Celebrating its 33rd anniversary this year, the Brecon Jazz festival is hoping to create something unique, exciting, and most importantly new. The festival, like a caterpillar who has matured into a beautiful butterfly, is boasting that this will be their year of metamorphosis.
Moving away from the operational difficulties and practicalities of the festival in the past years, this year, the festival is community led and favours imagination and intimate settings.
Headliners for the weekend include Tina May and Wales Latin Jazz Ensemble, Teddy Smith Big Band, with guests, where dancing is encouraged and impossible to resist and Smooth Celtic Jazz, which sees Dublin meet Wales where traditional music mixes heritage to create a unique and culturally distinct sound.
Local talent will have an opportunity to grow as the festival includes many local bands, who will perform in a variety of spaces, ranging from iconic spots of beauty to transgressive urban street scenes.
This year the festival is focusing on different perspectives of the jazz industry and its history. Festival and celebration will still take centre stage but for the first time, wellbeing is also being catered for with workshops focusing on alternative uses for music, like therapy.
The Women in Jazz exhibition hopes to shine a light on the women who have made such an impact on the progression of jazz. The exhibition will showcase how women have added to and transformed both the sound and dynamics of the genre, and will highlights aspects of the genre which are often overlooked.
On Sunday, jazz will be combined with film as they will be showing old film of jazz greats including footage from Rhode Island Jazz Fest 1959 including John Coltrane, Sony Rollins, and the Jazz Messengers. Whilst visitors listen and watch jazz heroes, there will also be food to accompany the evening.
So, even if you are not a lover of traditional jazz, the exciting variety at this year’s festival means that there will be something for everyone and you will definitely have the opportunity to discover something new. ELOUISE HOBBS
Brecon Jazz Festival, Various venues across Brecon, Fri 12 – Sun 14 Aug. Tickets: prices vary per event. Info: www.breconjazz.club
