Folded Wing celebrated at the 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards on Tuesday 14th October, with their BBC Radio 3 show ‘Round Midnight presented by Soweto Kinch, winning the award in the jazz media category.
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The Parliamentary Jazz Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.
‘Round Midnight launched in 2024 and is presented by acclaimed saxophonist, composer and MC Soweto Kinch and is BBC Radio 3’s flagship late-night weekday jazz show. The show features live sessions, curated playlists, and festival recordings and features a wide selection of jazz from different eras and around the world, but with a particular focus on the vibrant new UK jazz scene. A broad-church guest policy – from KOKOROKO, Kit Downes, Shabaka Hutchings, Robert Glasper, Norma Winstone, Sheila Jordan to Meshell Ndegeocello – is taken, to cover ground stylistically and across generations.
The show works closely with BBC Introducing to foster the next generation of UK jazz talent. Aspiring musicians are encouraged to submit their tracks to Soweto via the BBC Introducing uploader.
Monthly live sessions have showcased exciting young stars like Glasgow trombonist corto.alto, who received a Mercury nomination shortly after his session and Devon-raised saxophonist Emma Rawicz, who won also won Parliamentary Jazz Award not long after hers. This year’s Parliamentary Jazz Award winners also included session guests Zara McFarlane with her award for Jazz Vocalist of the Year and Mark Kavuma (The Banger Factory) for Jazz Ensemble of the Year.
‘Round Midnight curated a free, open event at the Barbican as part of the London Jazz Festival in 2024 – which introduced regular listeners and new audiences to harpist Marysia Osu, guitarist Lau Noah, and bassist Daniel Casimir. Following this ‘Round Midnight went to the 2025 Proms at The Fire Station in Sunderland with northeast jazz artist Rivkala, Mercury Prize nominee Joe Webb and Grammy-nominated jazz trumpeter Theo Croker treating guests to an electric evening.
Karen Pearson, CEO and Founder of Folded Wing had this to say:
“To be nominated for ‘Round Midnight in its first year of programming is testament to the hard work the Folded Wing team and Soweto put in each night.
Thank you to the listeners, the jazz world for embracing and supporting the show and BBC Radio 3 and Sam Jackson for believing in us.
It was our dream to produce a daily jazz show on the BBC, and we are loving every minute of it and never take for granted the responsibility we have to represent the vibrant jazz scene all across the UK.”
Sam Jackson Controller, BBC Radio 3 & BBC Proms was quoted as saying:
“Last year, we welcomed Folded Wing to the BBC Radio 3 family for the first time, when they successfully pitched to make our new nightly jazz show, 'Round Midnight with Soweto Kinch.
Under the leadership of the brilliant Karen Pearson (who also masterminds shows for Jamie Cullum and Romesh Ranganathan over on Radio 2), 'Round Midnight has gone from strength to strength. And tonight, in front of a packed room of jazz-loving parliamentarians and the UK jazz scene the team picked up the Media Award at the annual Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
It's a richly deserved reflection of their hard work, creativity, and commitment to the vibrant British jazz scene.”
Folded Wing are passionate about producing content that makes a difference, collaborating with artists, creators, producers and musicians to develop new opportunities in the creative space. They forge top-flight partnerships with brands, the BBC and cultural organisations that reach global audiences with award-winning podcasts, documentaries and globally syndicated radio shows. Folded Wing have established themselves as the largest producer of jazz content in the UK.
With a proven track record in nurturing talent on and off the mic, and a long-standing commitment to increasing diversity in the audio industry, they are based in Southend with teams across London, Coventry, Oxford and Newcastle.
The Southend connection continues with two talented artists who performed at last week’s Southend Jazz Festival in association with Folded Wing, also being nominated at the awards in the jazz newcomer of the year category - saxophonist Maddy Coombs (Tomorrow’s Warriors) and vocalist Olivia Cuttill who won The Martin Hummel Award. This recognition highlights Southend’s growing reputation as a destination for world-class jazz, building on the town’s rich musical heritage from the 1950s and 60s.
Read more about the APPJAG Jazz Awards here>
Listen to 'Round Midnight here>
Find out more on Folded Wing here>
