Theo Croker's DREAM MANIFEST w/ Nicholas Daley + Special Guests

**MORE TICKETS AVAILABLE AT https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/theo-crokers-dream-manifest**

**The Barbican** and local friends **Brick Lane Jazz Festival** present a unique evening, co-curated by acclaimed fashion designer **Nicholas Daley** and led by US-based trumpeter extraordinaire **Theo Croker**. Bringing together an exploration of soundscapes, style and the global jazz community for a very special night, Theo Croker’s DREAM MANIFEST in February 2025 will see Croker joined on stage at the Barbican by a suite of special guests from the London and international jazz and wider music scenes, presented in collaboration with London-based designer Nicholas Daley, renowned for his intricate interplay weaving across music, fashion and culture.

Themed around imagination, DREAM MANIFEST is a sonic exploration of the power to manifest in our universe. Defying genre yet being deeply rooted in tradition, it includes a retrospective on Croker’s last two albums BLK2LIFE : A Future Past (2021) and Love Quantum (2022). Croker plays and manipulates samples from the albums, reassembling elements of the band’s real-time performance to architect a sonic world on stage.

Joining Croker on stage are musicians Idris Frederick (keys), Eric Wheeler (bass), and Miguel Marcel Russell (drums) and an array of special guests still to be announced.

**SPECIAL GUESTS LINEUP:**

**EGO ELLA MAY**

Ego Ella May is a British-Nigerian, award-winning singer-songwriter from South London, celebrated for her genre-blending R&B, neo-soul, and contemporary jazz compositions rooted in her deep passion for jazz. Her introspective songwriting draws from personal experiences, literature, and candid conversations, emphasizing vulnerability and truth. Her debut LP Honey For Wounds garnered critical acclaim, with tracks featured in popular shows like Insecure, Sex Education, and Dear White People, earning her the 2020 MOBO Best Jazz Act award. Following a deluxe album release, a Jazz FM Award win, and collaborations with artists like Ari Lennox and Kojey Radical, she unveiled the critically acclaimed FIELDNOTES EP series. With FIELDNOTES: COMPLETE releasing December 6, 2024, and a sophomore LP set for 2025, Ego Ella May’s rise continues.

**CORTO.ALTO**

Fast-emerging Scottish composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist corto.alto (Glasgow-based Liam Shortall) blends traditional jazz with modern influences like electronic production, broken beat, and dub. His debut album, Bad With Names (Oct 2023), shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2024, showcases his multi-instrumental talent and features top UK musicians like Fergus McCreadie and James Copus. Championed by Gilles Peterson, Jamie Cullum, and outlets like BBC 6 Music and Jazzwise, the album redefines contemporary jazz. Following a prolific campaign dropping 30 tracks in 30 days with 30/108, corto.alto performed over 50 shows in 2024, including North Sea Jazz, Montreux, and We Out Here, ending the year with a UK tour celebrating this breakthrough year.

**THEON CROSS**

Theon Cross is one of those rare musicians whose vision has redefined their instrument. His unique approach to the tuba has expanded the instrument’s sonic possibilities in revolutionary fashion, restoring it to a long-forgotten prominence as a crucial part of the contemporary jazz ensemble. Through his combination of technical mastery, studio smarts, deep musical knowledge and expansive vision, the power and originality of Theon’s playing has reinvented the tuba’s place in modern music.

**COBY SEY**

Coby Sey is a South East London songwriter, producer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ, known for his distinctive sound blending hip-hop, noise, jazz, and grime into a dubbed-out experimental style. His live performances, enriched by a revolving band of close collaborators like Alpha Maid and Ben Vince, deliver dreamlike yet danceable energy. A key figure in the CURL collective (with Mica Levi and Brother May) and a long-term NTS radio host, Coby’s open, collaborative ethos is evident in work with artists like Tirzah, Speakers Corner Quartet, and Laurel Halo. His long-awaited debut album, Conduit, released in September 2022 through AD 93, cements his unique place in contemporary music.

**SHEILA MAURICE-GREY**

Sheila is a London based trumpet and flugelhorn player who leads renowned band Kokoroko and has featured on several projects such as Sampha, Little Simz, Yussef Dayes, Stormzy and others. Sheila is also a visual artist and loves to paint. Her painting plays an important and central role in her solo music project where she aims to explore her musical voice as well as through her paintings provocatively question the of hyper sexualisation of black women throughout history.

**KASSA OVERALL**

Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions. He previously released four critically acclaimed projects: I THINK I’M GOOD, Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz, Shades of Flu and Shades of Flu 2.

Presented by Brick Lane Jazz Fest

This is an 18+ event