Over the last three decades the Swanage Jazz Festival has built a reputation for tapping into the very best of the burgeoning British Jazz scene, bring a mix of well-known names and rising talent to this lovely seaside town. Its success can be summed up in three words: music, setting and atmosphere.
Running from July 12 – 14, the festival has something of a party vibe when it opens on Friday night with Tower of Power influenced Horns Upfront, followed by Derek Nash and Noel McCalla’s show The Wonder of Stevie. Guess whose music that is celebrating! Contrasting that, singer Ian Shaw and saxist Tony Kofi explore the music of Duke Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn.
Saturday’s programme features not one but two performances by saxophonist, arranger, composer and jazz wunderkind Emma Rawicz, with her quintet and then with her 20-piece Jazz Orchestra packed with young music talent. The pioneering jazz educator and bassist Gary Crosby OBE (pictured far right) brings his Charles Mingus tribute to the Sandpit Field Marquee, whilst Martin Litton’s Red Hot Peppers get things hopping at the Swanage Youth Centre.
We are delighted to welcome back, after a 10-year absence, the fabulous pianist, singer and raconteur Liane Carroll as our Sunday night headliner. Complementing her is the vibrant British/Bengali pianist Zoe Rahman (pictured) and her Colour of Sound Octet which includes alto saxist Camilla George. Other Sunday treats include tributes to singer Anita O’ Day and saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. Then there’s a New Orleans and mainstream programme featuring The Vintage Jazz Collective and The Pete Allen Jazz Band amongst others. Alongside the 50 or so bands in the main four venues, the free Festival Fringe offers another 20 acts plus several youth Big Bands playing in local pubs and hotels.
Full line up and tickets at swanagejazzfestival.co.uk
The Sounds of Jazz to Come
Whilst many musicians continue to put a personal stamp on the great jazz classics, the music has never stopped developing. Swanage Jazz Festival includes both, with much loved performers like Nigel Price, Alan Barnes and David Newton in the line-up. And, thanks to Arts Council support, we look to the future with an 11-band strand called The Sound of Jazz to Come. This includes the Swanage-based band Jazz Knots, the superb Canadian/Native American guitarist Keanu Ienco, Brighton-born guitarist Luke Purbrick, Bristol’s The Other Way (pictured) – described as ‘darkly comic, melodically charged and astutely poetic’ - and Southampton-based pianist Jonathan Fashole-Luke. Al Swainger’s Pointless Beauty collaboration fuses melodic improvisation with electronic colour washes. Saxophonist and composer Asha Parkinson, performing with her quintet Kalpadruma, spans jazz to ‘classical’ to world music and beyond. Bristol drummer Matt Stockham Brown’s 6161 covers a wide range of genres ‘from sleazy film noir to carnivalesque polyrhythms and skronky swagger’; whilst fellow Bristolians Snazzback (pictured top right) ‘bring a renewed, daring energy to create a sound fusing abstract beats with spiralling improvisation’. These names may be unfamiliar now, but in the future, you will be able to say: ‘I saw them before they were famous at the Swanage Jazz Festival.’
The Extraordinary Emma Rawicz
It’s easy to think that the best jazz comes from London. However, the fast-rising tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger and band leader Emma Rawicz proves otherwise. Growing up in North Devon, her musical career started with the violin, she only took up learning the saxophone when she was 15. This was clearly a match made in heaven as four years later she recorded her widely acclaimed debut album Incantation, with a follow up album Chroma released on the ACT label last year. Winner of a Parliamentary Jazz Award, finalist at the Jazz FM Awards and the BBC Young Jazz Musician Competition and due to graduate from The Royal Academy of Music this summer, the talent of this 22-year-old is dazzling. Emma has made headline appearances at numerous prestigious venues including London’s Jazz Cafe and Ronnie Scott's, as well as performing in over 15 countries including extensive tours in Germany and Scandinavia. Emma brings her acclaimed quintet to Swanage, with outstanding pianist Ivo Neame, for a Sandpit Field performance before headlining the Mowlem Theatre on Saturday night with her exciting 20-piece Jazz Orchestra performing her own compositions. Jazz pianist Jamie Cullum describes Emma as ‘an astonishing talent’ and we are proud to showcase this rising star.
Swanage Boy Swings Golf Club
Local singer Dylan Ross (above) brings the Great American Songbook repertoire to the Isle of Purbeck Golf Club (July 12) adding a touch of Sinatra and Tony Bennett swing to its stunning views over Studland.
Sandpit Field Jazz Village
Two music marquees with free performances including Sounds of Jazz to Come, Jazz DJ sets and Jazz Yoga with views of Swanage Bay, this jazz village with refreshments offers a new expanded vibrant strand to the festival.
