Jazz and blues fans will be queuing up for a good read following the much-anticipated launch of the official programme for the 39th Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival.
The 64-page programme, packed with information about the musicians and venues taking part in this year’s festival, was officially made available at the Velvet Music Rooms on Broad Street.
The festival, which takes place between 14 and 23 July, will see some 189 performances over the course of 10 steaming days, with 181 of them being entirely free.
More than 60 gigs and events will be held on Westside, including a packed programme of live music at Velvet, which also serves as the Festival Information Point.
Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID – one of the festival’s main sponsors – welcomed guests at the jazz festival launch by saying he was born just months after “music died” with the death of Buddy Holly in 1959.
He welcomed the launch of the festival programme, adding: “We have distributed loads of copies of the programme. People are consuming them at an extraordinary rate.
“It shows the value of producing a physical programme, particularly one that is packed with so much wonderful information.”
Copies of the programme were handed out at Velvet Music Rooms by members of the festival’s promotions team wearing traditional Chinese Qipao dresses.
As well as an abundance of jazz, blues, Dixieland, Bebop, swing and the like, the festival will also be offering events such as free Ukulele and jitterbug dance lessons, book talks, films and music memorabilia jumble sales.
Following the launch, patrons were treated to a performance by the Shakedown Brothers as part of Velvet’s regular Tuesday night Henry’s Blueshouse gigs.
As well as hosting numerous gigs during the festival, Velvet hosts live music every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday night.
You can download the programme here.
For more information, visit the jazz festival website here.
