Philip Parkin

The 26^th Birmingham International Jazz and Blues Festival kicked off in inimitable style this morning, showcasing several of the acts that will be performing across the city over the next ten days. Invited guests to the Hotel du Vin launch were greeted on arrival by the New Orleans Jump Band, who may have been in Marbella just a few hours earlier but were now firmly ensconced on Church Street, Birmingham. After speeches by Cllr Martin Mullaney (who reminded us that Birmingham already is the City of Culture), John James and festival patron Digby Fairweather, guests were treated to a succession of festival artists all superbly supported by France’s Pat Giraud Trio. Georgian bluesman Chick ‘Stoop Down’ Willis kicked proceedings off, followed by Mr King Pleasure himself and Tipitina’s Debbie Jones. Digby Fairweather, a huge supporter of the festival, was there throughout with his usual wonderful horn playing. On the strength of this morning’s launch, this is clearly going to be a festival to remember.

The Birmingham International Jazz Festival celebrates its 25th Silver Anniversary this evening, with an All Star Jam Session at the city’s Botanical Gardens. It was a jam session in 1984 – fronted by the late Humphrey Lyttleton - that directly led to the very first festival , and went on to become  the Sunday Times’ ‘jazz record of the year’. The show tonight will be packed with some of the biggest names in British jazz, and will feature two interchangeable front lines. The full line up is:

1. Digby Fairweather (trumpet). Festival Patron and the only one of the Team of 1984 to play in this year’s version.
2. Enrico Tomasso (trumpet). Trumpet player with an authentic jazz pedigree, as a 7 year old famously played to Louis Armstrong on the tarmac at Leeds Airport. ‘I’ve not seen so much talent anywhere’, commented the great man.
3. Robert Fowler (tenor sax). Original and powerful soloist on tenor sax, baritone sax and clarinet. Played with the Pasadena Roof Orchestra and Alan Barnes’ Octet.
4. Art Themen (tenor sax). British Jazz Award winning, ex-orthopaedic surgeon (!), played with Alexis Korner, Mick Jagger and Jack Bruce.
5. Mark Nightingale (trombone). Ex MYJO and NYJO trombonist who has worked with international stars including Ray Brown and Clark Terry.
6. Ian Bateman (trombone). Versatile trombonist and member of Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band. Regular player with the Ronnie Scott Big Band.
7. Jim Hart (vibes). Talented drummer, pianist and vibes player. A regular with Sir John Dankworth’s bands.
8. David Newton (piano). One of the country’s most versatile and talented pianists. A regular winner of British Jazz Awards.
9. Dave Green (double bass). Freelance bassist and member of the Chris Barber Band. Played with Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins.
10. Ralph Salmins (drums). One of the country’s most accomplished jazz drummers. Played with everyone from Madonna and Bob Dylan to James Moody and Jimmy Wetherspoon.
11. Val Wiseman (vocals). West Bromwich born singer, closely associated with the Billie Holiday tribute ‘Lady Sings the Blues’. Numerous recordings under her own name.

Tickets £10 (0121 454 7020 or 0121 454 1860)

Pee Wee Ellis turned in an incredible perfomance at Birmingham’s Star City last night. I hadn’t heard him play before but was well aware of his musical pedigree – ex James Brown MD (where he picked up the title ‘The Man Who Invented Funk’), sideman to Van Morrison etc. He didn’t disappoint for a moment and played two great sets, made up almost exclusively of jazz numbers. Pee Wee studied with the great Sonny Rollins way back in 1957 and his R&B re-working of jazz had a huge influence on the likes of George Clinton and Sly Stone. That the Birmingham International Jazz Festival was hosting him for free was a reminder (not that you’d need one) of just how special this festival is. 

His band last night was also extremely impressive. With Gareth Williams on piano, Laurence Cottle (I think!) on bass as well the hugely talented Mark Mondesir on drums, the crowd knew from the off that it was witnessing something very special. And it was great to see Pee Wee and band clearly enjoying themselves in the somewhat incongrous setting of Star City.

GREAT BRITISH JAM SESSION HEADS RECESSION-BUSTING BRUM JAZZFEST.

