We are very happy to present the programme for our twentieth jazz festival. We hope you agree that the line-up we’ve put together is a worthy celebration of the anniversary.
Friday 10th to Sunday 12th July 2009
The festival features most kinds of jazz played today and gives fans the chance to hear bands and styles they would be unlikely to hear in the normal course of local jazz club gigs. The venues are close together so you can sample everything, if you want to: New Orleans, Dixieland, swing, bebop, post bop, ‘contemporary’ and bands that are definitely jazz but defy classification. As ever, we try to combine well-known musicians who have entertained us many times before with younger musicians whose talent and enthusiasm for the music mark them out, in a programme that will appeal to most jazz fans.
Most people who have been to Swanage for the festival seem to agree with Peter Vacher’s comment (in Jazz Journal) that Swanage is a perfect place for jazz on a summer weekend. A large proportion of our fans have made many visits to the festival, and return for holidays. If you haven’t been before, we’re sure that you’ll also find the mix of top class jazz in a relaxed seaside setting irresistible. This is a very beautiful part of the country, with stunning coastal and hill scenery and charming villages.
The Jazz festival is a non-profit-making group of fans who continue to promote the event because we love the music. Over the years since 1990 we have a grown from a small and rather insecure beginning to our present size of 950 tickets a day and five stroller venues. We want to thank our sponsors, especially the local businesses, but it is increasingly the case that the festival depends for its survival on ticket sales.
The stroller venues are all on or near the seafront in the centre of town. The weekend ticket covers everything except the Friday afternoon jazz cruise. The music runs from 7 to 11pm Friday. 11am-11pm Saturday and 10am-11pm Sunday. There’s a very popular brass band parade on Saturday morning, a church concert of spirituals and gospel music on Sunday morning, and several free venues in pubs throughout the town.
Tickets are on sale from February, but are restricted to weekend strollers until May 31, after which we also sell day tickets. We urge you to buy your tickets and book your accommodation early if you can. Like most seaside towns, Swanage has experienced a loss of hotel and guesthouse accommodation in the past few years. The local hotel guide is available from Tourist Information (01929 422885), and we have our own supplementary list which is available on request from the ticket office. Several hotels and venues have links on our web site. Given the demand, it helps if you book for at least three nights.
All of our venues are accessible to wheelchairs. We have a child-friendly policy – we are happy to admit children under sixteen free with an adult, and we offer discounts of fifty per cent for student bookings.
Fred Lindop, festival director
Some comments from fans on last year’s festival;
Steve Dye (Nr Glastonbury)(13,07.08) “This was my second visit (I am fairly new to jazz) and it was hugely enjoyable”.
Ian Powell and Carol Surman (19.07.08) I would like to express our appreciation of the great entertainment we experienced on our second visit to the Festival… Thanks for an enjoyable weekend and we have already booked our accommodation for 2009.
Paul Ryan, Dublin (18.07.08) It was my first jazz festival and I really enjoyed it. Performers, venues, mix of jazz styles, stroller tickets for all performances, professionalism ........ wow. Thanks again,I look forward to attending next year!
Joan and Terry Ashwell (21.07.98) We loved the jazz this year, the first time that we have stayed for the whole festival. Alan Barnes, Tony Kofi and Art Themen were great of course, but some of the other acts, like the lovely little singer Georgia Mancio, Jo Fooks and Matt Wates, with a rocking pianist in Leon Greening, were superbly entertaining. How I wonder, were the ones that we had to miss? I feel sure that they were as good! Keep up the standard ! See you next year.
Barbara Middleton (24.07.08) Just wanted to say what a splendid time we had at this year’s jazz festival and how much we enjoyed our second year there. Great bands and superb experiences! We did 11 gigs in the 3 days so had a good money’s worth. Particularly we enjoyed Spats Langham and Martin Litton with their respective bands and activities. Hope they’re there next year. Sportinghouse Strings were wonderful. As were the Red Hot Peppers. It was fabulous and we will certainly be there next year!
Peter and Mary Collins (26.07.08) As we understand you are always looking for feed-back, here it is: Friday night, the Youth Orchestra, Alan Barnes and Martin Litton - all were great ! (Pity Martin and Alan were on at the same time, but we know this happens !) Saturday - Martin Litton again and Lee Gibson, both first-class, thoroughly enjoyed both. Mike Piggott and Spats in the afternoon, very good, as was the Sporting House Strings on the Sunday morning. It was a shame that Georgia Mancio was on at Marquee 3 - we personally found this a bit of a walk, and leaving there at 11.p.m. was a bit late for us. (Mind you, one of us IS 80 yrs of age and has not been in best of health for the past 12 months or so, but improving greatly !). We both would like to say how much we enjoyed everything we saw and heard. Depending upon the line-up for 2009, we hope to be there. We believe that 2008 was our 7th visit out of the last 10 years, which is not a bad track record (for us, that is, as we also like to do other holidays). Thanks again for all your hard work and organisation.