Oops, Sorry MJF...

So last week, we reported on Joshua Redman's sole UK date with his new Still Dreaming project with Ron Miles, Brian Blade and Scott Colley. In a coup for the North, the gig will take place in Manchester at the RNCM.

In our excitement and our haste to spread the word, we forgot to mention that this gig is of course part of Manchester Jazz Festival.

Sorry, MJF!

Check out this gig and the PLETHORA of others running as part of the festival between 28th July and 6th August on the Manchester Jazz Festival. There really is something for everyone and the team, led by Steve Mead, do an exceptional job each year.

www.manchesterjazzfestival.com

Arts Council England Announces NPO grants - who got cash for jazz?

This week, Arts Council England announced the recipients of their National Portfolio Organisation funding. NPOs are offered long term funding, previously for 3 years periods and for the first time this year, 4 year periods. A number of jazz organisations that support jazz have been awarded funding -

- Manchester Jazz Festival
- National Youth Jazz Collective
- Jazz Re:Freshed
- National Youth Jazz Orchestra
- J-Night
- Cheltenham Festivals
- Jazzlines Birmingham
- Serious 
- Jazz North
- East Midlands Jazz
- Tomorrow's Warriors
- Brownswood Music/Gilles Peterson

This means that there are 3 NPOs that focus on Jazz based in the North alone - a great success!

Congratulations to all organisations awarded funding (and in some cases, an increase in their provision).

For more information, visit the Arts Council England website.

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.

Full MJF 2016 Programme Announced

The full programme for this year's Manchester Jazz Festival was launched today with Rethink Jazz as the creative theme.

The 2016 creative is based around RETHINK JAZZ, reaching out not just to jazz fans, but those who might think that they know what jazz is and it isn’t for them – well we would like to encourage them to think again. 

Throughout the festival, Jazz Goes to the Movies will show a series of films that celebrate the relationship between jazz and cinema. There's a weekend of Beer n' Blues at Band on the Wall features groups like Jo Harman & company and Big Boy Bloater. As has become tradition, Monday 25th will feature the crop of new Northern Line groups from Jazz North and you can catch other rising stars like Young Jazz Musician of the Year Alex Ridout, too. Scattered throughout the programme are some big names - Tim Garland drops in with his Electric Quartet on Sunday 24th.

For full details on everything included in the festival programme, visit the Manchester Jazz Festival website.

NJ Advent Calendar - Summer Jazz Festival part 2 (December 22nd)

Here's part two of our look at summer jazz festivals in the North...

Hull Jazz Festival (late July)

J-Night, the organisation behind jazz in Hull, programmes a summer jazz festival at the end of July each year. It takes place at the Hull Truck Theatre and the programme is mixture of established UK acts and emerging artists. The line up for the festival in 2016 has already been announced with YolanDa Brown's reggae love songs, Helen Watson, Jean Toussaint and Northern Line's Manjula.

Manchester Jazz Festival (late July - early August)

2016 marks the 21st year of Manchester's Jazz Festival. MJF is one of the biggest in the country and pulls in thousands of people annually to the North. There's a huge programme with a mixture of local, national and international artists at venues across the North. There is a commission fund each year, lots of support for emerging artists and a specially brewed beer!

Chapel Allerton Jazz Sunday (early September)

The Chapel Allerton Arts Festival takes place each year and is a local festival which contains arts, theatre and community projects. At the end of each festival, Steve Crocker and his team at Seven Jazz programme a full day festival of live jazz. There's a focus on Northern artists and audiences can attend for the whole day for £3 - what a bargain!

Lancaster Jazz Festival (early September)

Lancaster Jazz Festival is growing year on year and is run by LCoM graduate Matt Robinson. This festival is populated by emerging artists playing original music. They programme at venues across in Lancaster and almost every gig is sold out at each festival!

Scarborough Jazz Festival (late September)

This highly popular festival just sneaks into the summer list in late September. Tickets are already on sale for the 2016 edition and ticket holders will be treated to performances by Nathaniel Facey, Trish Clowes and The Abstract Big Band.

Reminder: MJF Application Deadlines

The deadline for submissions for next year's Manchester Jazz Festival are fast approaching so MJF are sending a call-out to musicians keen to play.

There are two ways to get involved. Firstly, the general open call for submissions to be included in the festival programme. This online form is very easy and only takes a few minutes. You'll need band details and bios and to upload audio and/or video.

The second way is through their MJF Introduces scheme. This is aimed at young musicians between 16-25 just starting out in the world of professional gigging and gives the opportunity for young musicians to perform a gig at a major jazz festival. Again, this is applied for through an online application.

