Glasgow Jazz Festival 2011
Glasgow Jazz Festival will celebrate its 25th year as one of the UK’s finest jazz festivals next month.
More than 250 top artists and performers will descend on the city from Wednesday, June 29 until Sunday, July 3 to play more than 70 gigs across 16 venues.
Established in 1987 by Glasgow City Council in the build up to Glasgow’s reign as Cultural Capital of Europe 1990, Glasgow has always prided itself in bringing some of the world’s best jazz players to the city, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson and Ray Charles.
More recently,Glasgowwas named as a UNESCO City of Music in 2008, recognising the vibrancy ofGlasgow’s music scene, its numerous venues and the sheer amount of live events that take place every week.
Over the years, Glasgow Jazz Festival has endeavoured to reflect the broad musical interests of the city, with this year’s Festival featuring headline musicians Ramsey Lewis – performing his classic 1970s album ‘Sun Goddess’ – Oscar winning composer Michael Legrand, the king of Ethio-jazz Mulatu Astatke and the gospel-infused southern boogie piano of Leon Russell.
Additionally, this year’s Festival is also bringing back a number of musicians who have played in previous years including Cleo Laine, Lee Konitz and Tomasz Stanko, Terence Blanchard, Carol Kidd, Martin Taylor, Tommy Smith and Courtney Pine.
Jill Rodger, Festival Director, said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating our 25th festival and would like to thank Glasgow City Council, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Creative Scotland and our many sponsors for their continued support.”
To mark its quarter century, the Festival launched with a reception at legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott’s in London, which featured a performance from respected, Glasgow-based, four-piece Brass Jaw and which was aimed at spreading the word about the festival to a wider community.
Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “The launch of the 25th Glasgow Jazz Festival at Ronnie Scott’s presents GCMB with a superb opportunity to showcase both the city and its major event credentials to key media and London based conference clients.”
For more information about the 25th Glasgow Jazz Festival, visit: jazzfestival.co.uk