The Barbican has announced the launch of a comprehensive new website called JazzEast for jazz musicians, students, educators, journalists and fans.

The aim of the site is to provide a user-friendly and informative guide to the jazz scene in the eastern half of London.

Commissioned by Barbican Contemporary Music, the site gives information on venues, arts organisations, live events and big bands in the ten East London boroughs.

Users can select which aspect of the scene they are interested in – such as jam sessions or jazz pubs – and get more information about them.

The JazzEast website is intended to capitalise on the new excitement about the East London Jazz scene, which will be given a new impetus by the June 2010 residency of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

The partnership with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will offer audiences at the Barbican and in East London the opportunity to experience some of the best big band music in the world, played by a selection of Americas finest jazz musicians.

A major concert series will be augmented by a programme of Creative Learning in London schools and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, organised by the Barbican/Guildhall School Creative Learning Division in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center.

This includes workshops, masterclasses, professional development and a keynote address by Wynton Marsalis.

There will also be performances in a variety of East London partner venues including a swing dance evening at Stoke Newington Town Hall, jam sessions at the Vortex in Dalston, and a special family concert at Hackney Empire.

For more information go to www.barbican.org.uk