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Glasgow Jazz Festival 2018

Festival Opens in Style

GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL ANNOUNCE HEADLINE ACTS

Wednesday 20th– Sunday 24th June 2018

Glasgow Jazz Festival have announced their headline acts for 2018 – Mr Jukes, The Georgie Fame Family Trio and Orchestre Poly-Rythmo will all play the iconic Old Fruitmarket as part of this year’s annual jazz festival.

The festival will run from Wednesday 20^th – Sunday 24^th June 2018, bringing its annual supply of world-class musicians and upcoming superstars to the city.

The remainder of the programme will be announced in April, with the Glasgow Jazz Festival team working hard behind the scenes to curate yet another richly diverse and international programme.  A festival where veteran fans cross paths with jazz newcomers, in a city that will come alive with jazz for five unforgettable days and nights, Glasgow Jazz Festival may be turning 32 but organisers promise a programme that is as fresh, vibrant and exciting as ever.

Mr Jukes will be bringing his phenomenal album God First to Glasgow Jazz Festival on Wednesday 20^th June. His debut solo album is quite unlike anything Jack Steadman (aka Mr Jukes) has done before. As former front-man of Bombay Bicycle Club, with whom he recorded and toured with for 10 years – incorporating four albums, several worldwide tours and picking up a number of notable awards along the way, God First is a brand-new project that revives his long-standing interest in jazz, soul and R&B. Mr Jukes will take God First out of the solitary studio experience and into a live performance at Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket, where his live improvisation is sure to blow the Glasgow crowds away.

Music legend Georgie Fame will be taking to the Glasgow Jazz Festival stage joined by his Family Trio on Thursday 21^st June with his much-loved blend of Jazz and Rhythm & Blues. With twenty albums and fourteen hit singles, including the Number 1s Yeh Yeh, Get Away and The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde alongside an array of collaborations with some of music’s most famous names – including Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and Muddy Waters – Fame is a true icon of the British music scene.

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo are one of Africa’s biggest orchestras, for whom the term polyrhythm is not used in vain. With remarkable percussion and striking brass formation all underlined by the supple voice of Vincent Ahehehinnou it’s not difficult to see how this band have survived the test of time and can now, after five decades together, confidently say they are the oldest active African orchestra on the scene today.

The Glasgow Jazz Festival will take place in various exciting venues across the city including the Old Fruitmarket, St Luke’s, Drygate and The Hug and Pint. The festival will also be taking place in Glasgow’s first ever dedicated Jazz club – the brand-new venue The Blue Arrow.

For more information on the festival please visit www.jazzfest.co.uk.

Headliner tickets will be on-sale via the Glasgow Jazz Festival website – www.jazzfest.co.uk today (Wednesday 28^th March) at 12noon.

GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL OPENS IN STYLE

Glasgow’s longest running music festival, the Glasgow Jazz Festival, has opened in style in venues across the city with big names including Mr Jukes and Rose Room Orchestra Fantastique kicking off proceedings in the Old Fruitmarket and St Luke’s venues.

Over the next few days, music fans across the city won’t be far from unmissable live jazz with a diverse and exciting programme for the 32ndedition of the festival.

Having signed up to the Keychange Project, the initiative that encourages festivals to achieve a 50:50 gender balance by 2022, Glasgow Jazz Festival are already well on their way with 48% of this year’s line-up featuring world-class female musicians, including saxophonist Helena Kay and Arabic jazz trumpeter Yazz Ahmed as well as the inimitable Texan singer Hailey Tuck.  Harpist Alina Bzhezhinska will also celebrate the music of Alice Coltrane in the Recital Room of City Halls on Friday night.

Ian Shaw will perform Shine Sister Shine at Glasgow’s newest Jazz venue, The Blue Arrow on Thursday 21stJune. Cited as one of the world’s finest jazz vocalists Ian Shaw will perform his current studio album – a body of work celebrating the actions and art of extraordinary women. Known as one of the jazz world’s supreme interpreters of the popular song form – Shaw showcases new arrangements of works by Peggy Lee, Phoebe Snow, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon.

Tony Momrelle, one of the most exciting and significant soul musicians on the modern British stage, will play this year’s Glasgow Jazz Festival. Tony was lead male vocalist of the famous British acid-jazz band Incognito for more than 16 years, before launching his solo career in 2015. He has also previously toured with some of the biggest and best – including the likes of Whitney Houston, Sir Elton John, Take That and most recently Sade.

Nigel Clark and the Tom MacNiven Quintet will perform a celebratory concert in honour of the late, great Bobby Wellins at Drygate on Saturday 23rd June. Preceding the night of entertainment will be a screening of ‘Dreams are Free’ – a documentary on Wellins’ life. It has been just over 20 years since trumpeter Tom MacNiven recorded ‘Guess What?’ with Bobby Wellins, and this show will mark its re-release with the album being performed in full.

Widely recognised as one of the UK’s most innovative and imaginative pianists and composers, Alexander Hawkins will take to the Glasgow Jazz Festival stage. Completely self-taught, and with a great love and deep knowledge of the jazz tradition, this will be a concert not to be missed.

Thursday night’s late-night jazz comes in the form of electronic production duo Wuh Oh. Comprising of Pete the human and Baboon the baboon – their hook laced tracked are as berserk as they are danceable. The duo’s primary aim is to have their audience groove to stranger sounds than they ever thought possible with their hyperactive jazz harmony and tricky time signatures. A night of entertainment not for the faint hearted.

Full Glasgow Jazz Festival programme and to buy the last few remaining tickets go to

www.jazzfest.co.uk

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