Soweto Kinch

Harmonic Festival

At last Birmingham gets a festival that reflects the thriving contemporary jazz scene in Birmingham.  The Harmonic Festival has been put together by two Birmingham based musicians, bass player Chris Mapp and trumpeter/bass player Percy Pursglove and it is an excellent showcase for all the various strands of the contemporary jazz happening in Birmingham.  It runs from Wednesday 10th  to Saturday 13th March.

It begins on Wednesday in the Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire with two groups of the best students on the Conservatoire jazz course playing music by Dave Holland. Dave arrived this morning (Sunday) and will be working with the two groups in the next couple of days preparing them for the concert.  He won’t actually play with the students, but may do a short solo performance at the end.

Thursday sees a double bill at the regular Cobweb Collective session at the Yardbird Jazz Club with two bands, one led by Lluis Mather, winner of this year’s Dave Holland Ensemble Prize and the other led by local hero Soweto Kinch.

Friday begins with the Ben Markland Quintet playing the regular Rush Hour Blues sesion at the Symphony Hall foyer.  It then moves to the CBSO Centre where one of the most interesting New York bands, Claudia Quintet, plays at CBSO Centre at 8pm.  The band, which is actually a sextet this time,  is led by drummer and composer John Hollenbeck and has an interestingly unusual lineup with vibes, accordion as well as sax, piano, accordion, double bass.  In the second set the sextet will be joined by two Birmingham musicians, Steve Tromans on keys and Percy Pursglove on trumpet to play some original material of John Hollenbeck’s.  This evening is curated by us at Birmingham Jazz.

The final day is the Saturday and there is a very strong programme beginning at 5pm with a full evening of music with special projects from Aaron Diaz’s Moon Unit playing arrangements of Frank Zappa material, a new band Gambol led by bass player and Festival Direcor Chris Mapp and an improvising trio led Paul Dunmall featuring John Edwards on bass and Mark Sanders on drums .   In addition to these main acts there are short sets from various young players, notably the Hammond Organ trio Mc3 playing at 1pm in Brindley Place and various duos playing the foyer at the CBSO Centre between the main sets.  These are a double Rhodes set with Steve Tromans and Dan Nicholls, a vocal guitar duo with Holly Thomas and Tobie Carpenter, and a sax drum battle between Nick Rundle and Tim Jozwiak.

This short festival will give a real boost to the scene here in Birmingham and will hopefully generate some national publicity to make the outside world realise how good it is. Read more on the festival website here

Birmingham Jazz are delighted to be festival partners and are supporting the International project with Claudia Quintet on Friday 12th March at CBSO Centre at 8pm.

www.birminghamjazz.co.uk