Artists Announced for brand new Ambleside Festival, 31st August - 3rd September

Zeffirelli's will host an all star line up of internationally recognised jazz musicians during their first festival, in honour of the great pianist and composer John Taylor.

Derek Hook has run jazz at Zeffirelli's for a number of years and the well known composition Ambleside Days was the result of a commission offered to John Taylor by Zeffirelli's and Northern Arts.

Performers will include Dave Holland, Norma Winstone, Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock, Mike Walker, Nikki Iles and Joe Locke amongst many others. This impressive roster displays the huge influence Taylor's contributions to the art-form had on musicians across the world.

For more information on the concerts, visit the Zeffirelli's website.

Mike Walker's Rope Project Fundraiser

A couple of months ago, we reported on guitarist Mike Walker's new project-in-the-making, Ropes. It's an ambitious project featuring a 22-piece string orchestra and Mike is currently working to raise the funds necessary to record a band of that size!

On July 10th, there will be a special fundraiser gig at Zeffirellis in Ambleside. The gig will feature Mike alongside pianist Les Chisnall and saxophonist Iain Dixon, both of whom feature on Mike's new project.

At the gig, audience members will be able to preorder the new album for £10. We've heard that there are only 80 places available for the audience so we suggest getting in there quickly as we suspect it will be a sell-out!