Welcome
Mostly Jazz Festival is the UK’s newest jazz festival and the only, open air, one site festival, exclusively dedicated to contemporary jazz, funk and soul.
Celebrating the dynamic grooves, innovation and excitement of the modern jazz movement; Mostly Jazz is about showcasing the diversity of contemporary jazz in all it’s forms. From avant-garde, free and modern jazz through to vocal, song based jazz, jazz-fusion and future jazz it’s also about considering jazz’s influence and relationship to other black music art-forms such as latin music, funk and soul.
For our inaugural year we have invited pioneering artists such as the Sun Ra Arkestra and Courtney Pine to perform alongside leaders of the new wave of British talent such as Polar Bear, Led Bib and Portico Quartet.
Set in the lush surroundings of Moseley Park, Birmingham’s eleven-acre woodland glade only two miles from the city centre. July 3rd & 4th 2010 is set to be a weekend to remember, we hope you can join us there.
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Funk and Soul Champion Craig Charles to Compere
If the line-up alone is not enough for you, we’re really pleased to have Craig Charles joining us on Saturday 3rd July as compere. We’re great fans of his funk and soul radio show on BBC 6 Music and we’ve heard him championing many of the acts on our line-up.
We asked Craig what he’s looking forward to most and he said: ‘The Fantastics! & the Mr James Taylor Quartet – it’s going to be double goovey. Bring on the sunshine and get those sunglasses ready.’
And we’re not going to let him slip away without opening his record boxes; Craig will be kicking off the after party and putting his djing skills to good use drawing the festival vibe on into the small hours.
Rare UK Performance from Cymande II
UK Afro-funksters and Rare Groove gurus, Cymande II are a band hailing from the 1970s that made an original brand of music known as Nyah rock, and we are really looking forward to them joining us on the Sunday. The performance will feature two of the original band members; singer Jimmy Lindsay and drummer Sam Kelly are now joined by five new members.
The original line-up broke down in 1974 just as they were on the cusp of cracking the US. In the three years they were together they released three albums, and in the 1990s their music became a great source for samplers. For example ‘Bra’ was used by De La Soul and Grandmaster Flash.
In Memory of the great Django Reinhardt.
2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Gypsy guitarist and Jazz legend Django Reinhardt. Not only was Django arguably the finest guitar player to have graced our planet, he also has the coolest name, ‘single-handedly’ created a new style of music known as ‘Gypsy Jazz’, and he
managed all this with only two fingers on his left hand!
In honour of this remarkable musician and composer, we have chosen some of the UK’s top gypsy jazz acts to perform on the Sunday – Gary Potter, The Bright Size Gypsies and the TG Collective Trio. This will be followed by a special Django themed after party which will include more live music and a pick of London’s electro swing DJs.
Sun Ra Arkestra to Headline Saturday!
We're very pleased to announce Sun Ra Arkestra as our Saturday headliner.
Marshall Allen continues to be committed to the study, research, and development of Sun Ra's musical precepts and has launched the Sun Ra Arkestra into a dimension beyond that of mere "ghost" band by writing fresh arrangements of Sun Ra's music, as well as composing new music and arrangement for the Arkestra. He works unceasingly to keep the big-band tradition alive.
In the half-between world,
Dwell they: The Tone Scientists
In notes and tone
They speak of many things...
The tone scientists:
Architects of planes of discipline
Mathematically precise are they:
The tone-scientists
(Sun Ra)
Courtney Pine to Headline Sunday.
We're very proud to have Courtney top the bill on Sunday. For more than 20 years, since he first burst on to the UK Jazz scene; Courntey Pine has pioneered, advocated and pushed forward British Jazz thriugh a combination of supreme virtuosity, a deep knowledge and an innate fearlessness of ideas, invention and fusion.
Courtney has also been one of the most successful British artists of any genre,in terms of crossing over and experimenting with different genres whilst still maintaing the central intergrity of his jazz foundations.
At Mostly Jazz, Courtney will be performing tracks from his new album Transition in Tradition.
4* "..Laden with memorable melodies, his best album since his 1986 debut" Observer Music Monthly
5/5 "Pine is superb..." The Guardian
"....top of his form..." The Independent
4* The Times, MOJO and Uncut
Official Festival After Party, Saturday 3rd July at the Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath
Not content with a day of top music in Moseley Park, after the Sun Ra Arkestra have closed the main stage we’ll be rushing to the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath.
The official festival after party will feature DJ sets from musician, producer and all round musical genius Quantic (AKA Will Holland), funk and soul aficionado and BBC 6 Music radio DJ Craig Charles, as well as the guiding force behind Birmingham’s Freestyle nights Sam Redmore.
TICKETS FOR THIS PARTY ARE ONLY AVAILABLE TO THOSE ATTENDING THE FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY 3RD JULY.
Advance tickets are ONLY available from www.mostlyjazz.co.uk. Ticket-buyers will be issued with a code to exchange for an after party wristband at the festival shop. Tickets will also be available from the festival shop on the day and are strictly limited to only 200 on a first-come first-served basis.
Tickets are £7.00 + £1.50 B/Fee. Doors will open at 10.30pm – til late. Last admission is 12.30am.
Lords of Swing End of Festival celebration on Sunday 4th July
The Prince of Wales in Moseley is probably better know for being frequented by Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien but on Sunday 4th July, The Lords of Swing will be leaving their mark on the pub as they join us for our End of Festival Party. The battle lines will be drawn between the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and the very latest musical reincarnations of swing.
Gypsy swingers, Trio Manouche, kick off the party with their infectious blend of Django classics and self penned tunes and will be joined on stage by special guests from the festival. On the decks and getting the crowd dancing we'll have the UK’s Godfathers of Electro Swing, Nick Hollywood and Chris Tofu, serving up a sizzling dish of electro swing mash ups of 1920’s and 1930’s classics fused with electro beats, loops and basslines. If the Electro Swing nights in London are anything to go by this will be one party to rule them all!
Tickets are £7.00 on the door or £5 for festival goers. Doors will open at 10.30pm – til 3.00am.
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