The 20th manchester jazz festival will be celebrating 20 summers of jazz from 31 July to 9 August  2015.  


The full festival line-up features 78 gigs, with over 400 artists, from across the UK and abroad, performing in 10 landmark venues for 10 music-filled days.  


mjf is Manchester’s longest-running music festival and is one of the highlights of Manchester’s cultural calendar, attracting over 60,000 visitors in 2014.  

 


Festival highlights include: John Surman and Strings: one of Europe’s most acclaimed jazz musicians, in the magnificent Reading Room of Central Library;  

An Ape’s Progress: the world première of a new multi-media commission by Iain Ballamy with Irish poet and storyteller Mike Sweeney and illustrator, comic book artist and filmmaker Dave McKean, to mark the 20th mjf and the 10th Manchester Literature Festival; 


Jazz Summer Sunday 2 August: an afternoon of interactive family-friendly events;  Jazz North’s northern lineshowcase, 12 free gigs in 12 hours; headliners in the Thwaites Festival Pavilion include, Partisans, GoGo Penguin, Riot Jazz Brass Band and Baked à La Ska and a special Jazz on 3:BBC Introducing show, with four emerging jazz bands selected to perform by a team of BBC DJs  including Jez Nelson and Gilles Peterson.


mjf’s four bespoke strands also return for 2015:  mjf international, with Grammy award-winning Robert Glasper and four UK debuts including the French Jazz Musician of the Year, Airelle Besson; mjf introduces, supported by Manchester Arndale, putting the spotlight on the very best young talent from the North West; mjf afternoon tea, offering jazz in the elegant surroundings of The Midland – always a sell-out; and The Irwin Mitchell mjf originals series, the commission of a new work every year to be unveiled at the festival.  


This year an audio-visual work, Evolution: Seeds and Streams, by local pianist/singer/composer John Ellis and moving image artist Antony Barkworth Knight, will receive its world première in the spectacular setting of The Great Hall, inside Manchester’s iconic Town Hall.

 

For 2015, the popular festival venues – Band on the Wall, The Midland, Matt & Phred’s, RNCM, Soup Kitchen and St Ann’s Church – are joined by three new locations – the Central Library Reading Room, The Great Hall in Manchester Town Hall and The Portico Library. 

 

The hub of festival activity remains the Thwaites Festival Square & Pavilion in Albert Square, with gigs every day from lunchtime until late, the Thwaites Festival Bar and food outlets – this will be the place to meet up and relax with friends and family.


“We’ve come a long way since 1996, when a group of jazz enthusiasts assembled to plan a one day jazz festival for the people of Manchester.”  


“Now, 208 days of jazz and 5000 artist performances later, mjf is a celebration of northern music, northern talent, the best contemporary jazz from the UK and abroad, good times, great company and the best of Manchester.  Join us as we celebrate 20 summers of jazz.”  says Steve Mead, Artistic Director.

Tickets and booking information www.manchesterjazz.com.  Latest festival news and updates at facebook.com/manchesterjazzfestival or on Twitter @ManJazzFest

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