Welcome to the seventh Scarborough Jazz Festival which this year sparkles with some great American jazz stars: Kyle Eastwood, Steve Grossman, Ken Peplowski and Mike Janisch. But as always we have programmed some of the cream of UK jazz, and we are delighted that our Arts Council bid was successful and that Andy Panayi and Alan Barnes have been commissioned to compose ‘Jazz: The British Story’ which will celebrate the quality and uniqueness of our own music.
The Festival team work hard to produce a first-class programme, with festival organisation to match it, and last year 97% of the evaluations rated the event as good or very good. There were some great audience comments: ‘Scarborough Jazz Festival is the highlight of my year’; ‘Best organised jazz festival in the country’; ‘Very good value for money’; ‘I’ll be back next year’. And from a band leader: ‘I would just like to thank you and everyone else for this weekend. Out of all the festivals we played … this was definitely the most enjoyable. The way people looked after us, the venue, the sound and everything else made the long trip very worthwhile.’
Also it was quite an accolade when last year The Guardian included us in the top five of all UK jazz festivals. But we know we are lucky to have, in Scarborough Spa, such an excellent and grand Victorian venue, with superb sound and lighting technology, in the beautiful setting of harbour, castle and sand (which Dave O’Higgins and Jazzcotech leader Perry Lewis are enjoying on our cover!).
Why not come early and enjoy some wonderful free jazz on Friday afternoon from three bands chosen from UK promoters’ nominations*.
* In 2007 Jazz Services, with the support of Serious, launched its Promoters’ Choice Awards with great success. This year the Awards will enable these three bands, who have never previously undertaken a national tour, to be seen and heard around the UK. They were chosen by a panel of experts from applications nominated by individual jazz promoters from across the country. Scarborough Jazz Festival is grateful for the support given by Jazz Services.
Mike Gordon
Festival Director
