GoGo Penguin

Manchester’s GoGo Penguin are the perfect example of how jazz has proliferated in the 21st century. The trio can perform heady, post-bop jazz grooves, but more often they prefer to integrate a number of different styles and genres into their brews. They use jazz as a foundation to discover new ways of expressing electronic music, rock, pop, hip-hop, trip-hop, Krautrock, and more. The band formed in the group’s hometown in 2012 and consists of Chris Illingworth (Piano), Nick Blacka (Double Bass), and Jon Scott (Drums). Their first two records—2012’s Fanfares and 2014’s v2.0—earned them a record deal with famed jazz institution Blue Note, where they continued to hone their philosophy that jazz could be many, many things. After the departure of original drummer Rob Turner in 2021, the band hunkered down at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios to begin recording Between Two Waves, planned for 2022, which furthers the band’s journey into the outer expanses of jazz’s limits.