The Birmingham International Jazz Festival is set to celebrate its first quarter of a century in the same way it all started, with an All Star Jam Session.

Back in 1984 Birmingham-based independent record company Big Bear Records organised a jam session, in Cannon Hill Park, featuring the dozen top UK jazz musicians of the day. It was a sell-out, the recorded album won “Jazz Album of the Year” and before the sun went down, Big Bear and the City Council had agreed to launch the Jazz Festival the subsequent year.

So it is only to be expected that the main feature event of the 25^th Birmingham International Jazz Festival will see another amazing array of the top British jazz talent, eleven of them, onstage together at The Botanical Gardens on Thursday 9^th July at 7pm.

It has been many a year since such Jazz Galacticos, poll winners to a man, have been on one stage together. Digby Fairweather, Festival Patron and the only one of the Team of 1984 to play in this year’s version, will lead affairs on trumpet, alongside Enrico Tomasso, also on trumpet, Robert Fowler and Art Themen, tenor saxophones, Mark Nightingale and Ian Bateman, trombones, Jim Hart, vibes, David Newton, piano, Dave Green, double bass, Ralph Salmins, drums and Val Wiseman, vocals.

Between them, they have clocked up appearances alongside the biggest names in the music biz including those of Frank Sinatra, George Shearing , Henry Mancini, Benny Goodman, Humphrey Lyttelton, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Buck Clayton, Charlie Watts Quintet, Count Basie Orchestra, Van Morrison, Robbie Williams, Madonna, Bjork, Macy Gray, Sheryl Crow, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Diana Ross and Bob Dylan.

With 180 jazz festival performances in 70 venues across the City with 90% free to the public, then Birmingham is not the place to be this summer for anyone who doesn’t like jazz.

Europe’s biggest free jazz party will take place in shopping centres, arcades, bars, museums, hotels, cafés, on the streets, even on canal boats and the City’s tour bus while zany Chicago Beat Poet Steve Steinhaus will be making unscheduled appearances on commuter buses delivering his very hip, cool poetry.

Star City will be presenting three important jazz names whose normal environment is Symphony Hall or Town Hall, but it will be free to see Kenny Ball [Friday 3^rd], Alan Price Set [Saturday 4^th] and Pee Wee Ellis Band [Sunday 5^th].

                                                          For further information please call 0121 454 7020

Address: PO Box 944, Birmingham, B16 8UT 

Email: admin@bigbearmusic.com

Ten good reasons to visit the Birmingham International Jazz Festival this year (3rd – 12th July):

1. Festival Poet Steve Steinhaus will take you on a tour of verse straight out of the Beat Era, all wrapped around the history and heroes of jazz and blues. And what’s more, he’ll be doing it for free, on the bus. (10.30am Fri 3rd July on National Express Buses, free).
2. Pee Wee Ellis at Star City. Reedman/composer/arranger and MD for the late James Brown, Pee Wee Ellis deserves the title of ‘The Man Who Invented Funk’. (7pm Sun 5th July at Star City, free).
3. Browns Brass Band at Snow Hill Station. Continuing the festival tradition of great music in unusual locations, Arthur Brown’s brass section will be entertaining travellers in the Colmore Business District. (8am Tues 7th July, free).
4. Nomy Rosenberg Trio. Sensational Dutch gypsy guitarist, and direct descendent of Django Reinhardt, Nomy Rosenberg will be making his UK debut in Birmingham. (5pm Fri 10th July at the Waters Edge Bandstand, free. Plus other dates).
5. The Botanical Gardens Allstar Jam Session. It was a jam session that started the festival off in 1984 and to celebrate 25 years of bringing jazz to Birmingham, this year’s event will see Digby Fairweather leading an outstanding line up of some of the biggest names in UK jazz. (7pm Thurs 9th July at the Botanical Gardens, £10. Tickets from 0121 454 7020).
6. Festival Ale ‘Digby’s Dilemma’. This year’s official festival beer will be brewed by the Urban Arts Bar at The Lord Clifden, and will also be available at the Hotel Du Vin and The Brasshouse.
7. Hot D’Jazz Trio of Cracow. One of the many international acts at this year’s festival, Hot D’Jazz are a regular on the festival circuit and have played with the likes of Nigel Kennedy and Ronald Anderssen. (1pm Sat 4th July at the Round Room, Museum and Art Gallery, free).
8. Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. Last time the great Kenny Ball came to play in Birmingham, he played to a sell-out (paying) audience at the Symphony Hall. This time he’ll be paying Star City, for free. (7pm Fri 3rd July).
9. Jazz in Lee Longlands furniture showroom. Midlands based Millenium Eagle Jazz Band play classic jazz from the 1920s-1940s, in the unlikeliest of musical venues. (4.30pm Thurs 9th July at Lee Longlands, free).
10. Art Themen at the Waters Edge Bandstand. An event that symbolises what this festival is all about – world class jazz at an accessible venue, totally free. (1pm Sat 11th July, free). 

