NJN Jazz Advent Calendar - Anton Hunter (Dec 5th)

With less than 3 weeks to go, door number 5 features one of Manchester's leading jazz lights, guitarist Anton Hunter.

This video features Article XI, a large ensemble put together when Anton was awarded the Irwin Mitchell commission from Manchester jazz festival.

Watch them in action here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bx1eUWh2Ys

Anton Hunter is a guitar, improviser and composer from Manchester. This group, Article XI, was brought together in 2014 to perform a new suite of music commissioned by Manchester Jazz Festival under their 'mjf originals' series. The music was developed over a period of 6 months, with Anton gathering improvisations from each of the musicians and weaving elements of those into the finished music, while leaving plenty of room for freedom in the performance. You may also have heard Anton with his own trio, as half of Ripsaw Catfish, one fifth of Sloth Racket or one fourteenth of Beats & Pieces Big Band.

http://www.antonhunter.com/

http://antonhunter.bandcamp.com/

https://twitter.com/HunterAnton

Photo - Peter Fay

Artist Submissions Now Open for MJF 2017

 It seems like only yesterday that thousands of audience members descended on Manchester for the 2016 festival in July. But the work never stops in the running of a jazz festival and the team have announced that applications are now open for 2017.

There are three strands for artists to apply to -

General Festival Programme - to play at MJF in their main programme, artists and ensembles can use the very straight forward and easy to use online submission form.

MJF Introduces - This is festival's platform for supporting emerging talent and is open to regional bands aged between 16-25.

Irwin Mitchell MJF Originals 2017 - Each year, the festival commissions an artist to create a new piece of work to be premiered at the festival. Last year, guitarist and composer Anton Hunter produced an ambitious work for an 21 piece ensemble entitled Article XI.

For more information and to apply for any of these three strands, visit the MJF website.

Acts Announced for LUME Festival & Kickstarter Launched

Earlier in the year, we reported on the plans for LUME festival, a day of music run by Dee Byrne and Cath Roberts in London. Committed to supporting original and improvised music, the musicians have worked tirelessly to promote live music in London in recent years. The festival marks their next step and after an open call for submissions, today they launched a Kickstarter to support the running of the event.

The North will be strongly represented with three out of the six groups hailing from Manchester and Leeds. Ant Traditions is a duo featuring pianist Adam Fairhall and David Birchall (Manchester), Hot Beef Three are from Leeds and feature Ollie Dover, Craig Scott and Andrew Lisle and guitarist Anton Hunter brings his large ensemble work Article XI, a previous recipient of the Manchester Jazz Festival commission.

These three Northern groups are joined by Birmingham's Little Church, Kjær/Musson/Marshall from London and Blueblut from Austria.

LUME has received some core funding from Arts Council England to support their work but their newly launched Kickstarter will raise funds to help with travel costs and artist fees to ensure they feature as much music as they can. Donors will receive a number of rewards depending on the amount they donate including Live at LUME cds, tickets to the festival, a special trip to London Aquarium with Cath and Dee and a special piece written for you and performed by Word of Moth.

For full information on the Kickstarter which runs until May 12th, visit the website.