NYJO Academy Big Band - Apply Now

Calling young musicians across the UK; the NYJO Academy Big Band are holding auditions for new members in September and you have until Monday 21st August to apply to take part.

The band, led by drummer Sebastiaan De Krom, is the NYJO Academy’s flagship ensemble designed to equip talented young musicians with a solid foundation in the big band genre – helping to prepare them for entry into the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, further education or the music profession.

The NYJO Academy Big Band is structured around a series of ‘projects’ centred around the work of a particular composer or genre, such as Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus or Loose Tubes.

We are on the lookout for promising musicians under the age of 20 to join the band. Auditioning is free but rehearsal sessions cost £100 per term (free for music students at university and bursaries are available). Candidates must be strong improvisers with sight reading ability, who are keen to improve their section playing and gain an in depth understanding of the big band tradition and its future.

Although the rehearsals take place in London, NYJO are committed to ensuring that no young musician misses out on participating in music making and as such, travel bursaries are available for non-London based musicians to be part of the band.

For full information on the band and how to be involved, see the NYJO Academy Big Band website.

Call for Musicians for Jazz Directors Series with Zoe Rahman

Applications are now being accepted to be part of the third Jazz Director Series, run by Band On The Wall & Brighter Sounds. As with their two previous projects, featuring Terence Blanchard and Chris Potter), the call-out is for musicians to form the Inner City Ensemble. This time, the featured musician is pianist Zoe Rahman.

The Inner City Ensemble will work with Zoe in a residency before embarking on a short tour in October 2017. The instrumentation required for this incarnation of the band is - double bass, drums, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, tuba, alto sax and tenor sax.

From Band on the Wall...


Described by the Observer as “a remarkable pianist by any standard”, pianist and composer Zoe Rahman has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars on the contemporary jazz scene. A vibrant and highly individual artist, her style is deeply rooted in jazz yet it reflects her classical background, British/Bengali heritage and her very broad musical taste. Known for her powerful technique, wide-ranging imagination and exuberant performances, she has become a highly sought-after musician, recently working with the likes of George Mraz, Courtney Pine and Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA Orchestra. She is a winner of the prestigious UK Parliamentary Jazz Award, and has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.  

“I’m really looking forward to working with open-minded improvising artists who have a strong grounding in jazz, a deep sense of groove and who like to listen to a wide range of musical styles. There will be opportunities for all of the musicians to shine individually as well as contribute to the ensemble as a whole. Hopefully the project will be challenging, rewarding and above all fun for all of us.” – Zoe Rahman

The deadline is 13 August 2017 and successful applicants will be notified by 18th August. For more information and to apply, visit the Band on the Wall website.

Jazz Promoter Fellowship Announced by Help Musicians UK

Help Musicians UK have announced their new Jazz Promoters Fellowship in partnership with award-winning composer Issie Barratt.

From the Help Musicians UK website...

This fully-funded HMUK Fellowship has been developed out of the need to create a gender balance within the jazz scene in the UK and provide a framework for best practice in training for promoters. The move has been supported by industry leaders across the sector.

Recent evidence—from Issie’s extensive four-year research project—shows that women are hugely underrepresented in jazz, often excluded from performance opportunities, rarely booked as often as their male counterparts, and infrequently considered in development initiatives.

The Fellowship will aim to change perceptions and create a new, inclusive jazz landscape. It will focus on equipping the next generation of male and female promoters for a career in the industry by working closely with many of the UK’s best jazz promoters, venues and festival directors.

By the end of this Fellowship's pilot year (July 2018), participants will have had invaluable opportunities in order to deliver a year-long personal project aimed at addressing the equality gap.

Key opportunities of the programme include:
• Seven seminar days hosted at key points in the jazz calendar
• Development of a promoter’s job description and toolkit
• Monthly tutorials
• Mentoring from leading experts and peers
• Participation in roundtable discussions
• Devising and delivering a year-long self-initiated project

Applications are being accepted until July 7th 2017 and successful applicants will be notified in late July.

For more information and to apply, visit the Help Musicians UK website.

Apply Now for the 2nd International Jarek Smietana Jazz Guitar Competition

Applications are now being accepted for the 2nd International Jarek Smietana Guitar Competition. Held in memory of influential Polish guitarist Jarek Smietana, the competition is open to guitarists of all nationalities up to 35 years of age, performing jazz and musical genres related to improvised music.

There are three prizes up for grabs - 1st place is approx. £4000, 2nd place approx. £2000 and 3rd place approx. £1000.

