Jazz Voice unfailingly supplies a gigantic sugar-rush of auditory pleasure, and this year’s edition was no exception. Arranged, scored and conducted by the brilliant Guy Barker, the evening’s opener saw rising US vocalist Judi Jackson and the EFG London Jazz Festival Orchestra transform Nirvana’s brooding “Come As You Are” into a swaggering, Vegas-style workout.

Jazz musicians of just about all ages and persuasions have been on show in this year’s 10-day EFG London Jazz Festival. Some were making their first mark, some taking stock of who and where they are, some trying new things or changing where they’re headed, others who’ve said yes to commissions, and others whose craft, identity and choices are totally persuasive. Charles Mingus got it right. “In my music,” he said, “I'm trying to play the truth of what I am.

The penultimate concert in the eclectic and impressive K-Music Festival of contemporary Korean music on Monday at the Purcell Room featured some of the most exquisite and affecting performances of the season, with the traditional Gayageum stringed instrument paired with an effects-laden, ambient-cum-exploratory jazz quartet featuring one of the most distinctive and arresting drummers anywhere, making remarkable music from her kit (shimmering cymbal solos, anyone?).

The choice of what to go and hear in the London Jazz Festival can be bewildering: this first weekend of its 10-day run presented over 120 events. I managed to attend eight, of them at least in part, including some of the show that has predictably soaked up most of the media attention: the first of Jeff Goldblum’s two concerts on Saturday at a packed Cadogan Hall.

As moments of transcendence go, Laura Mvula’s guest spot at Robert Glasper’s EFG London Jazz Festival show provided one of the year’s most transporting musical moments.

Powered by the huge harmonic slabs carved out by keyboardist Travis Sayles and the vast backbeat of bassist Derrick Hodge and drummer George “Spanky” McCurdy, Mvula’s delicately outerspacious “Bread” was recast as a 10-minute meditation. The mantra-like repetitions of the refrain "Lay the breadcrumb down so we can find our way", together with the uniquely affecting timbre of Mvula’s voice, succeeded in uniting and lifting up 2,000 souls in a warm, hymn-like embrace. It was a moment of emotional fellowship that no one who witnessed it is likely to forget.

Glasper’s generosity towards his band mates was evidenced right from the off

With so many different elements coming into play throughout the generously proportioned set – acoustic, electric, guest vocalists, a DJ supplying ghostly electronic washes and speech samples, plus a paean to the music of Stevie Wonder right at its centre – this felt more like a classic revue than a standard gig.

Glasper’s generosity towards his band mates was evidenced right from the off, with Glasper in the company of his Covered trio band mates, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid.

The trio first explored the circular, minimalist funk of Prince’s "Sign o' the Times", beginning with a pulsating, scene-setting drum solo from Reid. When the track proper kicked in, Archer dug deep into the familiar, gnomic bass riff, while Reid’s left hand performed small miracles of dexterity on hi-hat and ride cymbal. In the final musical clearing, Glasper’s brief duet with a sample of vocalist Erykah Badu (Mongo Santamaria's classic “Afro Blue” from Glasper’s 2012 album, Black Radio) was a nice turntablist touch.

The loops and layerings of Radiohead’s “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box” saw the trio further exploring the creative interconnections between hip hop and jazz, Glasper’s towering solo on Fender Rhodes hinting at the euphoric quality that’s never far from the surface of his music.A quick stage reset, and we were back with Vula Malinga, LaDonna Harley Peters (two-thirds of LaSharVu) and Brendan Reilly, raising their voices in a euphonious take on Wonder’s “Overjoyed”. Vula then took centre stage for a powerhouse interpretation of “Superwoman”, bathed in a cavernous reverb and with the vocal line panning left and right across the Barbican, McCurdy supplying the monstrous backbeat.

Bilal then let his liquid phrasing loose on “Too High”, with a captivating solo from harmonica player Grégoire Maret and funky comping from guitarist Mike Severson, before detonating the incredible power of his falsetto on his self-penned “Levels”, which concluded with an impressively vast, pulsing wall of sound. (Pictured above: Robert Glasper and guests including Bilal. Photo by Emile Holba for the EFG London Jazz Festival.)

Prefaced by a breathtaking solo from Hodge, the first of Mvula’s two contributions was a relatively straight reading of “Visions”. Here, Glasper’s tintinnabulating work in the upper register of the grand piano in the outro suggested that the music was attempting to break away from the terrestrial sphere. But this was merely a taste of the engulfing beauty that was to follow.

• Read more New Music reviews on theartsdesk
• The EFG London Jazz Festival continues until Sunday 19 November

@MrPeterQuinn

Overleaf: watch Robert Glasper play “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box”