Seamus Blake UK tour, February 2017

The Orpheus Project has announced that their third featured artist in the scheme will be world renowned tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake.

With over 70 albums as a sideman and 16 as leader, Blake has built a global reputation as being one of the leading exponents of contemporary jazz.

He will be joined on this tour by drummer James Maddren and pianist Ross Stanley and will perform at venues across the North and in London between 3rd and 10th of February. The band have dates at Southport Jazz Festival, Newcastle, Leeds, Grimsby, Wakefield, Ribble Valley and London. Seamus will also host a masterclass at Leeds College of Music.

 We are all very excited to welcome Seamus as our third Orpheus Project artist. Whenever his name is mentioned, there’s a buzz of excitement amongst musicians and listeners – being able to bring him to small venues and share this music with audiences and promoters is a great feeling. The atmosphere at these gigs is going to be electric.- Kim Macari, Apollo Jazz Network Director

 Seamus Blake’s tour is third in a series of tours supported by Arts Council England and in partnership with NORVOL Jazz.

 “extraordinary, a total saxophonist” – John Scofield

For full information and to book tickets, visit the Orpheus Project website.

Orpheus Project presents: Ellery Eskelin Trio UK Tour, October 2016

Following on from the highly successful inaugural tour featuring Ingrid Jensen back in May, the Orpheus Project (a partnership between NORVOLJazz and Apollo Jazz Network) have announced the second featured artist in the series, New York tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin.

From press release...

The Orpheus Project is proud to present tenor heavyweight Ellery Eskelin as their second featured artist. Joined by Chris Sharkey and Matt Bourne, the trio is comprised of three strong and individual creative voices that come together to create something greater than the considerable sum of its parts. The group will tour between October 8^th and October 14^th, creating performances are sure to be as unique as they are exciting.

For the past thirty years Ellery Eskelin has been at the forefront of the global creative improvised music scene. Based in New York City, he has traveled widely performing, recording and amassing a very personal and iconoclastic body of work. And yet Ellery Eskelin has always remained deeply committed to the traditions of jazz and American music. Eskelin embodies this seeming contradiction with ease. He does not see jazz as a style or idiom but as a process. Further, a process of creative development that has great relevancy to our time. In this pursuit Eskelin consistently delivers to the listening public unadulterated, passionate music with no excuses and no apologies.

For more information about the tour dates, links to book tickets and more, visit the Orpheus Project website. 

October 8^th – Marsden Jazz Festival

October 10^th – Con Cellar Bar, London

October 11^th – Fizzle, Birmingham (Ellery Eskelin Solo)

October 12^th – The Lescar, Sheffield

October 13^th – Seven Arts, Leeds (joint promotion – Seven Jazz & Fusebox)

October 14^th – The Globe, Newcastle (joint promotion – Jazz Coop & Jazz North East)

The Orpheus Project is a partnership between Apollo Jazz Network and NORVOLJazz which seeks to establish a touring network for jazz in the North of England. The project is generously supported by Arts Council England through the Grants for the Arts programme.

 

Look at all these Jazz Festivals in the North!

Jazz audiences in the North are spoilt for choice when it comes to jazz festivals. There are multiple festivals in every season throughout the year, catering for just about every preference you can think of.

NORVOL Jazz, the network of voluntary jazz promoters in the North, have recently put together a brochure which brings information about 17 of these festivals into one place.

Listed in the month they happen rather than specific dates, this handy guide can help audiences (and bands) plan their festivals for years to come. The 17 festivals included are -

Burton Agnes Jazz Festival
Chapel Allerton Leeds Village Jazz Festival
Cleethorpes Jazz Festival
Darlington Jazz Festival
Gateshead international Jazz Festival
Ilkley Jazz Festival
J Night – Hull Jazz Festivals
Lancaster Jazz Festival
Liverpool international Jazz Festival
Manchester Jazz Festival
Marsden Jazz Festival
Ribble Valley Jazz and Blues Festival
Richmond Jazz Festival
Scarborough Jazz Festival
Southport Jazz on Winters Weekend
Whitley Bay/Keith Durham Jazz Festival
Wigan Jazz Festival

To check out the whole leaflet, click the link - http://www.norvoljazz.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/NorVol-Jazz-Festivalsl-2016.pdf

The Orpheus Project - Tour Dates & Website Launch

The Orpheus Project, a joint venture between NORVOL Jazz and Apollo Jazz Network, has announced the launch of its new website and full information about the upcoming tour featuring Ingrid Jensen in May/June.

Described as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation, Ingrid Jensen will join forces with Jez Franks (guitar), Andy Champion (double bass) and Tim Giles (drums) to tour venues around the North between May 26th and June 5th, as well as a special one-off large performance in collaboration with Phil Meadows' Engines Orchestra at Ronnie Scott's in London.

Split UK have done a fantastic job with the new website. It will act as a central point for information before, during and after tours. You can book tickets, read interviews, watch videos and find out more about the people involved and you can also sign up to the mailing list to keep up to date as the project progresses.

For full information, visit The Orpheus Project website.

Tour Dates

May 26th - Black Swan Venue & Bar, Newcastle
May 28th - HEART, Headingley
May 29th - Ingrid guests with LJO, Seven Jazz Leeds
June 1st - The Cask, Scarborough
June 3rd - Wakefield Jazz
June 4th - Ingrid leads NYJO masterclasses London
June 5th - Ronnie Scott's, London (quartet & Engines Orchestra)

NJ Advent Calendar - NORVOL Jazz (December 1st)

Behind door number 1 is NORVOL Jazz, the network for voluntary jazz promoters in the North. Voluntary jazz promoters make up a huge percentage of the opportunities for live jazz performance in the North and they're a vital part of the infastructure. Countless volunteer hours go into running weekly and monthly gigs across the region as well as educational programmes and jams.

