What's On - Dundee Jazz Festival premieres two new commissions by Dundee musicians

Dundee Jazz Festival (11–15 November 2026) will premiere two commissioned works by Dundee-based musicians. Double bassist Seth Bennett presents What’s Here at Verdant Works Museum on Friday 13 November, 8pm. Saxophonist and vocalist Kimberley Tessa premieres an hour of brand new original music at Bonar Hall on Saturday 14 November, 8pm.

Both commissions are supported by the Creative Scotland’s Expanded Festivals Fund. Each artist was given the funding to write a full set of new music and to choose the band to play it.

What’s Here: Seth Bennett
Friday 13 November, 8pm, Verdant Works Museum

What’s Here is inspired by the city itself. The piece began with Seth finding inspiration from Don Paterson’s Toy Flights: A Boyhood, his account of growing up in the city before the changes of the 1980s.

https://jazzscotland.com/collections/dundee-jazz-festival



“I read a book by the Dundee poet and musician Don Paterson about his childhood in Dundee. I got really excited about the vision of the city as he saw it, it felt very familiar, in terms of my home, but also really foreign. It was a different city before deindustrialisation. This is my home. I've been here for eight years and I’m not planning to leave. I really love it here. But I only really know my version of the city. I don’t know the city as somebody who grew up here.”

He is wary of music that tells you what to think. The music doesn’t illustrate the city. It is written while thinking about it. Seth collected ideas on walks and phone recordings, then built them into a piece. Two of its tunes were written at ScrapAntics’ weekly Scrap Thursdays community sessions.

The band is Seth on double bass, Graeme Stephen (guitar), Semay Wu (cello), Charlotte Keeffe (trumpet), Monica Madas (voice) and Callum McIntyre (drums). Seth wrote for each player’s voice. Some of it will sound like conventional jazz. Some will be freer. The piece runs for around an hour.

Kimberley Tessa: A Dundee Jazz Premiere
Saturday 14 November, 8pm, Bonar Hall

Rising tenor saxophonist and vocalist Kimberley Tessa was commissioned to write a full hour of new music and to handpick a band of top local players to perform it. Kimberley draws heavily on her own life experience. She brings a personal, fresh take to modern jazz and neo-soul. She was named Rising Star at the 2023 Scottish Jazz Awards.

“The commission for Dundee Jazz Festival has allowed me to expand, I’m working with a six piece band for this that includes guitar, bass, drums, flute, saxophone and a rapper.”

http://https://jazzscotland.com/collections/dundee-jazz-festival

Information published by Leisure and Culture Dundee.