Jazz Lounge
Jazz is alive and well in the UK. Young musicians taking their skills out of the jazz clubs and into the worlds of roots, rock and dance music are coming up with fresh and accessible ways to grab an audience by the ears and The Jazz Lounge at Glastonbury Festival is geared up to celebrate the scene’s rude health with a melting pot line up over the Festival weekend. Situated in the heart of the markets adjacent to the Meeting Point and to the Bandstand, the Jazz Lounge has been an outstanding success since it first opened.
The Jazz Lounge came into being in 2004 when Glastonbury Festival’s markets supremo, Dick Vernon, decided to recognise the strength and variety of jazz by creating a new space in the Festival site. Together with designer Mahala Katz and music journalist Tony Benjamin, he launched the Jazz Lounge for the 2004 Festival and its success means that it has remained a fixture of the programme ever since.
The mission is to create a distinctive space that stands out from other venues and establishes a great environment to be in and to hear the music. Design concepts are evolved each year around the template of a jazz café with tables, chairs and sofas - with the emphasis on making a comfortable and chilled space that can still turn into a dance arena when the mood arises.
The music programme aims to catch a wide range of young and less recognised musicians from across the country and give them a chance to show Glastonbury what they can do. Each year a small jazz community grows up in the Lounge and new contacts, projects and collaborations emerge that live on after the festival. At the same time more established performers are welcomed to enjoy the lively audience the Lounge attracts.
You will find the full range of contemporary jazz here - funk, groove, free form, rhythmic live music, jazz poetry and quality dance played by some of the best young performers from city scenes (London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol in the main). A range of vocalists join the house band of the day, normally in the late afternoon and early evening. After that some great soloists and bands in their own right have their sets before jamming with the house bands through the wee small hours.
This year's line-up features a broad spectrum of talents old and new; from the godfather of British Jazz poetry, Michael Horovitz (appearing with the William Blake Klezmatrix) to the grooving funk fun of the Filthy Six; Sheelanagig to Country Dad. Ultimately, the Jazz Lounge hopes to give as many people as possible a chance to discover that jazz isn't scary or difficult ¬ even if it can be a bit strange at times!
Jazz Lounge Listings 2008
Wednesday (from 9pm)
Opening party featuring Top Shelf Jazz, celebrating hot jazz songs and tunes from the pre-war years
Thursday (11am-3am)
Pete Roe: singer songwriter steeped in jazz and blues
The Benson Project: Smart guitarist Alex Hutchins evokes Mr B’s many moods
The Ran Trio: a guitar fusion wake-up call
Mark Hanslip Trio: fast and free saxophone threesome
DJ Matt: cheeky, cheesy and full of taste
Ventriloquist: performance jazz-poet demonstrates the art of Tongue Fu
Bizali: ridiculously original swing-funk-popsters
Examples of 12s (Trio): bass player Riaan Vosloo’s small band project
Ventriloquist: performance jazz-poet demonstrates the art of Tongue Fu
DJ Don: dark end of jazz meets drum’n’bass
Phantom Limb: awesome gospel-soul vocalist Yolanda Quarty’s latest showcase
Hutchins-Gard Acid Grooves: big fat Hammond driven blues-jazz
Opensource Session: late night live funk and groove collective
Tawia: hot young Jazz’n’B vocal talent signed up by Gilles Petersen
Laurie Erskine Trio: contemporary jazz from a new generation
Friday (11am-3am)
Preston Reed: – virtuoso solo jazz guitar
A Go Go: powerful John Scofield-influenced fusioneering
Sarah Mitra: classic light-touch jazz singer
Paul Bradley: indescribable solo artist using voice, guitar and loops to create complete worlds of perfect music
Phil King Trio: funky blues originals and soul-jazz classics
Andy Hague Quintet: great trumpeter/composer and an all-star band
First Edition: excellent new group jazz combo featuring Emily Wright’s remarkable vocalising
Rogue Dolls: electric blues, jazz and soul quintet with real drive
DJ Dubs: jumping up with classic grooves
Nick Malcolm Quintet: adventuresome free-flowing jazz from a group of very skilled improvisers
Pete Wareham’s Final Terror: fearsome & dirty thrash-jazz punctuated with moments of disarming beauty
Filthy Six: grooving funk fun into the small hours
Saturday (11am-3am)
Jim Blomfield’s Latin Perspective: classy new jazz with rich Latin rhythms
The Jazz Reggae Session: Bristol band with an original combination of jazz instrumentalism and proper dubstyle rhythms
Gareth Roberts & friends: hot new trombone talent from the Cardiff scene
Jeff Spencer Seven: original upbeat modern jazz and ambient free funk
Kevin Figes Quartet: original, contemporary jazz composer and sax player with a super-tight band
Michael Horovitz: the godfather of jazz poetry in the UK , featuring “Michael Horovitz’s William Blake Klezmatrix/Jazz Poetry SuperJam, with songs, klezmer, jazz poetry and anglo-saxophone, plus vocals and flying flute feathers from Madeline Solomon, and lyric pianistics and singing from Joe Paice.”
DJ Type: sophistication with a jazz edged intelligence
Los Mercenarios: rhythm rich combo bringing Latin and Caribbean energy to jazz tunes.
The Blessing: sensational freewheeling quartet with blissful rhythm and sculpted solos
Fraud: radical shake-up jazz from the top of the contemporary tree
Sheelanagig: wild gypsy-jazz and klezmer-fuelled dance music
Sunday (11am-2am)
Laurie Erskine Trio: three very stylish young players in a piano trio
Cosimi: cool and smooth soul-jazz songs for a Sunday afternoon
Andy Novak Trio: careful and compelling contemporary jazz
Country Dad: alt-skiffle jazz with John Bisset, Chris Cundy and more
Monshai-Milon: Collaboration featuring clarinettist Cloe Rich, guitarist Dave Archer and saxophonist Dino Christodoulou bringing a jazz approach to klezmer, Jewish, manouche and Greek traditional themes
Josh Arcoleo Quintet: hot-shots from the London scene making fresh and dangerous new jazz
Tawia: hot young Jazz’n’B vocal talent signed up by Gilles Petersen
DJ JL
Helele: the driving pulse of West Africa launching fine solos you can dance to
Roots Elevation: live urban dance and jazz grooves with an eye to the dancefloor
Megafunk Orchestra: sprawling beat machine packed with talented players and special guests
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