NORVOL Jazz was formed around 4 years ago, growing out of a smaller group of jazz promoters in Yorkshire who met up with support from Jazz Yorkshire. Since then, NORVOL Jazz has opened its doors to promoters right across the North and its membership now exceeds 30 clubs and festivals in every corner of the North.

To date, NORVOL Jazz have received arts funding from Arts Council England twice. The first allowed the network to run a series of professional development days for promoters with experts in fundraising, marketing and audience development. The second, announced only recently, was a large grant to work in partnership with Apollo Jazz Network in setting up a touring network for live jazz in the North og England. NORVOL will run three tours in 2016 and early 2017 with Apollo, bringing high profile international artists to small venues across the North.

NORVOL's website is packed full of information on the venues and clubs who are members, maps of their locations, news on upcoming gigs and more.

To all the volunteers who dedicate their time to running jazz clubs and festivals, we salute you!

NORVOL & Apollo Receive Grant to set up International Touring Network

It has been announced that NORVOL Jazz (the Northern Voluntary Jazz promoters network) in partnership with Apollo Jazz Network run by trumpeter Kim Macari have been awarded over £32,000 by Arts Council England to set up an International Touring Network for live jazz in the North.

PRESS RELEASE

The Northern Voluntary Jazz Promoters Network (NORVOL JAZZ) in partnership with Apollo Jazz Network have been awarded over £32,000 by Arts Council England to establish a touring network for live jazz and to present three tours featuring world-class international musicians.

Through the development of a touring infrastructure, northern jazz clubs clubs will host tour dates and workshops and Apollo Jazz Network, run by trumpeter Kim Macari, will manage the project. The first tour will take place in May 2016 and will feature Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen.

"I am delighted to receive this support from Arts Council England. It has been over a year of development and discussion for a project which is ambitious and large-scale and it’s fantastic that we are now able to roll it out.

The project is going to benefit audiences, promoters and musicians in a direct way. We’ll have three featured artists from the USA collaborating with UK musicians to create new work and then touring it across the region, leading workshops and masterclasses along the way. We’re also going to be live-streaming gigs, allowing as many people as possible the opportunity to be involved. Getting a chance to see groups like this perform in more intimate venues is going to be extraordinary.

This focus on collaboration – artistic collaboration as well as partnering with organisations – is what Apollo Jazz Network has always been about .
Kim Macari, Project Director

"We’re really pleased at this news. It is a vindication of what the 30 Northern jazz clubs and festival promoters in the network have been aiming to do. The international touring programme will enable volunteer run jazz clubs – the backbone of the jazz scene in the North – to show off some of the best jazz artists in the world to their audiences". –
Steve Crocker, NorvolJazz

How To Run A Jazz Club with NORVOL

It's the Lancaster Jazz Festival this weekend and if previous years are anything to go by, expect a lot of high quality music and lots of sold out performances. We reported on the festival a while back and listed our highlights, but check out the Lancaster Jazz Festival website to see what's going on.

NORVOL Jazz are going to be holding an event on Saturday September 19th as part of the festival entitled How To Run A Jazz Club. It's a free seminar event aimed at encouraging new people to become jazz promoters. (It's fitting that the event should be held at Lancaster Festival as the director Matt Robinson is a prime example of an ambitious young promoter really making a difference to the scene).

This event is aimed at people who want to become jazz promoters, or who may already do some jazz promotion and want to do it better. You may be a musician wanting to develop venue for people to play, a volunteer with an interest in jazz, or a promoter in other areas of the arts wanting to include more jazz in your festival or programme. This event will help you achieve that.

The seminar will focus on: finding a venue, developing an audience, planning a programme, developing the local jazz community through workshops, masterclasses, jam session and paying for it all! It also provides a prime opportunity to network with successful Northern Jazz promoters.

Find out more on the festival website. 

How To Run A Jazz Venue. 19th September

NORVOL Jazz, an organisation set up by and for jazz promoters in the North of England, are hosting an event during the Lancaster Jazz Festival in September called How To Run A Jazz Venue.

The panel discussion will feature a number of successful promoters from across the North - Neil Hughes (owner of the Cinnamon Club, Altringham), Jez Matthews (musician and promoter of jazz at the Lescar, Sheffield), Gill Wilde (promoter of Grimsby Jazz and director of Cleethorpes Jazz Festival) and John Marley (musician and promoter of live jazz in York).

This event is aimed at people who want to become jazz promoters, or who may already do some jazz promotion and want to do it better. You may be a musician wanting to develop venue for people to play, a volunteer with an interest in jazz, or a promoter in other areas of the arts wanting to include more jazz in your festival or programme. This event will help you achieve that.
The seminar will focus on: finding a venue, developing an audience, planning a programme, developing the local jazz community through workshops, masterclasses, jam session and paying for it all! It also provides a prime opportunity to network with successful Northern Jazz promoters.

 The event takes place at the Sun Hotel (Sun Street, Lancaster, LA1 1EW) from 2.30pm until 5pm on 19th September. It's free to attend but sign-up is necessary. You can sign up on Norvol Jazz's website.