Cheltenham Jazz Festival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cheltenham Jazz Festival is one of the United Kingdom's leading jazz festivals and is part of Cheltenham Festivals Ltd. It began in 1996 and has been growing ever since. The 2007 festival lasted for 7 days and featured over 50 events.

Each year, the festival features an artist in residence. These have included:

Contents

[edit] Programme

The programme is developed by the festival's artistic director Tony Dudley-Evans and consists of a broad range of Jazz in all its guises. The venues used in the 2007 festival included: Cheltenham Racecourse, the Everyman Theatre, St. Andrew's Church, the University of Gloucestershire, the Daffodil Restaurant and the main festival venue, Cheltenham Town Hall. There was also an outdoor free stage, the "Budvar Jazz Marquee", in Imperial Gardens.

[edit] Chart-topping stars

The artists featured vary hugely and for 2007 performers included: Charles Lloyd, Silje Nergaard, Guillemots, Madeleine Peyroux, Curtis Stigers, Bob Brookmeyer, Bennie Maupin and Marti Pellow. Five of the festival's events were broadcast on BBC Radio 2, as part of an on-going partnership.

Previous year's programmes have included such jazz legends as: Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman, Dave Holland, Jamie Cullum, Dianne Reeves, Jools Holland and Courtney Pine to name just a few.

[edit] Cutting edge music

Cheltenham Jazz Festival prides itself on featuring a wide range of Jazz. 2007's festival included more modern cross-over club jazz acts such as: Gilles Peterson, The Cinematic Orchestra, The Nextmen and ska band Babyhead. Contemporary music was also a big part of the programme, with bands including: the Ben Allison Quartet and The Claudia Quintet from New York City, and the UK's Zoe Rahman and Neil Cowley.

[edit] Rising Stars

Since 2001 the festival has enjoyed a relationship with the Jerwood Foundation. This enabled the festival to feature the Jerwood Jazz Generation which consisted of up and coming UK jazz musicians. It allowed the musicians to demonstrate their talents, write new commissions and take part in new collaborations, and it offered an opportunity for festival-goers to see some lesser known but equally talented musicians. This year's Jerwood artists included drummer Seb Rochford, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and pianist Gwilym Simcock.

[edit] Education

The festival provides a series of workshops available to children and adults throughout the week. This year provided popular band, drum and voice workshops, featuring advice from jazz musicians.

[edit] The Fringe

As the festival grows so does its side line, The Fringe. Located in pubs, parks and restaurants around Cheltenham, The Fringe allows small bands and artists to show their talent and make a name for themselves. The gigs are free and enable people who do not have tickets for everything to get a little taster of what else is going on in the jazz world. It also really helps the festival vibe throughout the town. Jamie Cullum played at the Fringe before becoming a successful jazz musician.

[edit] Quotes

The Independent "an event that now rivals London's for the position of leading UK jazz festival"

Birmingham Post "a music festival with a glorious present and a very insiring future"

The Daily Telegraph "The Cheltenham Jazz Festival rose to its climax, with events bursting from every nook and cranny."

The Times "This year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival was more ambitious than ever… what has always set Cheltenham apart is its mixture of the new with well-established artists." ****

[edit] External links

This jazz-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.