Over 115,000 visitors, enjoying 200, mostly free, performances at 50 plus venues across the city – last year’s Birmingham International Jazz Festival was, as always, a resounding success.  Music lovers got to witness shows by an eclectic range of top class national and international acts and the city got to throw a big party and welcome visitors from as far afield as Australia, South Africa and the USA. And in 2009 the event will be celebrating its milestone 25^th anniversary, a testament to the hard work of the organisers as well as a sign of the huge support and goodwill the event has enjoyed over the years.

That the event would one day be celebrating its 25^th anniversary would no doubt have been far from the mind of festival director Jim Simpson as he organised the M&B Jam Session that started it all, back in 1984. Held in Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Park and fronted by the late Humphrey Lyttlelton, a privileged audience of 800 jazz lovers were treated to a now legendary session from star names such as Digby Fairweather, Dick Morrissey, Randy Colville and Peter King.  With Harvey Weston on double bass and Johnny Richardson on drums, the performance was recorded on Richard Branson’s mobile 24 track and went on to become The Sunday Time’s ‘jazz record of the year’. The International Jazz Festival kicked off in earnest the following year and has gone on to become the largest, free jazz party in Europe, attracting a total audience so far of over 3 million visitors. And, in celebration of its quarter century milestone, the festival goes back to its roots this year with an equally star studded jam session to be held at the city’s Botanical Gardens on Thursday 8^th July. Digby Fairweather will head a line up of some of the biggest talents in jazz, including Art Themen, David Newton and Val Wiseman. It’s shaping up to be one of the hottest dates in this year’s musical calendar.

Although most of the gigs take place in the usual locations – in the pubs, bars and concert halls across the city – a defining feature of the festival over the years has been its determination to take jazz to unusual settings. So this year, there’s jazz at Snow Hill Station, courtesy of Becky Brine, and Browns Brass Band; performances by Digby Fairweather and Craig Milverton in the Museum and Art Gallery, and poetry by Steve Steinhaus on the city’s buses. New venues this year include the Star City multiplex as well as The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and furniture store, Lee Longlands.

This year’s festival promises to be just as exciting as ever with the high calibre of performers continuing the festival tradition of ‘real music, properly played’. Artists include: Alan Barnes, Alex Price Set, Art Themen, Becky Brine, Bruce Adams, Dave Green, David Newton, Dave Shepherd Quintet, Digby Fairweather, Enrico Tomasso, Eric Delaney, Europa Jazz Band, Fabulous  Boogie Boys, Garry Allcock All-Stars Big Band, Greg Abate (USA), Hot Djazz of Krakow (Poland), Ian Bateman, Indigo Blues Band, Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen, King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys, Kings Bruton Big Band, Mark Nightingale, MJHQ, MYJO, Nearly Dan, Pee Wee Ellis [USA], Petra Ernyei [Czech Republic], Ralph Salmins, Simon Spillett, Tipitina and Val Wiseman.

www.brumjazzfest.blogspot.com

Final dates announced for The Specials 30thAnniversary Tour. A shameless nostalgia trip it may be, but their gig in Birmingham in April was still the best I’ve seen this year:

Live in 2009