Manchester Jazz Festival and The Met have joined forces for an exciting collaboration of intimate gigs in 2021.
From January to April, music lovers can be in the audience for a diverse programme of live performances brought to you by Manchester’s longest running music festival at the popular Bury based venue.
Audiences have the chance to be part of an exclusive, intimate audience in The Met, or to join live streaming audiences across the world.
The programme includes:
∙ Friday 22 January – Camilla George Quartet
The MOBO-nominated, Nigerian-born saxophonist and star of award-winning Jazz Jamaica, leads her own critically-acclaimed project showcasing the stars of the new UK jazz scene. Her music is a hypnotising blend of Afrofuturism, hip hop and jazz, and is politically minded and heavily linked with African history.
∙ Saturday 20 February – Dennis Rollins’ Velocity Trio
British trombone player Dennis Rollins MBE has established a reputation as an artist of excellence, and has lent his unique talents to some of the world’s top jazz and pop personalities such as Courtney Pine, Maceo Parker, Jamiroquai, US3, The Brand New Heavies, Blur, Monty Alexander, Pee Wee Ellis and Jean Toussaint. His Velocity Trio is a brilliant marriage of refined contemporary jazz arrangements with simmering grooves that appeals to multiple generations of jazz, funk and world music fans.
∙ Friday 26 March – John Helliwell’s Ever Open Door
Ever Open Door is an eclectic collection of ballads, songs, and folk tunes from an intimate sextet led by the enigmatic sax legend that is John Helliwell. Here, his lyrical and heartfelt sound is bathed in strings and the soulful wash of the Hammond, in the hands of another northern musical enigma, John Ellis.
∙ Friday 23 April – The Breath
Ríoghnach Connolly and Stuart McCallum are the creative heart of BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominees The Breath. Ríoghnach’s deeply soulful, utterly engaging, stop-you-in-your-tracks voice coupled with Stuart’s understated brilliance and their exquisitely crafted songs give The Breath such emotional depth.
Steve Mead, mjf CEO and Artistic Director, said: “Along with the rest of the population we’ve been desperate to see the return of live music and are excited to announce this series of intimate gigs from some of the UK’s most exciting and diverse jazz artists.
“Audiences can enjoy the music live at The Met by booking a limited number of individual tickets or tables in the venue, or from the comfort of their own homes via a live stream. “We formed a great partnership with The Met after streaming some of our 25th anniversary festival with them earlier this year. We’re thrilled to be back in the venue and working with them again.”
The Met have introduced a number of extra measures to ensure the venue is COVID-safe for staff and audiences including additional cleaning, socially distanced seating and table service.
Audiences should keep their eyes peeled for news on mjf2021 which will be announced next year. Tickets for mjf @ The Met are on sale now – book here.
