 5th, Pee Wee Ellis will be performing with his Jazz Quartet with Josh Arceleo on tenor sax, on Tuesday April 6, Pee Wee will be performing with the funk assembly (featuring James Morton and Tony Remy). Pee Wee Ellis was born to play music. From his first piano lessons - “Miss Sharp hit my hands with a ruler and I never went back” laughs Pee Wee - to discovering a saxophone in his grandmother’s bureau at age 9 - he showed exceptional aptitude. “I didn’t come from a musical family, it just came naturally”.

Ronnie Scotts, W1 020 7439 0747 Call for time. £20 - £37.50

7 Apr Salif Keita

Malian superstar Salif Keita meshes rock, funk and jazz with the deepest West African griot tradition, creating an original yet authentic African sound. Come and groove the night away to one of the great sounds of Africa.

Barbican, EC2 020 7638 8891 7.30pm. £10 - 27.50

8 Apr - 9 Apr Tania Maria

A Grammy nominated Brazilian born singer and pianist, famous for her rhythmic piano playing and unison scat, Tania Maria has over two dozen albums to her name and has performed all over the world. She has established herself as a highly renowned jazz singer as well as a hugely influential proponent of Brazilian music.

Ronnie Scotts, W1 020 7439 0747 Call for times £20 - £37.50

16 Apr Dee Dee Bridgewater

Dee Dee’s Olivier-nominated Billie Holliday tribute comes to London for the first time in 20 years. Her daughter China Moses opens with a set dedicated to Dinah Washington. Grammy- and Tony Award-winning artist, a producer and a UN Ambassador, Dee Dee Bridgewater is probably the most electrifying stage presence in vocal jazz today. Returning to one of her prime inspirations, the great Billie Holiday, Dee Dee Bridgewater brings her Lady Day show to the Barbican for the first time. Created in the 1980s, the show won her an Olivier award nomination during its London residency.

Barbican, EC2 020 7638 8891 7.30pm. £20 - £30

22 Apr Digable Planets

Hip-hop heads the world over had probably resigned themselves that they would never have a chance to see Brooklyn hip-hop crew Digable Planets back together on the same stage. In 2005, though, the stars aligned and the team behind the Grammy-winning ‘Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)’ and the album it was drawn from, 1993’s gold-certified ‘Reachin (A New Refutation Of Time And Space)’, reunited for a reunion tour. Mixing jazz, samba, and psychedelia into their street-savvy hip-hop, expect literate lyrics, inventive arrangements and honey-smooth flow.

Jazz Cafe, N1 020 7534 6955 7pm £16.50

25 Apr Larry Graham

As a kid, Larry tried piano, clarinet, saxophone, drums, and guitar before finding his true calling. His multi-instrumental background and open mind ultimately led him to create an entirely original electric bass style. Some call it slap and pop—Larry calls it “thumpin’ and pluckin’”—and it’s arguably the single most innovative and influential technique in the instrument’s history. Even players who consciously steer clear of its now-ubiquitous presence need to at least have a handle on the technique just to get through a typical wedding set. Larry Graham’s funky creation is a lasting one.

KoKo NW1, 020 7387 0428 7pm £25

26 Apr - 30 Apr Roy Ayers

Once one of the most visible and winning jazz vibraphonists of the 1960s, then an R&B bandleader in the 1970s and '80s, Roy Ayers' reputation s now that of one of the prophets of acid jazz, a man decades ahead of his time.

Ronnie Scotts, W1 020 7439 0747 Call for time. £30 - £50

28 Apr Nneka

Born in Nigeria, Nneka relocated some 10,000 miles to Hamburg, Germany, at the age of nineteen to pursue a career in singing along side a degree in Anthropology. Having landed in the German port, the singer hooked up with DJ and Hip-Hop beatmaker DJ Farhot and ever since, their strong musical relationship has been the backbone of Nneka’s success. Her influences reflect her younger days in Nigeria as well as her time in the Western world.

Scala, N1 020 7833 2022 7.30pm £12.50