One Day Jazz Vocal Workshop with Nicki Allan, September 10th

Well loved jazz singer Nicki Allan has announced that she will host a one day jazz vocal workshop on September 10th at Inkwell in Chapel Allerton, Leeds.

Nicki says...

Would you like to learn to Scat Sing or do an intrumental solo with your voice but don't have the confidence or ability quite just yet? Then this could be for you..I'm running a Jazz Vocal Improvisation and Repertoire workshop to cover all of that stuff from simple, effective warm ups, modes and phrases to help you get going plus lots of interactive singing and scatting and an afternoon session putting it all together with repertoire and how to connect with lyrics with our live house jazz trio plus light lunch and all day refreshments are included in the price for just £75 for the whole day. 


To book a place simply email me, Nicki Allan at allannicki@hotmail.com or call 07905 482615 or better still, both.
Places are limited because this is an intimate workshop not a huge crowd. Everyone gets a go and gets to take part.

As Nicki says, space will be limited so if you're interested, book soon. To find out more about Nicki, visit her website - www.nickiallan.com.

Jazz At The Mill Announces Autumn Programme

Jazz audiences in and around Bradford take note - Jazz at the Mill at Black Dyke Mills returns for another season of weekly jazz starting September 11th.

Run by the great team team of Kathy and John Dyson, Jazz at the Mill will host jazz every Monday (please note the change of day; it's on a MONDAY now) featuring some of the finest musicians the North has to offer.

Entry costs just £5 and tea, coffee, homemade soup and cake are available. If you fancy something a little stronger, it's BYOB. All events run from 7.30 until 10pm.

Below is the full schedule of gigs from now until the end of October. For more information, keep an eye on the very useful Live Jazz in Bradford facebook page.

Sept 11th - Nicki Allan Project feat. Rod Mason 
Sept 18th - Wendy Kirkland Quartet
Sept 25th - The Jazz Dawgs feat. Adrian Ingrams
Oct 2nd   - Kate Peters Quartet
Oct 9th    - Jeff Hewer Quartet
Oct 16th  - Inside Outside Quartet
Oct 23rd  - Beverley Beirne Quartet
Oct 30th  - Soul2Jazz

Jazz on a Summer's Day in Chapel Allerton, June 10th

To celebrate (or perhaps to encourage) the lovely weather, Chapel Allerton Club are putting on a full day event, Jazz on a Summer's Day this Saturday, June 10th.

Starting at 1pm and free to attend, the day will include performances by Brendan Duffy, Nicki Allan, Ros Lewis and Marlena Rose.

See the poster below for full details!

Nicki Allan Launches Charity Single for Cancer Research

Jazz vocalist Nicki Allan is releasing a single to raise money for Cancer Research, both in memory of a close friend Nick Laycock who passed away after being diagnosed with stomach cancer and drawing from her own experience with breast cancer.

The single is called For Life and will be officially launched at the Chapel Allerton festival on September 5th. Proceeds from online downloads and cd sales will be split between MacMillan Cancer Care and Yorkshire Cancer Research.

In an article published by Yorkshire Cancer Research, Nicki says

On returning home from the funeral I immediately felt compelled to compose a piece of music in Nick’s memory. The melody was easy but I could only think of a few hook lines here and there for the words and assigned the main task to another friend, Johanne Levy, who was going through breast cancer at the time. She wrote the lyrics, which were beautiful, and yet it was another four years before the song was recorded.

In January I found a lump which turned out to be breast cancer and although it initially turned my life upside down, once I got my head around things I realised I wanted to try and give something back to charity to spur on the fight to find a cure for this terrible disease that was threatening to take my life.

Full Article Here

For Life will be available on iTunes from September 5th and more information can be found on Nicki's website.

A day of Jazz at the Chapel Allerton Festival

The annual Chapel Allerton Arts festival takes place this year between 31st August and 6th September with a range of events and activities for all ages - there's film, art and music at various venues across Chapel Allerton. As has become tradition, the Seven Jazz team led by Steve Crocker are putting on a full day of Jazz to end the festival on Sunday 6th September.

For £3, audiences can see live jazz from 12.30pm until 6.30pm as well as enjoying the sunshine (hopefully!) and food and drink stalls run by local producers and businesses.

12.30pm - Garforth Jazz Rock Band 
1.30pm - Stretch Trio
2.30pm - Rod Mason/Nicki Allan Quintet
3.30pm - James O'Hara Blues Band
4.30pm - Louis Louis Louis
5.30pm - Tarantismo

If that isn't enough jazz, you can also see jazz singer Tessa Smith lead the Community Choir at 3.15pm, Hassan Erraji at 7pm and  A Dread Supreme at 9pm all on Saturday 5th September.

For more information on the programme, visit the Chapel Allerton Arts Festival website.

Garforth Arts Festival 2014

Garforth Arts Festival takes place between 30th June and 12th July, with a programme which features music, comedy and discussions and culminates in a full day outdoors event. This year, the festival features a number of jazz events. On Thursday 3rd July, Richard Ormrod's Dread Supreme appears featuring trumpeter Claude Deppa and the Garforth Jazz Rock Band. Monday 7th July features singer Nicki Allan directing the Seven Voices Jazz Choir along with bulgarian vocal quartet EVA. For full programme information, see the Garforth Arts Festival website.