Wheatly leads consortium to take over running of Jazz FM
Thursday, 08 January 2009 10:18
Jazz FM, which relaunched quietly back in the autumn, as a digital station, looks as if it will have a new company structure once again. But could it be a case of, as The Who had it: “Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss”? Step forward Richard Wheatly, a non-executive director of the Local Radio Company, which licensed the rights to the station from the Guardian Media Group last year. He has just resigned from the LRC and is now heading a consortium planning a takeover of the station. This would be a return to old times for Wheatly as he was chief executive of the station before it was sold to GMG. “The board of the Local Radio Company announces the proposed disposal of the JazzFM business following a strategic review. The company also announces that it has begun negotiations regarding the proposed disposal with a consortium headed by Richard Wheatly who today resigns from his position as a non executive director of the Local Radio Company,” the LRC said yesterday in a statement. Wheatly was heavily involved in bringing the Jazz FM brand back again to fill the gap left by the demise of digital station theJazz last year.
Jazz breaking news: Swanage Jazz Fest Unveils Line-Up
Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:58
This year’s Swanage Jazz Festival is now confirmed to take place from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 July, one of the first UK summer jazz festivals to announce its line-up for this year. Perched on Dorset’s dramatic Jurassic coastline, the seaside town has been hosting a jazz festival for 21 years.
Its line-up for 2010 mixes a generous helping of traditional jazz fare (from New Orleans and Dixieland bands to vocal groups) with younger straightahead combos such as the Henry Armburg Jennings Quintet and edgier offerings including Back Door Too, the Dave Stapleton Quintet and the Kit Downes Trio.
British jazz’s hardest working octogenarian Stan Tracey will play both octet and trio sets, while the equally workaholic Gilad Atzmon appears with his quartet and will guest with Alan Barnes, Nicolas Meier and vocalist Sarah Gillespie.
Alongside the five main festival venues (three seafront marquees plus a bar and the Conservative Club) there are numerous free gigs in the town’s pubs and in the open air, as well as a brass band parade on Saturday morning and a gospel church service on Sunday. Weekend stroller tickets are on sale until the end of May, with day tickets available after that.
Not long now to the first major event on the UK jazz festival calendar for 2010, the Gateshead International Jazz Festival which takes place between 26 March and 28 March. The festival has been an annual fixture at the Sage Gateshead since 2005 and continues to go from strength to strength, as reflected in this year’s varied and exciting line-up.
On Friday 26 concert-goers can choose between the Stan Tracey Octet and the Sun Ra stylings of Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA Orchestra.
The afternoon of Saturday 27 features performances by UK pianist/composer Gwilym Simcock (with his Massed Voices project), as well as ex-EST bassist Dan Berglund’s acclaimed quartet Tonbruket. South African piano giant Abdullah Ibrahim headlines Saturday evening with his seven piece Ekaya band.
North London’s Loop Collective gets a showcase during the afternoon of Sunday 28, with performances by Phronesis, Gemini and The Golden Age of Steam. The festival’s closing performances on Sunday evening come from the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in Hall One (performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue and a tribute to Buddy Rich) and crossover star Gwyneth Herbert in Hall Two.
In addition to the stellar headliners the festival includes performances from some of the rising stars of the North East, as well as talks, workshops and masterclasses.
Branford Marsalis To Play With Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 09:27
Branford Marsalis makes a rare contemporary classical appearance in Scotland later this month when on 25 January at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall he premieres a revised version of composer Sally Beamish’s ‘Under the Wing of the Rock’ with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Orignally written for viola and orchestra the piece was reworked by Beamish after she heard Marsalis play another of her compositions ‘The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone’ in Rotterdam a few years ago. Marsalis will return to the UK in May for performances with his jazz quartet at Ronnie Scott’s and the Bath festival. For more go to www.glasgowconcerthalls.com
Matthew Bourne Tours New Songs From A Lost Piano Project
Tuesday, 06 January 2009 09:45
New touring organisation Sound and Music has commissioned Leeds pianist Matthew Bourne to tour next month in a project called Songs From A Lost Piano. The pianist, one of the most influential figures on the local Leeds scene, has used the stories and folklore behind a series of “lost” pianos which he has traced and images of which will also feature in an accompanying photographic exhibition. Bourne has used the broken down pianos with their missing hammers and wonky keys as a source of new sounds to add to his improvising palette for the project. The pianos themselves range from an an instrument found in a junk shop, to a family piano handed down through the generations for nearly a century, to one played on by veteran bluesman Champion Jack Dupree when he took up residence in Halifax late in his career. Bourne wil be joined by a quartet for the project which features much-talked about singer, Andrew Plummer. Dates for the tour are The Venue, Leeds (27 February), Bush Hall, London (1 March) and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (3 March). For more go to www.soundandmusic.org
