Nikki Yeoh's Infinitum, Cyrus Chestnut, Buster Williams, Lenny White

American mainstream great Cyrus Chestnut was one of the stars of the inaugural festival in 2014 and Ronnie Scott's are thrilled to have him back for the opening night of this year’s festival. This time in a double-bill with the hugely talented Nikki Yeoh.

The son of a church organist, Cyrus Chestnut started his musical career at the age of three and playing piano at the Mount Calvary Star Baptist Church at the age of five in his hometown of Baltimore, MD. He honed his craft as a sideman with some of the greatest musicians in the business - Jon Hendricks, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, Chick Corea, Jimmy Heath, Joe Williams, Isaac Hayes, and Dizzy Gillespie just to name a few. Even the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, asked him to join her on one of her Christmas Concerts in 2013. For these two dates he will be performing material from his new trio album with killer rhythm section Williams and White, 'Natural Essence'.

Nikki Yeoh is a British jazz pianist, keyboardist and composer, known for her work with Courtney Pine, Neneh Cherry, Chick Corea, The Roots and Steve Williamson, among others. A massively gifted composer who has been compared to the likes of Wayne Shorter for her use of impressionistic aural colours and textures and with a gift for multi-voiced ling form composition she appears here with her legendary trio Infinitum performing her own unique music.