With almost two music-filled weeks gone, the 37th consecutive Birmingham, Sandwell & Westside Jazz Festival is already celebrating another successful year.
And there are still plenty of opportunities for music fans to enjoy several exciting performances and events taking place across Westside over the final few days of the festival.
The programme on Friday 30 July includes a ‘Meet The Author’ session with Lee Benson, introducing the New Street Authors at The Brasshouse at 4pm.
This is immediately followed at The Brasshouse by Birmingham’s First Lady of the Blues, Emma Jonson, and her band, while at the same time the Bruce Adams Quartet can be seen at Velvet Music Rooms.
Highlights on Saturday include Preston-based Tipitina, specialists in the blues, barrelhouse and gospel music of New Orleans, who also play at The Brasshouse, and French jazz songstress Florence Joelle and her Quartet appearing at the Cosy Club, Brindleyplace in the evening.
The final day of the festival on Sunday 1 August opens at Caffe Nero on Brindleyplace with ‘You’re Never Alone With A Uke’, a free ukulele workshop open to all-comers.
This is followed at The Brasshouse with an appearance of the knockabout good time rhythm and blues of Big Jim & The Alabama Boogie Boys.
There’s another ukulele workshop, this time at the Velvet Music Rooms, before the festival celebrates its finale with the London-based Dixie youngsters of The Old Jelly Rollers at O’Neill’s, and Big Jim & The Alabama Boogie Boys at Velvet Music Rooms at 8.30pm.
Organiser Jim Simpson of Big Bear Records said the festival had been well attended throughout.
He said: “It has been an incident-ridden, but nevertheless exciting festival to organise, with no less than 28 enforced programme changes. Whatever, we will still have presented 139 performances, with 132 of them free to the public over 17 days, forcibly extended from our customary 10 day festival.
“Covid and Brexit combined made mincemeat of our original plans, but the sun shone and Birmingham had a ball. Amazingly, the only day that it rained over the first 13 days was the one day we had no scheduled outdoor events.”
The remaining events on Westside …
Friday 30 July
- 4pm Brasshouse – LEE BENSON introduces THE NEW STREET AUTHORS
- 5pm Brasshouse – EMMA JONSON BAND
- 5pm Velvet Music Rooms – BRUCE ADAMS QUARTET
Saturday 31 July
- 3pm Brasshouse – TIPITINA
- 7pm Cosy Club – FLORENCE JOELLE
Sunday 1 August
- 12pm Caffe Nero, Brindleyplace – YOU’RE NEVER ALONE WITH A UKE
- 3pm Brasshouse – BIG JIM & THE ALABAMA BOOGIE BOYS
- 3pm Velvet Music Rooms – YOU’RE NEVER ALONE WITH A UKE
- 5pm O’Neills, Broad Street – FESTIVAL PHOTOGRAPHIC REVIEW
- 6pm O’Neills, Broad Street – THE OLD JELLY ROLLERS
- 8.30 Velvet Music Rooms – BIG JIM & THE ALABAMA BOOGIE BOYS
Main picture: Bullets & Bends Harmonica Workshop at Henry’s Blueshouse
ENDS
