Moseley Park, Birmingham
Ni Maxine Live at Hare & Hounds, Birmingham for IVW 2026
Listen to Ni Maxine’s latest single, ‘Not For Me’ here.
‘Neo-jazz star, Ni Maxine’ (NME) returns to Birmingham for her first headline show presented by Variations at Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Wednesday 28th January 2026 for Independent Venue Week.
‘One to watch, Ni Maxine on the vocal jazz tip’ – Tony Minvielle for Mostly Jazz Festival 2024
From bursting onto the Birmingham scene at a Jam House open-mic night to a standing ovation at her fully booked b:music ‘Free Jazz Friday’ show, followed up by a stand-out Mostly Jazz Festival performance in 2024, Ni Maxine is growing in popularity in the Birmingham music community.
With her debut EP ‘Mother’s Arms’ title track out on Wednesday 11th February 2026 and the full EP out on Wednesday 4th March 2026, this is your chance to hear new music live ahead of its release.
This show, presented as part of a brand new live music series by popular Birmingham club night ‘Variations’ connecting jazz and jazz-adjacent music to a progressive club-going community is a perfect mid-week January evening out for the live music lover and the sober-curious who are looking for an evening of connection, ‘Dripping with charisma and soul…’ – Soweto Kinch, ‘Round Midnight, BBC Radio 3.
Joined by UK Jazz royalty, Luke Bacchus (piano) and Daniel Casimir (upright bass) and Nate Ricketts (drums), don’t miss Ni Maxine playing live for Independent Venue Week 2026. This will be one for the books!
Live Show Details
Date: Wednesday 28th January 2026
Location: Hare & Hounds, High Street, Kings Heath, B14 7JZ
Doors: 7:30PM
Tickets: www.nimaxine.com/live
‘Her exquisite vocal delivery bears favourable comparison with the late great American soul singer Minnie Riperton as she captures the right balance between consciousness and self-determination’ – Simon Godley, God Is In The TV
FFO: Yazmin Lacey, Erykah Badu, Rosie Lowe, The Internet, BINA., Bel Cobain, RAYE
About Ni Maxine
Award-winning Liverpool based ‘Neo-jazz star, Ni Maxine’ (NME) is one to watch. Her music moves between past and future, blending conscious lyricism, rich storytelling, and an unshakable sense of self. Themes of home, identity, self-worth, and belonging weave through her work, creating something that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Winner of ‘Breakthrough Act of The Year’ at The Jazz FM awards 2025 and hailed ‘a Black woman at the forefront of the UK scene,’ (Black Ballad), Ni Maxine’s songs carry the weight of lived experience and collective memory and create space for people to feel.
We Out Here, Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul, EFG London Jazz Festival, Africa Oyé, Brick Lane Jazz Festival, the Global Soul Showcase at the Jazz Cafe – wherever she plays, she pulls people in. A string of sold-out shows in 2024 has only added to the momentum, each one a reminder of her presence on stage. Opening for Corinne Bailey Rae on the Plum Red Lipstick tour was no exception.
The industry has been paying attention. Ni Maxine took home Best Original Track at the Youth Music Awards, locked in radio play from BBC Radio 1’s Victoria Jane Future Soul, Jamz Supernova on BBC Radio 6 Music, and Selector Radio, and delivered an iconic Soho Radio session. The tastemakers are talking. They know what’s coming.
Her debut single, ‘Strange Love,’ was the first call to action. With her debut EP, ‘Mother’s Arms’ (2026), on the horizon, Ni Maxine is positioning herself as one of the most essential new voices in contemporary music. Not just an artist – a movement in motion.
About Variations
Variations is a Birmingham-based grassroots music series creating new connections between jazz, global rhythms and contemporary club culture. Launching a brand new live music series in 2026 during Independent Venue Week 2026, Variations is a platform bringing live jazz and jazz adjacent music to a progressive club-going community.
Founded by female promoter Toni Grehan, Variations platforms female and gender-expansive DJs and musicians with a club night blending broken beats, soulful house and percussive grooves with live horns, rhythm sections and improvisation, creating a hybrid dancefloor experience that moves fluidly between live performance and DJ culture.
Variations was created in response to a clear gap in Birmingham’s nightlife: a lack of spaces where jazz-influenced music, global traditions and a progressive club community could coexist.
The series has welcomed artists and tastemakers including Tina Edwards, Coco Maria, Poly Ritmo, and more, alongside live local horn players, jazz quartets and improvising musicians, creating space for jazz musicians to reach new audiences, and for club-goers to experience live musicianship in a social, dance-led context. Variations is about cultural exchange, access and musical curiosity; a space where jazz traditions, global sounds and contemporary dance music meet on equal footing.
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