Semi-finals take place in Kracow on 28th and 29th June and the finals on 30th June. The judging panel will include Mike Stern and John Abercrombie.

Requirements -

- Brief bio in English (max. 1500 words)

- Two high quality photographs

- 3 recordings - 2 audio and 1 video (not to exceed 10 minutes each)

For more information, , visit the Jarek Smietana Jazz Guitar Competition website.

BBC Big Band Summer School at Durham Brass Festival, July 2017

The line-up for this year's Durham Brass Festival has been announced and it includes a 3 day Big Band Summer School led by Jiggs Wigham and members of the BBC Big Band.

This intensive 3 day summer school will feature separate bands for young, intermediate and advanced musicians. As part of the wider festival The BBC Big Band are performing a concert dedicated to Dizzy Gillespie and the great brass big band leaders such as Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Quincy Jones, Thad Jones and Maynard Fergusson. 

The Summer School will provide emerging and semi-professional musicians the opportunity to work with Director and trombonist Jiggs Whigham, lead trumpet Martin Shaw plus the rhythm section of Robin Aspland (piano), Jeremy Brown (bass) and Tom Gordon (drums). 

In addition to the big band workshops, there will be an opportunity to join this fabulous rhythm section, other course members and visiting musicians in two Big BRASS Jams as part of the Festival Fringe.

Who can apply?

Applications are open to those who play trumpet, trombone, saxophones,piano, bass, guitar and drums. For the youth band, musicians must be aged between 17-22.

Where to Stay

There are both residential and non-residential options for the course. Rooms are available at Chapel Heights (new student accommodation) and all include 100mb internet, en-suite bathroom and a kitchen.

Costs

Youth Band Participants (non-residential) £150

Intermediate and Advanced Band (residential) £385 
(Includes Accommodation, Breakfast, Coffee/Tea breaks, Lunch and Evening Meals,)

Intermediate and Advance Band (non-residential) £250 
(Includes Lunch and Coffee/Tea breaks)

Extra night and BBC Big Band Concert £90
(If you would like a ticket to attend the BBC Big Band Concert on Thursday 13 July and stay an extra night)


Click here to download the application form.

Visit the Durham Brass Festival website for more information on the full festival line-up.

Applications open for Brighter Sound's Jazz Directors series with Chris Potter

Brighter Sound has announced the second artist to be featured in their Jazz Director series - the incomparable Chris Potter.

They are on the look out for 10 professional musicians to form the 'Inner City Ensemble' that will work with Chris, rehearsing and performing specially written works including arrangements of the music from his 2015 ECM release Imaginary Cities.

The instrumentation required is -

Piano
Double bass
Drums
Vibraphone (doubling marimba)
Bass Guitar
Guitars (electric and semi-acoustic)
Violin
Violin
Viola
Cello

The project runs from 9th April until 16th April including rehearsals in Manchester and performances 13th - 16th. This is a professional engagement and musicians will receive a fee plus travel and accommodation.

The deadline for applications is February 26th 2017. Successful applicants will be informed by March 6th.

For full information and to apply, click here - http://www.brightersound.com/jazzdirectorsseries2-chrispotter/

Calling all young musicians: LCoM Generation Big Band

Leeds College of Music is welcoming applications for young musicians to take place in the newly assembled Generation Big Band.

From the LCoM website...

Generation Big Band at Leeds College of Music aims to bring together excellence across all generations of the Yorkshire jazz community.
Using cutting edge arrangements the band will consist of alumni who are working professionally in the music business, existing LCoM conservatoire students, along with up and coming young musicians who show great potential. Whilst this is a three-tier ensemble the emphasis is on quality and an opportunity to bring together the best of the best.
Through the audition process we are excited about reaching out especially to the younger jazz community and bringing together musicians who are passionate about improvising. Whilst places will be limited, this is a chance to connect with you, so please apply for an audition if you are interested – it might lead to other things.
The fee for young musicians is £125.

The deadline for applications is Midday on Wednesday 23rd November. Auditions will then take place on November 26th. There are 6 places available and while they would expect to receive applications from musicians aged over 14, they are open to applications from younger musicians too.

Congratulations to LCoM for this exciting initiative - bringing generations of musicians together to share music and learn from each other is a great idea!

For more information, visit the LCoM website.

Want to play at JazzAhead 2017?

JazzAhead is one of the largest jazz expos in the world and it takes place over in Bremen each April. Thousands of musicians, agents, festival directors and organisations gather for the 4 day event and there are four official showcase concerts across the event.

