Westside is gearing up for 10 days of toe-tapping jazz, blues and swing as it becomes fully immersed in the Birmingham, Sandwell & Westside Jazz Festival.
The 38th consecutive festival will bring top jazz and blues acts from around the UK and much further beyond to Birmingham and the surrounding area from 15 to 24 July.
And, to celebrate its marvellous marathon run, which even continued during the Covid pandemic, Westside is to stage 48 performances, all of them offering free admission.
In total, the Birmingham, Sandwell & Westside Jazz Festival is almost back to pre-pandemic levels, with 187 performances confirmed to date.
This compares to just 42 live shows in 2020, when the festival had to be postponed till October, and 134 performances last year.
Jim Simpson, of festival organisers Big Bear Music, said: “It is good to have the Jazz Festival almost back to its pre-Covid level with getting on for 200, mostly-free performances over 10 days in July.
“Once again, Westside will be awash with live jazz, blues, rhythm & blues and swing music seemingly coming around every corner, as well as hosting the Festival Information Centre and the Musicians Afternoon Club.”
Both the information centre and afternoon club will be based at Velvet Music Rooms on Broad Street, one of a number of Westside venues that will host performances alongside the likes of O’Neill’s, The Brasshouse, Caffe Nero and Brindleyplace.
There will be a transatlantic feel to some of the shows on Westside, with New York City’s top blues outfit, The Hitman Blues Band, set to play three times, at The Rep Bar, Central Square in Brindleyplace and The Velvet Music Rooms.
Bandleader Russell ‘Hitman’ Alexander will be making a pilgrimage on behalf of his late father, Ray Alexander, who featured in 11 of the festival’s early editions.
Westside will also host the first Birmingham appearance of New Jersey jazz guitarist B.D. Lenz with his band.
Closer to home sees the return of Val Wiseman, considered one of the UK’s leading female jazz singers, who recorded her successful live album “Laughing At Life” on Westside in 2015.
Genesis Radio will host two live outside broadcasts from Westside, Tipitina on July 17 and The Hitman Blues Band on July 22, both at Velvet Music Rooms.
Many of the leading British blues bands are also coming to Westside, including The Catfish Kings, The Shufflepack, The Cinelli Brothers, The Shakedown Brothers, the James Oliver Band, and Ajay Srivastav and Vinod Kerai.
They will be joined by leading figures from the thriving Birmingham blues scene including The Nitecrawlers, Chickenbone John, Ricky Cool and The Whiskey Brothers.
A full line up of the Westside performances can be viewed here:
