The Summer of Love may be feasting its fiftieth, but it’s a mere babe next to the world of jazz, which this year celebrates its first 100 years. Not only is 2017 the centenary of the first ever jazz recording– Livery Stable Blues by the New Orleans’ Dixieland Jazz Band– but would have seen the 100th birthdays of three of jazz’s best-loved stars, Ella Fitzgerald (25 April), Thelonius Monk (10 October) and Dizzy Gillespie (21 October).
For all these reasons, Jazz 100 has curated a year-long programme to mark the musical milestones, kicking off with International Jazz Day at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in spring and partying on through the year with loads of incredible gigs and events.
A summer jumping with jazz jewels opens with a rare public performance from Woody Allen and his New Orleans band, playing London’s Royal Albert Hall in July. As well as a long and illustrious filmmaking career, Woody Allen has a legendary devotion to his beloved clarinet and sax, famously missing acceptance of the 1978 Academy Award for Best Picture because he was busy playing at his weekly Dixieland jazz gig. In the jazz spirit of improvisation, Woody’s upcoming show will have no playlist and none of his musicians know in advance what he will ask them to play.
The weeklong Manchester Jazz Festival heats up at the end of July with over 100 concerts, films and other electric events. Festival highlights include the New York Brass Band and the Haggis Horns, and the Festival’s full sensory experience will be abetted and refreshed by jazz brunches and afternoon teas.
As ever, this year’s BBC Proms (14 July - 9 September) are rich with jazz sounds. Prom 27 pays a delectable double tribute to Ella and Dizzy’s 100th birthdays; the music of jazz giant Charles Mingus is honoured at Prom 53 by the rocking Metropole Orkest and its dynamic young conductor Jules Buckley, and Prom 57’s Swing No End matine´e promises blues, boogie-woogie, bebop and a slice of musical action from the 1930s and 1940s. Charismatic singer and radio presenter Clare Teal will officiate at its rip- roaring battle of the bands, led by bandleaders extraordinaire Guy Barker and Winston Rollins.
BluesFest, the brilliant annual jazz, blues and roots festival, caps off October (27-29), this year headlined by exclusive classic gold appearances from Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers. Last but not least, the 25th EFG London Jazz Festival will shatter the chill of late autumn with two full weeks of gigs by a diverse range of artists in concert halls, clubs and stages across the capital. Chief amongst this year’s thrills will be renowned South Africans Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela, the Jazz Voice opening gala, the effervescent Harlem Gospel Choir and mindblowing piano-mandolin duets from Brad Meldau and Chris Thile.
Further information www.bbc.co.uk/proms www.manchesterjazz.com www.bluesfest.co.uk
Article by Judith Schrut - email Judith at judith0777@gmail.com
Image: Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band, photo courtesy Baxter PR