The Jazz Verse Jukebox continues its new season at Hoxton Hall on Friday 22nd March 2019, featuring an eclectic line-up of guests. Continuing the age-old tradition of intertwining jazz improvisation and spoken word, The Jazz Verse Jukebox is a thrilling night of diverse spoken word and improvisational jazz from some of the freshest exponents on the scene. Plus, a unique Jukebox Open Mic presents the chance for audience members to perform poetry or sing with the band. Hosted by & with music from Jumoké Fashola Music.
★★★★★ “Superb, captivating” – Time Out
“The perfect jazz poetry party” – Michael Horovitz

With performances from:
MARK GWYNNE JONES (Psychicbread
Well known for mind-altering poetry with an almost music hall edge, Mark Gwynne Jones mixes humour and poignancy with great skill. A regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s cabaret poetry show, Wondermentalist Cabaret and a favourite of Radio 3’s Late Junction, Mark’s shows have won five festival fringe awards for Best Spoken Word. As resident poet in four of London’s parks, Mark explored what is meant by ‘common ground’ in C21st Britain. And with musicians Psychicbread, Mark was commissioned to write and record a collection of poems for his native Peak District, Lyric in Limestone. He has published five collections of poetry and has appeared in numerous anthologies. Reviewing his collection Psychicbread, Vicki Holman declared it: ‘contagious, gritty and sometimes startlingly sensitive.’ In 2015, Mark toured southern India, and later the UK, with Indian poet and playwright Mamta Sagar.

D’BI YOUNG ANITAFRIKA (Dbiyoung Anitafrika)
From touring the world as a Dubpoet, to curating international residencies for artists in the Caribbean, North and South America, Africa and Europe, to being heralded as a Woman of Distinction in the Arts, the creative endeavours of African Jamaican Canadian D’bi Young Anitafrika are globally celebrated. A triple Dora award-winning published playwright-performer (of nine plays, seven books and seven Dub Poetry albums), director-dramaturge and educator-scholar, Anitafrika is also the creator of the intersectional Black feminist praxis — the Anitafrika Method. She is the founding Artistic Director Emeritus of the Watah Theatre where she taught emerging and established BIQTPOC artists in Canada (2008-2018) and the founding Creative Director of the Anitafrika Retreat Centre where she teaches artists globally. Anitafrika recently signed a three-year publishing deal with Playwrights Canada Press to release one triptych per year: The Sankofa Trilogy 2019, The Orisha Trilogy 2020, and The Ibeji Trilogy 2021. Addressing issues of gender, sexuality, race, class and the human experience. Through her radical interdisciplinary arts practices, Anitafrika is currently engaged in postgraduate studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, researching the Praxes, Politics and Pedagogies of Black Performance.

ANNETTE WALKER (Annette Walker)
Annette Walker is one of the leading exponents of a new generation of tap dancers taking the stage with grace, style, and above all, rhythm. She performs as a freelance hoofer and often collaborates with jazz musicians and bands as well as other tap dancers. She is queen of the Renegade Stage at the regular London Tap Jam and has performed in numerous cabarets, festivals and special concerts such as Turned on Tap at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre. Annette has also appeared on television with tap group AboutTime, and in numerous theatre productions such as Fittings Multimedia Arts Master Juba, The Wonder of the World and Edmund the Learned Pig. As well as being a tap dancer ‘polymath’ Annette is also an aerial acrobat, actress and Jazz and Blues musician.

JAMAL MEHMOOD (Jamal Mehmood)
Jamal Mehmood is a writer and poet, working across poetry, short stories and essays. Winner of Poetry Rivals in 2016, his debut pamphlet 'Little Boy Blue' was published by Burning Eye Books the same year. His long form and fiction has appeared in the likes of Media Diversified and Litro Magazine. He is currently working on a Novella and a collection of short stories.

And Music from:
AMAHLA (Amahla Music)
Singer-songwriter and musician Amahla taps into an era before her time to create vintage-inspired soul music. After releasing her debut single “Old Soul” Amahla was awarded the PRS Lynsey De Paul Prize for outstanding female songwriters. In 2018 she was a recipient of the MOBO Awards and Help Musicians fund for her exceptional voice. Amahla entered 2019 playing full sets at The Jazz Cafe, Royal Albert Hall in addition to selling out her first headline show at the Roundhouse as she released her debut EP Consider This which demonstrates a storytelling ability long beyond her years. Exploring issues of domestic violence, race, class and inner city life, Consider This is a culturally important release, with an undeniably talented songwriter at its core.
“She possesses the vocal ability to knock your ears clean off your head..but instead puts all the focus and effort into the subject matter, using her singing ability as a vehicle for her stories” –Earmilk
“[Dorothy’s Verses] pieces together the truth of Amahla’s life through fragmented memories, brought to life with help from Amahla’s detailed and diligent songwriting” – Complex UK