Jazz Cafe Festival announces headliner act (and it's not actually jazz)

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - APRIL 05: Ari Lennox performs during the 2025 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 05, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Astrida Valigorsky via Getty Images)

A big music festival is being held by The Jazz Cafe this summer, and it’s not taking place in that venue itself, but outdoors instead.

Burgess Park in Southwark will be home to the Jazz Cafe Festival 2026, which will take place on August 2nd. It has just had its headline act announced too: R&B singer Ari Lennox.

"Fresh off her new album Vacancy, the GRAMMY-nominated artist brings her world to London this summer,” the Jazz Cafe posted on Instagram.

2019 track Shea Butter Baby, featuring J. Cole, is by some margin Lennox’s most-listened-to track but her 2026 album Vacancy picked up some strong reviews at its release in January.

Ari Lennox, J. Cole - Shea Butter Baby (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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Tickets for the Jazz Cafe Festival go on sale from 10am on February 10th, with pricing starting at £38.50 including fees, although only the very earliest allocation of tickets will be that cheap.

“We have a very limited number of £35 tickets available for next year - these are the cheapest tickets that will be available,” reads the event’s DICE listing.

At present, no other acts have been announced for the day festival. But last year’s event gives us an idea of what to expect.

The Jazz Cafe Festival 2025 featured four stages, and acts playing from 12pm to 10pm. Masego headlined the main stage, which saw eight acts perform throughout the day.

It was a 15,000 capacity event, and the second time the Jazz Cafe Festival had taken place. The first was in 2024, where headline acts included Nils Frahm, Earl Sweatshirt and Gilles Peterson.

The 2025 Jazz Cafe Festival did eventually sell out. And if you’re keen on trying to pick up one of the cheaper tickets, you can sign up for presale at the event’s website.

Ticket pricing will rise to £65, plus fees, once the cheapie tiers have run out.

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Andrew Williams has written about all sorts of stuff for more than a decade — from tech and fitness to entertainment and fashion. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff, enjoys going to gigs and painting in his spare time. He's also suspiciously good at poker.

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