​Tomorrow's Warriors Big Band

The Tomorrow’s Warriors Big Band features 16 young musicians aged 14-25 years old and is mentored by TW alumnus, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Axel Kaner-Lidstrom.

Axel has performed and recorded with Cykada, Maisha, and sax legend Gary Bartz, he is also founder and musical director of the ground-breaking, sonic melting pot that is Levitation Orchestra.

The Tomorrow’s Warriors Big Band made their debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank in summer of 2024 and have gone on to perform twice at We Out Here festival and had a headline concert as part of last year’s London Jazz Festival collaborating with drummer Romarna Campbell for the premiere of her original composition Bloom.

This is a big band without constraints, and they’ll be bringing as much fire, rhythm, and groove as they do swing for this special London Jazz Festival performance.

If you know your UK jazz, then you probably already know Tomorrow's Warriors. For the last 35 years, Tomorrow’s Warriors has played a vital role within its community and the wider music industry and has been credited with literally changing the face of UK jazz.

Free access to Tomorrow’s Warriors artistic programme has proved crucial in nurturing the nascent talent and early careers of so many of the most exciting UK artists currently tearing up the international jazz scene including Mercury Prize 2023 winners Ezra Collective, Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings and Sons of Kemet, ESKA, Jason Yarde, Denys Baptiste, Robert Mitchell, Soweto Kinch, Shirley Tetteh, Byron Wallen, Mark Kavuma, Sultan Stevenson, CHERISE, Donovan Haffner...the list goes on. Tomorrow’s Warriors offers a pioneering, comprehensive programme of learning and training which champions and supports young Black and female talent and those who come from challenging circumstances that would be a barrier to accessing opportunities to pursue a music career.