J Steps: It’s ok

After two years of dedicated hard work and incredible music making, the award-winning J Steps are releasing their documentary and album ‘It’s OK’ on Sept 18^th – today.

The documentary is premiering today on You Tube at 8pm UK time. Watch here

The album It’s Ok is available now on all platforms

The award-winning J Steps is a groundbreaking ensemble for female and non-binary individuals under the age of 18. Founded and directed by saxophonist and composer, Hannah Horton, J Steps was created to counter the lack of spaces and representation for women and non-binary individuals in the jazz scene. They have performed at venues and events including the London Jazz Festival, Swinging Cat Jazz Club, Jazz Cafe POSK, and Saffron Hall. In 2023, J Steps were awarded the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Jazz Education Of The Year and continue to change the change the lives of young women in jazz every day. Hannah Horton explains ‘J Steps started with an idea I couldn’t really let go of. I wanted to create the kind of space I wish more of us had had when we were younger. Somewhere you could find your way into improvising without feeling you had to prove yourself first’

In April of this year, funded by the Arts Council, J Steps spent three days in the world-renowned Abbey Road Studios recording their debut album It’s Ok. Abbey Road has seen an incredible range of artists record there, famously Pink Floyd and The Beatles but also jazz legends including Glen Miller, Fats Waller, Tony Bennett, Ella and Eartha Kitt to name a few. To record there is to step into a rich and diverse history.

‘I’ve spent years thinking about how we give young musicians the confidence and space to find their own musical voices. Taking J Steps into Abbey Road to record music I’d written and arranged for them was a rather extraordinary extension of that. They brought their own sounds and ideas. They improvised. They listened and responded to each other. Things changed. And the music became theirs.’ Hannah Horton

Hannah brought in a dream team to support J Steps with Sam Leak (piano), Rob Statham (bass), Steve Taylor (drums) along with Fiona Ross as co producer, all supporting through rehearsals prior to the session and the Abbey Road recording sessions themselves. On the final day, the renowned saxophonist and presenter Jess Gillam arrived to much excitement. Hannah explains ‘Of course, once she was surrounded by that many saxophones, it wasn’t long before she had hers out too! She played with everyone, chatted with the musicians and has since become the narrator of the finished documentary.’

Award winning photographer Monika S Jakubowska attended the final session at Abbey Road and a selection of her captures are included in the ground breaking Women in Jazz Media touring photography exhibition ‘Her Frame. Her Sound.’

Alongside the recording, Hannah had organised to quietly capture what was happening around the music to create a documentary, filmed by Warren Woodcraft. Narrated by Jess Gillam, the documentary follows J Steps through rehearsals and into Abbey Road along with some inspiring behind the scenes moments when the musicians simply talk about improvising, friendship, confidence, belonging, and what being part of J Steps has meant to them. Hannah tells us ‘This project has become about so much more than making an album. It’s about what can happen when young musicians are given the space, trust and opportunity to find their own voices, and I’m really proud of what they’ve made.’