Jembaa Groove plays at the Jack London
After garnering massive support from the international media world (KEXP, BBC6 Music, Gilles Peterson, Soulection, KCRW, FIP, and many more) off the back of their first two albums, "Susuma" and "Ye Ankasa/We Ourselves," and selling out numerous shows across Europe with festival appearances at Supersonic Jazz (NL), JazzOnze+ (CH), London Jazz Festival (UK), and many more, Jembaa Groove embarked on their 2025 tour with a fresh line-up and brand new songs set to release in Fall 2025. On their newest undertaking, Jembaa Groove are strengthening ties to Lagos and London's vibrant Afro-Fusion scenes. Joining forces with "premium highlifers" The Cavemen (NIG), the band got together for another contemporary take on Highlife, Jazz, and Afrobeats, also featuring legendary Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara and Nigerian vocal sensation Tim Lyre. The new wave of Afro-Jazz is flourishing around the globe, and Jembaa Groove is on the way to becoming one of the most important ambassadors of this aspiring genre. The newest additions to the line-up include two highly acclaimed members of the European jazz scene who are successful bandleaders themselves. Szabolcs "Àbáse" Bognar (HUN) on keys and Peter Somuah (GHA) on trumpet will join the band on their upcoming world tour, which will take them through Europe, the UK, the US, and South Africa.
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Organizer
Soul’d Out Productions (SOP) was founded in the Pacific NW in 2008 in order to bring a diversity in programming and cultural curation that was sorely lacking. Additionally, SOP has produced thousands of shows and events from LA to Vancouver BC, from Washington DC to NYC and founded the Jazz Fest by Nite series in New Orleans that ran from 2009 – 2019. As producer of the Soul’d Out Festival for 10 years and operator of several successful venues in Portland, SOP has helped evolve the NW musical landscape by changing who gets a ‘seat at the table’ in terms of community building and engagement through the arts.