Musicians can attend as a delegate and many do so a chance to meet with promoters and festival directors from across Europe to begin building relationships and setting up gigs for their ensembles. They can also apply to play in one of the showcase events and applications are now being accepted for these showcases.

Currently, there is only one of the four that UK groups can apply for - European Jazz Meeting. This features musicians from across Europe. The other three showcases are German Jazz Expo (german jazz), Overseas Night (jazz from outside of Europe) and the showcase hosted by the event's partner country (2017's is Finland).

Applications are judged by a panel and the deadline is October 31st. In terms of opportunities to apply for, this certainly isn't for everyone and musicians should carefully read the guidelines on the website to ascertain whether their music is at the right stage to benefit from this kind of event. However, it can be a great stepping stone to building an international reputation so it worth investigating.

See the Jazzahead website for further information.

Apply to play at 12 Points 2017

As the nights draw in each year, we have a number of things to look forward to - venues end their summer break and there's a whole host of new gigs to attend, TV channels start to show good dramas again, all the wasps bed in for the winter and stop their buzzy reign of terror AND musicians have a bunch of bursaries and opportunities to apply for ahead of the new year.

The latest application portal to open is 12 Points. Their festival will take place in Aarhus in Denmark in July next year and they are on the look out for the next round of artists and ensembles to apply.

They receive a very large number of applications each year, so they highly recommend fully reading the guidelines before submitting yours. There is also a fully completed example application for prospective bands to look at to get a sense of what they should aim for.

For full information and to view the bands that have performed at previous festivals, visit the 12 Points Festival website.

Applications Now Open for Peter Whittingham Award

Help Musicians UK have this week announced that applications are now being accepted for the Peter Whittingham Award.

Open to solo artists and ensembles in the first two years of their professional careers or in higher education, the award offers a £5,000 grant to support an important creative project.

Claire Gevaux, Creative Director at Help Musicians UK said, “The continued support of the Whittingham Family through this unique award allows us to invest in the next generation of jazz musicians, helping the most talented artists through these formative and crucial stages of their career. We can’t wait to see the incredible standard of applications and know that our esteemed panel of experts will have an enjoyable challenge in finding the winner.” 

In recent years, the award has been given to Patchwork Jazz Orchestra (pictured above), Square One, Phil Meadows, Roller Trio, Soweto Kinch and more. (You'll notice some Northern favourites popping up on that list!)

Applications will be accepted until Friday 11th November at 5pm. Auditions will take place in London on Friday 9th December. 

For full information and find out more about the projects the award has helped to support, visit the Help Musicians UK 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.

Deadline Extended on Help Musicians UK Development Bursaries

Help Musicians UK have announced that they are extending the deadline for applications to their Career Development Burasary scheme until 23rd September 2016.

The bursary fund is open to emerging professional musicians aged between 21 and 35 primarily based in the UK. Grants of between £500 and £2000 are available to support activities which will have a significant impact on musical development. This could include -

• Participation in masterclasses, academies and short courses (such as residential programmes at Aspen Music School, Yale, Lucerne Festival Academy and Banff Centre)
• A time-limited period of mentoring with a leading expert in your field, focused on specific repertoire or technique
• Travel for research and creative collaboration
• A short period of intensive coaching with a world-class tutor in advance of a major performance or project

A large number of jazz and improvising musicians have already benefited from this support including Radek Rudnicki, Lilli Unwin, Alex Roth, Sam Gardner, Sam Vicary and Elliot Galvin.

To apply and for full information, visit the Help Musicians UK website
 

Applications Now Open for The Write Stuff

Applications are now open for the 2016 edition of the The Write Stuff, an initiative run by Jazzwise and Serious for budding music journalists.

This free programme allows new jazz and improv writers to work with professional journalists to improve their work and learn about the world of music press, blogs and more. All this plus the chance to see a load of gigs!

There will be sessions of feature and live review writing by Kevin Le Gendre, an insight into the history and development of the UK jazz and music press by Jazzwise editor Jon Newey and a workshop on jazz websites, blogs and social media run by Mike Flynn.

The sessions will run during the EFG London Jazz Festival between 11-20th November. Those interested in participating should submit a 300 word review of a recent live gig together with a CV and full contact details by Monday 10th October to learning@serious.org.uk. Applicants must be over 18 and available in London between 11th and 20th November.

For more information, see the Jazzwise website.

