No Bounds Festival in Sheffield, October 14th

Improv & avant-garde powerhouse Martin Archer is to run a one day festival in Sheffield on October 14th.

No Bounds Festival will take place at the newly refurbished arts centre at Sheffield's Nonconformist Chapel (Cemetery Road, Sheffield).

This festival within a festival is partly funded by Jazz North's Northern Line scheme. The event is split into three parts (with admission costing £5 for each part).

Line up -

Commencing 1.30pm

Maja Bugge - solo cello
Juxtavoices - 25 piece improv choir directed by Martin Archer and Alan Halsey
H Trio - Mark Hanslip/Otto Willberg/ Andrew Cheetham

Commencing 4.30pm

Charlie Collins/Ryoko Akama
Platform 4 - Sheffield based contemporary music composers collective
Beck Hunters - Mick Beck/Anton Hunter/Johnny Hunter

Commencing 8pm

Matthew Bourne - solo memorymoog
Corey Mwamba/Mark Sanders
Inclusion Principle - Martin Archer/Herve Perez/Peter Fairclough

And finally to top it all off, lurking in the cemetery ground between sets and alarming passers-by with sonic events will be maverick composer Steven Chase.

A date for the diaries for sure!

Cleethorpes Jazz Festival, 23-25th June

The Cleethorpes Jazz Festival will take place at the Beachcomber Centre between 23rd and 25th June. Former festival director Gill Wilde stepped down after last year's festival and for the first time, Charlotte Bowen will run the weekend event.

The programme this year is a mix of some of the North's finest talents alongside guests from across the UK. There's a strong Northern Line theme running throughout the weekend with performances by Pan Jumby, Maja Bugge and Firebird Quartet. Fans of vocal jazz are in for a treat with North East's finest Zoe Gilby bringing her quartet and the Family Jazz All Stars. London-based Georgia Mancio will also perform.

Saturday features two large ensembles to book-end the day, first with the North East Lincolnshire Jazz Orchestra and ending with the Steve Walker Big Band and their Miller to Motown show.

For full information on the weekend line-up, visit the Cleethorpes Jazz Festival website and to book tickets, see their wegottickets page. Full weekend tickets are priced £60 with day tickets ranging from £20 to £26.

We wish Charlotte all the best with her inaugural festival and here's to many more!

Gig Preview: Maja Bugge in York, September 3rd

Maja Bugge is the only solo artist to be feartured on this year's Jazz North Northern Line roster. Originally from Norway, Maja is now based in Lancaster and has collaborated with a number of organisations and groups including Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Art (LICA), Oslo Moderne Teater, the National Theatre Oslo, Beaivvas Theater, NING, Katma Productions and Opera Omnia. She has been recognised for her work through a number of awards including The Cultural Rucksack Norway’s best performance in 2010.

On September 3rd, Maja will be perform a lunchtime concert at St Saviourgate Chapel in York, as programmed by Late Music.

From the website...

Maja’s unique sound – as evidenced on her CD Shelter (Euredice, 2012) – explores stillness and repetition, harmony and dissonance. Her music balances melody and rhythm with external ambience, acoustics and atmosphere.

“Beautiful, meditative music” (Bergens Tidende)
“Innovative, she crosses artistic borders with great creativity.” (Erlend Loe, Author)

Tickets ci#ost £5 and can be booked through the Late Music website and more informtion on Maja's music can be found on her website.

New Roster of Jazz North Northern Line Artists Announced

Jazz North have announced the 10 newest Northern Line groups to take part in their flagship scheme to promote the best of jazz in the North.

Now in its third season, Northern Line selects groups to take part in the scheme for a period of just over a year, offering the groups to promoters at a subsidised rate to support both promoters and artists in furthering the art-form.

Artists are selected by a panel of musicians, industry professionals and promoters. Since 2013, the scheme has supported 37 artists and has seen them perform over 400 gigs with 130 promoters.

The groups selected to be this year's Northern Line Ambassador Artists are -

Firebird Quartet
HTrio
Inclusion Principle
Johnny Hunter Quartet
Maja Bugge solo
Portmanteau
Taupe
The Jamie Brownfield Quartet
Pat McCarthy Quartet ft Shannon Reilly
Tom Riviere's Family Band

You can find out more about the scheme and the artists by visiting the Jazz North website.