Kelham Jazz Festival 2026 – Another New Highlight in Sheffield’s Festival Calendar

Marysia Osu at Kelham Jazz Festival 2026

This March saw the first ever Kelham Jazz Festival take place in the heart of Kelham Island, bringing together new talent and established artists to perform across the post-industrial suburb’s many vibrant venues. A programme as packed as this invariably means you’re going to be spoiled for choice, and everyone’s experience of the day will be unique – you can study the line-up and decide to plan things to the letter, or wander around and leave things up to chance. This is how my day unfolded.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat at Cutlery Works, I headed straight to Adler – the venue acting as the de facto festival HQ – to pick up my wristband and kick things off in style with a high-energy performance from Goldivox. The Sheffield band deftly switched between jazz and soul with touches of 70s disco and funk, drawing a huge crowd in minutes with their catchy, uplifting songs, all driven by lead singer Lindy Surtees’ emotive, theatrical vocals.

As their buoyant set drew to a close, I wandered over to Factory Floor to catch the end of singer-songwriter Steve Edwards’ feel-good soul-funk set – standing in the doorway as the sun poured through the enormous glass windows behind the stage. I allowed myself to be transported somewhere else entirely by his soulful, jazz-kissed vocals as bellowed out the chorus to the rousing ‘World, Hold On’.

Next was a short walk up Rutland Road to the tucked-away Toolmakers – perhaps Neepsend’s best kept secret. It was time for something different courtesy of Sarah Heneghan, a composer and drummer whose melancholic melodies are inspired by North European jazz, folk, minimalism and post-rock. Joined on stage by Charlotte Keeffe on flugelhorn and trumpet, it was Ben Gaunt on keys who kept me transfixed with his sensitive, expressive playing. It was a moving experience that grew more and more special as the venue slowly filled up.

The sun began to edge towards the horizon as I made my way down to Yellow Arch Studios to see Kilario take things up a notch with their high-octane rendition of Herbie Hancock’s irresistibly funky ‘Chameleon’ before segueing into the latin-flavoured rhythms they’re famous for. This was followed by a stroll over to the Harlequin pub for an altogether different vibe, pulling up a stool to enjoy the chilled offerings of Blue Seven Jazz. As I munched my way through a packet of scampi fries I couldn’t help thinking the quartet – a fixture of the city’s music scene for over a decade – looked like a gang of film noir characters playing in some random bar at the bottom of the sea.

As darkness descended on Sheffield, I looped around for another lap, drawn back to Adler for Assembly Trio’s seriously impressive atmospheric improv, then onto Factory Floor again – now packed to the rafters – to experience the mighty Franz Von in full hip hop flow, with the Jamaican-born wordsmith practically taking the roof off. Then it was back to Toolmakers to see the magical Marysia Osu, where she invited the audience to sit on the floor, mesmerising us as she crafted gorgeous ambient dreamscapes with her magnificent harp and live looping beats.

With one final gear change, I ended the night in the upstairs room of Shakespeare’s, jiving on the packed dancefloor to funk-infused grooves as Afrodesia saw me home.

It was a truly remarkable day, with the entirety of Kelham Island alive with the electric hum of music; the sounds of saxophones and synths floating out from behind red brick walls. The festival describes itself as “great sound, good vibes and discovering jazz in unexpected places.” I couldn’t put it better myself. And even if you think you don’t like jazz in the traditional sense, the blending of funk, soul, blues, hip hop and more meant there was an enormous range of live music to suit your mood and your taste.

With so much local talent on display, it’s exciting to see where Kelham Jazz Festival will go next year and beyond. Sitting in the cultural calendar alongside Kelham Island’s mighty Get Together festival (back for its 6th year this month), the grassroots Higher Fields Festival debuting across S2 in June, and Abbeydale Live entering its second year last month, it’s exciting to see burgeoning festivals like this continue to grow in popularity across the city.