Manchester Jazz Festival is an annual 9-day-long

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

focused on showcasing contemporary

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

from the

North West of England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

and beyond.

History

The Manchester Jazz Festival was created in 1996 as a one-day showcase and has grown into a 9-day event, with 60 gigs and 300 musicians planned for July 2009. Key dates and figures for the festival: *1996: 1st Manchester Jazz Festival – 1 day, 1 venue, 10 bands *2000: 1st new jazz work commissioned by the festival *2003: 1st mjf all-day finale in Albert Square, with 5 bands, 50 musicians and 5,000 attenders *2006: 1st ever jazz festival podcast in the UK – won the Independent's Critics' Choice *2017: 1st ever visit by JJ

Funders and supporters

Manchester Jazz Festival is an

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

's Regularly Funded Organisation since 1999. It is one of

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been re ...

's Pillar Event since 2003. It also regularly receive financial support from th
PRS Foundation for New Music
to foster new talents and develop new works. The festival's international programme is supported by the Instituto Cervantes Manchester and the Italian Consulate.

Commissions

From 2000, Manchester Jazz Festival has been commissioning North West artists to help them develop projects. Previously commissioned artists include Richard Iles, Jon Thorne (with

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Ma ...

), Stuart McCallum (with

John Surman John Douglas Surman (born 30 August 1944) is an English jazz saxophone, Clarinet family, clarinet, and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music. He has composed and performed music for danc ...

),Review of Stuart McCallum's Chamber Pot by Chris Ackerley in Jazzwise (July 2007)
/ref> Mike Walker (with

Adam Nussbaum Adam Nussbaum (born November 29, 1955) is an American jazz drummer. Early life Nussbaum was born in New York City on November 29, 1955. He grew up in Norwalk (Connecticut), Norwalk, Connecticut, and first played the drums at the age of four. Aft ...

). In 2008, the festival was allocated an increase in core funding from

to develop its commitment to new jazz works and to actively encourage innovative artistic creation on the part of the region's jazz community. This new strand, called "mjf originals", is open to submissions.

References

External links

* {{Official website, www.manchesterjazz.com Music festivals in Greater Manchester Jazz festivals in the United Kingdom