Ajay Srivistav is a blues musician whose music, reflecting the lessons learned as a British-born artist of Indian heritage, has brought him to the fore in recent years. His unique rootsy guitar style is layered with inflections of sitar and sarod and shows the ability...

Alan Barnes’ career has covered most of the bases, from his early years with the extremes of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra and Tommy Chase Quintet before settling into a band that perfectly fitted his talents: the Humphrey Lyttelton Band. In his years as a freelancer,...

It’s a measure of Alex Clarke’s remarkable progress that her recent CD, Only a Year, boasted a rhythm section beyond compare in 2023 Britain: Dave Newton, Dave Green and Clark Tracey, this only four years since she was voted Rising Star in the British Jazz Awards and...

Returning to the Festival, and bringing with them the joys of barbershop singing, are the Anvil Chorus and Classmates. The Anvil Chorus is the 30-plus-strong choir of the West Midlands Barbershop Harmony Club while Classmates, from the ranks of the Anvil Chorus, are...

B.D. Lenz returns to Birmingham as part of a month-long tour of the UK, Belgium and Germany to promote his 13th album, It’s Just a Dream. New Jersey native Lenz is a guitarist whose style fuses the music of Pat Metheny, Mike Stern and Stevie Ray Vaughan – or, to put...

Bill Coleman is best known nationally for his years with the Kenny Ball, but for regular patrons of the Birmingham Festival his immaculate bass playing is a feature of many of the trios backing star soloists. Visiting musicians and the public alike will be relieved...

The Birmingham Big Band was formed by John Ruddick to give professional and semi-professional musicians a chance to meet up during the day and play more challenging charts than they were used to in their evening gigs. The highly experienced band members have appeared...

This light-hearted Facebook group is made up of 722 members who just like to capture all things Birmingham and the Jazz Festival is a perfect event to do so. All sketches are done from life, not photographs, and Sketchcrawls are organised where a number of people come...

Bob and Honeyboy are a charismatic duo with many years’ experience playing with the best. Guitarist Bob has worked with most of Birmingham’s finest, including Steve Gibbons, Idle Race and Ruby Turner while harmonica player/singer Honeyboy can point to a long...

Bruce Adams’ legendary richness of tone has recently been enhanced by his partnership with Eclipse trumpets, providing him with a trumpet, flugel and cornet. An album of duos with Craig Milverton, Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now, was released in the last few months to...

Having started out with K-Creative in the early 1990s, alto saxist Chris Bowden is now well established on the Birmingham scene, comfortable in all styles from acoustic to hip hop and drum and bass. His most recent album, Unlikely Being, dates from 2018. Catch him at...

Among the highlights of a 35-year career in jazz is taking part in the first ever jazz concert in Albania with Julian Stringle. A most accomplished pianist with stylistic links to Oscar Peterson, Craig has spent many years on assorted Digby Fairweather projects, has a...

Bassist/bass guitarist Dave Storer is a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire and vastly experienced in a variety of styles, from accompanying Katherine Jenkins to playing in bands at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, taking in jazz and rock music en route.

With a repertoire encompassing the melodic and jazzy sounds of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, the Eureka Jazz Band appears in various forms, from a trio to a full marching band, with flexibility and entertainment value always top priorities.   Eureka Jazz Band will...

French-born, but London-based, Florence Joelle covers a wide field in her appreciation of jazz. Among other things she works as an A&R record label consultant and gives talks as a jazz expert on Zoom. However, it’s as a chanteuse with echoes of Edith Piaf and...

Garry Allcock is known as a highly experienced and accomplished drummer and leader of the All Stars Big Band. During the Festival he can be heard in various roles, notably anchoring the rhythm section for visiting soloists

A real coup for the Festival is booking the Hitman Blues Band which was formed in 1989 by Russell Alexander, the Hitman! Playing a brand of modern/alt blues that brings in more than a little humour, the band boasts a full brass section and three female backing...

Having recently totted up their 300th gig and with a pretty full date sheet taking them towards 400, the Jake Leg Jug Band are definitely back in action post-Covid. A new live CD was issued in May and the band is having fun keeping alive the authentic spirit of 1930s...

Why the Jazz Lobbyists? John Hemming, political campaigner and former MP, is the link. Away from politics, John is a jazz enthusiast, a Festival Board member and a polished pianist who can be relied upon to bring a first-class band to the Festival. His Lobbyists are...

Master-drummer and tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire, Malcolm Garrett is always first choice among visiting soloists to occupy the drum chair. A drummer of great taste and technique, he has been a stalwart of the Jazz Festival for many years.

The Martin Burch Band from Leicester offer a ferocious take on the blues, making them crowd favourites at Henry’s Blueshouse. Aside from Birmingham, they are playing the Dereham and Upton Blues Festivals this month.   Catch them at the following performances:...

Based in Oldbury, the Neil Coley Big Band is a 17-piece made up of professionals and talented amateurs. With a repertoire that ranges from early 1920s material to the present day, they play a mix of the best of jazz, swing and big band jazz, including Latin, blues,...

