Sylvie + Ursula

Sylvie + Ursula is a project formed by bass player and winner of the BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024 Ursula Harrison and rising London-based vocalist and composer Sylvie Noble. Their recent debut album New Eve, a blend of jazz, folk, and songwriter influences, has achieved critical acclaim, and the pair have since been nominated for ‘Best Newcomer’ in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, guest starred on Jamie Cullum’s Radio 2 show ‘Take 5’, been featured in Jazzwise’s Taking Off series, and toured extensively.

Sylvie + Ursula bring their + Friends lineup to PizzaExpress Live for their debut London performance as a quintet.

Expect raucous improvisation, deep grooves, and delicate moments of reflection.

Ursula Harrison is a bass player and composer from Pontygwaith, South Wales. Winner of BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024, Harrison has since recorded two albums with their band ‘Living Planet’, as well as albums with drummer Agneya Chitke, and South Wales band Rivers and Lakes. They recently received a commission to write and perform a new suite, ‘Songs About Birds’ from Brecon Festival and the Hinrichsen Foundation, focusing on themes of climate change and its impacts, and featured in JazzWise’s ‘Taking Off’ series and Nikki Yeoh’s ‘Nucleus Sessions’ at Ronnie Scott’s.

Alongside playing their own material, Ursula has performed with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain, the JM Jazz World Orchestra in their tour of Italy, Croatia and Montenegro and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam Jazz Collective with Michael Mayo in Bimhuis, Amsterdam. Harrison recently graduated from the European Jazz Master’s programme based in Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Based in London, vocalist and composer Sylvie Noble combines her jazz and folk influences to create an entirely unique sound. A finalist of the 2025 Tina May Young Jazz Musician competition, she pairs fluent and experimental improvisation with evocative and colourful melodies, performing across the UK, from the Vortex and PizzaExpress Live to Brecon, Sligo, Derry, Edinburgh, and Limerick Jazz Festivals.

Sylvie curated and performed in the ‘Next Generation Jazz’ series at Jazz Cafe Posk, playing the music of her greatest influences: Carla Bley, Betty Carter, and Joni Mitchell, is a member of the London Vocal Project, one of the UK's leading contemporary vocal ensembles, and was commissioned by the Wales Millennium Centre, to arrange and reimagine the music of post-punk band ‘Young Marble Giants’. Her sound is steeped in sensitive honesty and captivating storytelling.