Julian Joseph

Julian Joseph is one of the finest, most influential and highly respected musicians in British jazz today. Devoting his career to championing the music across the UK and into the far corners of the world, he has forged a reputation beyond his formidable skills as a performer and composer to become universally recognised as a highly knowledgeable and engaging broadcaster, musical ambassador and cultural advocate.

Julian’s career has been characterised by many ground-breaking advances. He was the first Black British jazz musician to host a series of concerts at London’s Wigmore Hall, and the first to headline a late-night televised performance at the BBC Proms with his All Star Big Band. In 2002 he was commissioned to open the London Jazz Festival with a new piece, The Great Sage, performed by his Big Band and the strings of the BBC Concert Orchestra, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Then in 2003, he premiered his original arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for his All-Star Big Band at the City of London Festival.