The deadline for both of these is 5pm on Friday 11th December 2015. Full information, eligibility and guidelines for submissions can be found on the Manchester Jazz Festival website.

Apply Now to Play at Manchester Jazz Festival 2016

With the summer jazz festival season drawing to a close, so begins the start of a new season - the season of musicians applying to play at next year's summer jazz festivals.

With only a few weeks since this year's festival ended (which was their 20th year no less), Manchester Jazz Festival have opened submissions for their 2016 festival. The online application form is very clear and easy to use and they'll be accepting submissions until 5pm on December 11th 2015. Successful artists will be contacted by around 5th February 2016.

To apply, you will need -

- Audio recordings (you can submit multiple tracks totalling no more than 20 minutes max)
- High quality photographs (300dpi colour shots preferred)
- A Bio for the band (Reading the 2015 programme may give you some hints as to the kind of descriptions they like to see)

These files can be linked to through Soundcloud or Dropbox (making sure there isn't an expiry date on the Dropbox links)

As well as submissions for the regular festival programme, there is also an opportunity for young musicians to apply to their MJF Introduces scheme and for composers to apply to the Irwin Mitchell MJF Originals Commission scheme.

All information can be found on the Manchester Jazz Festival website. Good luck!

Manchester Jazz Festival Launches Full Programme

                                                         Orquesta Timbala - Daniel Parker

Manchester Jazz Festival launched their full programme this week, detailing the many acts that will perform in Manchester from July 31st to 9 August.

Celebrating their 20th festival, MJF have invited a number of international acts including Robert Glasper, Airelle Besson and Pepe Rivero, festival favourites like New York Brass Band and Buffalo Brothers, a day-long Northern Line showcase presented by Jazz North and the premiere of the Irwin Mitchell 2015 MJF Originals commission, Seeds and Streams by John Ellis.

Check out the Manchester Jazz Festival website for details on the programme, buying tickets and being an MJF volunteer. 

APPJAG Parliament Jazz Award Nominees Announced

The nominees for the 2015 APPJAG Parliamentary Jazz Awards have been announced featuring a number from the Northern jazz scene.

Scarborough's Mike Gordon has been nominated for the Services to Jazz Award, and Manchester Jazz Festival is up for venue of the year. LCoM alumnus Phil Meadows also received a nomination for Ensemble of the Year for his newly formed Engines Orchestra and Tim Garland, who mentored Phil and Engines Orchestra during the recording of their debut album, received a nominated for album of the year.

The ceremony will take place at the House of Commons on March 10th, presented by Moira Stewart and featuring performances from James Pearson and the Ronnie Scott All Stars.

Full List of Nominees

Vocalist of the Year: Georgia Mancio, Norma Winstone, Alice Zawadski, Zara MacFarlane
Instrumentalist of the Year: Laura Jurd, Jason Yarde, Phil Robson
Album of the Year: 'Swamp' - Partisans, 'Circularity' - Julian Arguelles, 'Songs to the North Sky' Tim Garland
Ensemble of the Year: Engines Orchestra, Loose Tubes, Partisans
Newcomer of the Year: Blue Eyed Hawk, Elliot Galvin, Peter Edwards
Venue of the Year: Manchester Jazz Festival, Spice of Life, St Ives Jazz Club
Jazz Media Award: Jazz on 3, LondonJazzNews, The Jazz Breakfast
Jazz Educator of the Year: Dr Tommy Smith, NYJO, Simon Purcell
Services to Jazz Award: Mike Gordon, Evan Parker, Chris Hodgkins

MJF Originals 2015 - Apply Now

Applications are now open for the 2015 Irwin Mitchell MJF Originals scheme, the flagship commissioning project run by Manchester Jazz Festival.

Aimed at developing the work and careers of musicians working primarily in Manchester and the North West, the scheme has produced 16 unique works in recent years. 2015 marks the 20th year of MJF and proposals which reflect this are particularly welcome.

Applicants are invited to submit a 100-word synopsis of their idea and, if it fits the criteria of the scheme, will be asked to submit a full application. The deadline for this 100-word synopsis is Monday 8th December at 10am.

This year, guitarist Anton Hunter (pictured above) was awarded the commission and premiered his new work, Article XI at the festival in July. Previous composers have included The Felonious Monks (Mike Hall & Debbie Rogers), George King and Pete Moser.

For more information, visit the MJF website.

BBC Introducing at Manchester Jazz Festival

The four bands who will be featured at the Manchester Jazz Festival as part of BBC Introducing has been announced -

Johnny Hunter Quartet
Brassy B
Peter Edwards Trio
Moss Freed's Moss Project

These four groups will perform at Band on the Wall on July 18th at 7.30pm and the performances will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Jazz on 3 presented by Jez Nelson.