New Street Authors is a collective of independent, self-publishing writers based in and around Birmingham. Launched in 2015 it quickly established itself as a major player in the West Midlands independent publishing scene. Its members publish across a wide range of...

Regulars at Henry’s Blueshouse will know that The Nitecrawlers aim to re-create the sheer enjoyment of the original R&B clubs of the 60s. With a lifetime of experience behind them, the four band members have appeared with some of the biggest names in the music...

The Platinum Swing Band is a 16 piece band who formed just after the coronavirus sanctions were lifted, comprising of some of the Midlands’ most respected musicians who have a great passion for playing swing music and a great desire for live entertainment. Directed by...

Birmingham-based Hot Club of France devotees, Playing Django, have recently settled in to a new Monday night venue, De La Vies in Harborne after 15 years at La Bastile in the city centre and the Dark Horse at Moseley.   Catch them at the following times and...

  Formed in 2013 by singer/harmonica player Ricky Cool, the In Crowd mix rhythm and blues with Jamaican genres such as blue beat, ska and reggae. This is no nostalgia trip: the music is as relevant and exciting as ever, with sharp showmanship to the fore in...

Song stylist Roy Forbes’ vocal style is, as Jazz UK expressed it, ‘infused with the warmth of his own personality.’ His smooth treatment of the Great American Songbook has seen him acclaimed at festivals as far apart as Milan, Marbella and St. Lucia as well as in his...

Roy Forbes is renowned as a smoothly dynamic singer of the Great American Songbook, but, as Covid struck, he decided to visit the origins of this music in the blues of T-Bone Walker, Gatemouth Brown, Bobby Bland, Albert Collins and Freddy King. So he got together a...

An up-and-coming singer/songwriter from Birmingham, Sean Duggan played his first gig in a crowded pub at the age of 14 and has carried on the same way. With a full, mainly local date sheet, he commands an enthusiastic following and this year makes his Birmingham Jazz...

The Shakedown Brothers are an experienced Midlands-based five-piece who together present an eclectic and energetic brand of blues and blues/rock, serving up a passion-filled mix of self-penned material and lesser-known songs by blues greats. Expect everything from the...

Sheila Waterfield burst on the scene with performances at the Festival of Song Cheltenham, Jazz Live Grimsby and the Big Band Festival in Aberdeenshire, resulting in two albums and widespread acclaim. Her vocal style draws on jazz, blues, soul, folk and Latin to...

Led by singer/harmonica player/blues expert Stuart Maxwell, the Shufflepack plays shuffling blues in the classic style, from Chicago to the West Coast. The music of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, the Kings and the rest, plus plenty of original...

Shortly before Covid struck, top tenor saxophonist Simon Spillett had dusted down the parts for the old Tubby Hayes Big Band and the Simon Spillett Big Band was about to debut. Covid, of course, set that back, but Simon is now taking the big band on the road. This is,...

The ever-popular dance classes run by Strictly Jitterbug are a much-loved feature of the Festival. Strictly Jitterbug have been teaching a mixture of East Coast Swing and Charleston for over ten years, including two years as resident dance teachers at Birmingham’s...

Sunjay (born Sunjay Brain) is a folk and blues singer/songwriter from Brierley Hill. He received tremendous acclaim when he burst onto the folk scene a decade ago. A finalist in the BBC Young Folk Award, he picked up the Young Performers Award at the Wath Folk...

Led by popular Midlands singer Billie Baker, Swing Café is a swing and jazz band devoted to playing the best loved songs of the era from the 1920s to the 1950s. Fine melodies mix with a sound that keeps you on the sunny side of life! Catch them at the following times...

Named after the celebrated New Orleans club (or, maybe, the song) Tipitina bring to life the spirit of New Orleans, the music of Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Fats Domino, James Booker and Allen Toussaint. Debbie Jones’ powerful vocals and Justin Randall’s mastery of...

Long established as one of the UK’s top singers, Val Wiseman has established a relationship with the Festival with her performances of Lady Sings the Blues, the definitive Billie Holiday tribute, recorded by Big Bear Records at the Festival, and also as a solo...

One of the finest Greek jazzmen of his generation, Vasilis Xenopoulos settled in London on completing his studies at Berklee College in Boston. He soon made an impact and in 2017 formed XPQ (the Vasilis/Price Quartet) with Nigel Price with whom he tours prolifically....

With vocals from Suzi Woods, whose sophisticated stylings have brought her an appearance before Princess Grace of Monaco, the Unviables provide a mix of Latin, jazz, blues and chart classics to ensure an upbeat ambience for summer audiences.   Catch them at the...

Fast becoming festival favourites at Birmingham, Big Bear recording artists The Whiskey Brothers are Richard Heath on vocals and mandolin and Gerry Smith on piano. In the mid-1990s they formed the Splinter Blues Band, but since 2012 they have worked as a duo, playing...

One of the Birmingham Festival’s most popular features returns! Putting smiles on to the faces of ukulele enthusiasts of all ages is the return of Julian Cockshott of Ukulele Rocks with informal workshops for all levels of ability from absolute beginners upwards. No...