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Cheltenham International Jazz Fesitval
Barnett Waddingham are pleased to be sponsoring the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival during the first week in May. Special sponsorship is going to Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings who will be performing on Wednesday 2 May. This all-star band creates a delightful blend of blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and the Festival itself celebrates these superb musical influences.
Jazz is always on the move, changing, influencing and being influenced by other kinds of music from all over the globe. Each year the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival tries to reflect this. The range of jazz musicians visiting Cheltenham this year is broader than ever. The programme may be seen as a journey from the rhythm of Africa and the jazz of the 20s and 30s though to the highly developed beauty of the music produced by the likes of Brad Mehldau - from the jazz-tinged rhythm and blues of Bill Wyman's excellent Rhythm Kings to the power of the great US saxophonists Joe Lovano, Bob Berg and Chris Potter. If you have sampled world music you will love guitarists Nguyen Le from Vietnam and Brazil's Jose Neto and, if you like to dance, move to the Salsa rhythms of Alex Wilson's Anglo Cuban all-star band and party late into the evening with Snowboy and the Latin Section and the Jazz Co Tech Dancers. The Festival is hosting one jazz big band, and this year saxophonist Don Weller leads his 18 piece all-star band in concert at the Everyman.
The Festival programme makes a special feature of the music and rhythms of Africa in three concerts - the Master Drummers of Africa, Manu Dibango with the London Community Gospel Choir and The South African Gospel Singers. Jean Toussaint's Nazaire takes you forward from Africa and Afro-American Jazz through to the present day sounds of jazz and funk. Courtney Pine and Cleveland Watkiss were at the heart of a Black British Jazz movement which began in the mid-eighties and as it continues into the new millennium, it brings together many of their own youthful musical influences - jazz reggae, ska, hip-hop and funk.
To round things off, the Festival is delighted to host a UK exclusive celebration of the legendary US bass player Ray Brown's 75th birthday, featuring the Ray Brown Trio with the addition of the rising star violinist Regina Carter, trumpeter Nicholas Payton and singer Kevin Mahogany. These all provide a fitting grand finale to the Festival on Bank Holiday Monday, May 7.
Barnett Waddingham is proud to be associated with the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival, which features over thirty of these great musical performances throughout its six days. If you are new to this music, take a chance on something and put a couple of days aside this May Bank Holiday weekend to relax and enjoy some extraordinary musical experiences. For more details e-mail the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival or visit the Festival website.
LATE NEWS
Top international jazz guitarist has been added to the already mind-bogging line-up of Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings whjo will open the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival on May 2nd at Cheltenham Town Hall. Martin Taylor has played under his own name as a soloist and band-leader almost every year in Cheltenham and is one of the town’s favourite performers selling out the Playhouse, Everyman and even the Town Hall itself. Festival Director Jim Smith said "I’m delighted that Martin is doing the concert. He has a lot of fans in Cheltenham and this will give them a chance to hear him in a new musical environment with what is already a star-studded band".
Wyman’s band which also features Georgie Fame, opens the Festival on 2nd May with two shows at the Town Hall. There are over thirty concerts between 2 and 7 May in the Everyman, Town Hall and Cheltenham College. Courtney Pine, Joanna MacGregor, Andy Sheppard, Ray Brown, Stacey Kent are just a handful of the stars who will be blowing up a storm in the town.
Barnett Waddingham, April 2001.