Music stars from around the world will be jumping and jiving across Westside during an amazing ten days of the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival in July.
Velvet Music Rooms on Broad Street is the official information point for this year’s festival, and the popular bar will also be hosting up to three live music sessions a day between 14 and 23 July.
Velvet’s involvement with the 39th jazz festival gets underway on Tuesday 27 June when it hosts the launch of the official 64-page programme. This contains the full day-by-day festival listings of musicians, bands, concerts and venues.
Copies of the programme can be picked up during the 7pm launch, which is followed by Velvet’s regular Tuesday night Henry’s Blueshouse gig at 8pm, featuring the Shakedown Brothers playing Chicago-style blues.
Velvet will then stage its first concert at 8pm on Friday 14 July, the opening day of the festival, when Irish guitarist and singer-songwriter Will Killeen performs with his band.
And Velvet is also the place to be for the final gig of the entire festival, when Windy City Weatherbirds, London-based but inspired by Chicago jazz, play at 8.30pm on Sunday 23 July.
In between, the venue hosts almost a dozen concerts, with bands travelling from across the USA as well as Spain and Italy. And there will be other festival events, including a chat session with the organiser of The Musicians’ Union, Ben Benson, and a couple of jumble sales of music memorabilia, ranging from vinyl and CDs to t-shirts, photos and books.
Velvet co-owner Dani Hadley said: “We are delighted to be so heavily involved in this year’s Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, with so many fabulous musicians performing here over the course of the ten days.
“We are really looking forward to welcoming them to Velvet, and hope music fans will come here to enjoy the experience, especially as all the festival gigs are free to enter.
“People can also pick up a copy of the festival programme from the bar, as well as obtain the latest information.”
Westside has long been at the very heart of the festival, and this year is no exception with no less than 61 performances by outstanding musicians once again taking place at 22 venues across the BID area.
Gerald Manton, chair of Westside BID, writing in the programme, said he was “thrilled” to welcome music fans from all over the country and even overseas to the city centre.
He described Westside as the “beating heart” of the city which would be hosting a “wide and fascinating array of music, ranging from hot jazz to cool blues” throughout the festival.
Read more about the festival here, and an online version of the jazz festival programme can be viewed here.
Main picture: The Hitman Blues Band, who appear at Velvet at 8pm on Thursday 20 July.
ENDS