Terence Blanchard announced as first artist for Brighter Sound scheme

US trumpet Terence Blanchard has been announced as the first artist in the Jazz Director Series run by Band on the Wall and Brighter Sound with support from Jazz North. They have put out an open call to find 11 young professional musicians to form the first Inner City Ensemble to work with Blanchard over the course of a week in September, rehearsing and performing original work by Blanchard and some of the musicians has has worked with in his expansive career.

For Jazz Directors Series #001 with Terence Blanchard we are looking for emerging professionals aged over 18 who play to a very high standard (graduate and above) with excellent reading skills and who work in jazz and related ‘crossover’ genres. This is a paid professional engagement.

Instruments required: piano, bass, drums, guitar, trumpet, trombone, tuba, french horn, flute, oboe, clarniet, bass clarinet and saxophone.

Musicians selected for the ensemble will take part in a rehearsal residency between 11th and 14th September before embarking on a short tour between 15th and 18th September to perform at Band on the Wall, Parr Hall in Warrington, Bradford Playhouse and Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal.

There is a fee and expenses are covered.

Applications will be accepted until July 29th at 5pm and successful applicants will be notified by Friday August 5th.

To find out more and to apply online, visit the Band on the Wall Jazz Directors Series website.

Still time to apply for 12Points Festival 2016

There is still time to apply for a place in the 2016 12 Points festival, with their submission deadline extended to January 30th.

This marks their 10th festival and it will take place in San Sebastian in Northern Spain (pictured above). The 4 day event will run concurrently with Jazzaldia, Europe's longest running jazz festival and coincides with San Sebastian being named European Capital of Culture 2016.

Applications must be made through the online portal on the 12 Points website and applicants should include press materials, videos, audio and descriptions of their music. For full information and guidance on applying, see the website.

Jazz North launches Northern Line Round 4

On November 23rd, Jazz North officially opened the application portal for the latest batch of Northern Line bands.

Now in its fourth round, Northern Line has so far seen 37 bands go through the scheme with over 350 performances for 130 different promoters.

Selected bands get to be part of the scheme from September 2016 until December 2017 and are available for promoters to book at a subsidised rate as part of the scheme.

The Jazz North website contains a set of guidelines for prospective applicants to read through as well as an online application portal.

A brief look at eligibility -

- There is no age limit or stylistic barrier

- The majority of band members must be based in the North of England

- Bands who have previously been part of the scheme are not able to apply, although musicians from these groups can apply as part of a different project

- Groups should have audio samples and a website (at least the bandleader must have a website if a band one is not available)

The deadline for submissions is 4th January 2016. Full information can be found on the Jazz North website.

PRS Open Funding and Women Make Music - September 28th Deadlines

There are two funding programmes through PRSF that will close for submissions on September 28th so ensembles and composers are advised to get their application in soon for a chance at financial support for an upcoming project.

Women Make Music is a scheme open to female music creators in any genre and will award up to £5000 to a project. Their aim is to raise the profile of female composers and musicians in the industry and support the creation of new work and collaborations. They wish to break down gender stereotypes and support female role models for future generations.

Deadline: Monday September 28th 

PRSF's Open Funding scheme is, as the name suggests, open to individuals and composers creating new work in any genre. This could the commission of new work, touring, recording or creative residencies for example. Again, up to £5000 is available for a project (those who have previously been successful in receiving PRSF funding are able to apply for larger amounts of money).

Deadline: Monday September 28th

Both of these schemes have two stage application processes - those successful at the first stage will be invited to progress to stage two.

Full information on eligibity criteria, previously funded projects and access to the application forms can be found on the PRSF website. Best of luck!

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!

Applications Open for Jazz North's Northern Line

                                                   Simon Read Octet, Northern Line Artists


Development agency Jazz North has announced that applications are now open for the third round of their flagship programme, Northern Line. Bands accepted onto the scheme will be supported throughout the year and promoters are able to host these bands at a subsidised rate. There have so far been 24 groups who have taken part in the scheme, all of whom can be found on the Jazz North website.

Applications are submitted online via their application form which also contains all guidelines for applicants. Potential groups should be available for the following dates -

Tuesday 21st April - Induction Day
Monday 3rd August - Showcase Day

Applications close on February 2nd.

12 Points 2015 - Open for Applications

Applications are now being invited for bands to take part in the next 12 Points festival, which will be held in Dublin between 15-18th April 2015.

Each year 12 bands from 12 European countries are invited to take part in the 4 day festival, creating a unique networking opportunity and the chance to perform in front of European festival bookers and jazz media.

The deadline for applications is Friday 12th December 2014.

More information on the festival and accounts from bands who had taken part in the past can be found on the 12 Points website.