NEWS FEED
This year’s Bournemouth Jazz Festival is being described as the best ever, with a fantastic programme of live jazz events from 6pm Friday right through until 10 pm Sunday with a large number of people coming from outside the area as well as from Bournemouth itself.
Highlights were Jacqui Dankworth singing her heart out with husband Charlie Wood in the Royal Bath Hotel on Sunday afternoon and Arun Ghosh playing his highly original Indo Jazz music to a packed audience in the Norfolk Royale Hotel on Saturday evening.
Local group Spiral Jazz got the Festival off to a great start on the free stage in the Jazz Village on Friday night and were quickly followed by Charlie Farran and his Rhythm & Blues Band who kept the audience thoroughly warmed up despite the low temperatures.
Meanwhile, up the hill at Canvas, located in the old Bournemouth Arts Institute building, Zoe Schwarz and Rob Koral continued the groove, playing their well known R&B numbers much to the delight of the late night lounge dwellers.
Friday night will also be remembered for the fabulous Swing Unlimited Big Band concert in the Royal Bath Hotel. It didn’t take long for a very appreciative audience to take to the floor and dance the night away with some lively jitterbugging and jive dancing.
Throughout the day on Saturday the town was treated to a festival of all types of jazz music to suit everyone’s taste. On the free stage in the town square, an eclectic mix of jazz, from the latest fusion through to good old fashioned trad, whilst at the ticketed events in The Royal Bath Hotel there were concerts by well known international jazz stars Jean Toussaint, Yazz Ahmed and Andy Sheppard and in the Norfolk Royale Hotel a series of World Jazz Jamboree concerts featuring music from around the globe. The sounds of Europe, Africa, India and Latin America reverberated throughout the day.
The evening was a choice between the Girls Only Jazz Orchestra with guest singer Tina May performing in The Print Room or the Ginger Baker Experience with Gene Calderazzo and Abas Dodoo giving fabulous lessons in jazz drumming at the Royal Bath.
On Sunday, aspiring young jazz musicians attended a series of workshops and entered the Jazz Factor competition designed to encourage local schools. For the winners, Wimborne’s QE School, it was the beginning of an exciting new adventure – as the first prize was a jazz trip to France courtesy of Brittany Ferries.
And to help the rest of the jazz enthusiasts to relax on Sunday afternoon, a romantic concert by Jacqui Dankworth in the Royal Bath Hotel followed by the delicate sound of jazz fusion with Theo Travis and his band, Double Talk, straight from a late night gig in London.
The festival rounded off on Sunday evening with a Hollywood style Awards Ceremony in the Pavilion Ballroom, attended by Peter and Linda Thornton on behalf of the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation who sponsored the Jazz Factor prizes and the Mayor of Bournemouth, Councillor John Adams who also presented prizes to the winners and thanked Gerry Clarke and his festival team for organising such a fantastic weekend of jazz by the sea!
