Birmingham Jazz

Birmingham Jazz is a Development Agency which presents contemporary jazz in Birmingham, UK on a year-round basis. Birmingham Jazz promotes up to 110 events a year in various venues around the city. There are three strands, The Concert Series, The Club Series and the Friday night Rush Hour Blues sessions at Symphony Hall. These include 30 to 35 concerts at various concert halls, or Arts Centres, specifically the CBSO Centre (capacity 300), The Adrian Boult Hall (capacity 500), the Recital Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire (capacity 140), Concrete club space (capacity 350) and the Town Hall (capacity 1000).

As well as the concert series, Birmingham Jazz also believes strongly in presenting jazz in club venues, notably the Rainbow Pub, The Jam House and the Yardbird Jazz Club where we programme bands that appeal to a largely young audience.

The Jazz Club night at The Rainbow promotes up-and-coming as well as established artists as part of the Club series. Also, at the Yardbird Jazz Club, Birmingham Jazz co-promotes with the Cobweb Collective an occasional Thursday session as well as sessions on Saturday nights.

Birmingham Jazz also runs the very popular Rush Hour Blues commuter jazz sessions every Friday at Symphony Hall in the Level 3 Bar from 5.30 to 7pm. Birmingham Jazz believes strongly in the development of contemporary jazz and new work. It takes a broad definition of 'jazz' and is interested in collaborative projects that draw on other musics.

To find out about our latest gigs, head over to our What's on section.

If you want to meet the people who work for Birmingham Jazz visit our Staff page.

Entertaining, Educating and Embracing

Entertaining

Birmingham Jazz is the regions most active independent promoter - and commissioner - of quality contemporary music.

Birmingham Jazz presents music of the highest quality across the entire spectrum of contemporary jazz. Our audiences come to hear artists of international standing.

Birmingham Jazz audiences appreciate the best of British contemporary jazz, including many bands from Birmingham and the surrounding region.

Our audiences like to mix jazz with classical music, contemporaty jazz, with folk and world musics and urban and hip-hop based jazz.

Birmingham Jazz audiences are as varied as our music and our venues. At a Birmingham Jazz gig there is no such thing as a 'typical' jazz fan.

And nobody asks "Is this Jazz?"

Educating

Birmingham Jazz is where musicians, audiences and promoters are learning all the time.

With MAC (Midlands Art Centre) Birmingham Jazz have organised Weekend Schools from 1991. our tutors have included teachers from the Guildhall School of Music, the Glamorgan Summer Schools and teachers from the Birmingham Conservatoire.

In 2003/4, Birmingham Jazz co-operated with Sound It Out Community Music to present our first community-based education project Ways Into Improvisation. This was with students from Hampsted Hall and Hodge Hill schools.

The next year the project was expanded to include Holyhead Secondary and Greystone Primary Schools. Out of these projects came a new band The Void which has performed at Birmingham Jazz events. This has continued with the Birmingham Jazz Youth project. Find out more about them here.

With Birmingham Jazz visiting artists, we have organised masterclasses at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Masterclass leaders have included Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano and Dave Holland.

Many Conservatoire Jazz Course students give their first public performance for Birmingham Jazz.

Everybody learns something new with Birmingham Jazz.

Embracing

Birmingham Jazz recognises no barriers - between music, artists or audiences.

How does Birmingham Jazz bring people together?

We bring together contemporary jazz and classical musics and we bring contemporary music to club audiences.

Birmingham Jazz's ticket pricing policy is intended to bring contemporary jazz to the widest possible audience. In fact, many of our regular events are free of charge to the public.

We believe that Birmingham Jazz brings together a more diverse range of artists and audiences than any other arts organisation in the region, or even the whole country.

What some of our artists say about Birmingham Jazz:

"First rate. None better. Birmingham and England are lucky to have them."

Bobby Previte

"Birmingham Jazz is a vital organisation that has brought some of the most compelling contemporary work to the UK."

Dave Douglas

"Birmingham Jazz...has started to transform this formerly sleeping art giant of a city into a vibrant and perceptive place to live, work, study, visit and enjoy."

Hans Koller

"Thanks to the artistic vision of it's director, Birmingham is now respected internationally by musicians and concert goers alike as a major centre for creative music".

Liam Noble

"Birmingham Jazz is an achor for Jazz musicians in the Midlands. It gives us both opportunities and inspiration."

Sara Colman

"Throughout it's history, Birmingham Jazz has been crucial to the music scene in Britain."

Uri Caine

"Long may this dedicated organisation continue to set the standard for contemporary music promotion."

Django Bates

"Without institutions like this, the development and survival of the art of improvisation during the 21st century will become much more difficult."

Ken Vandermark

And from our audiences:

"Without Birmingham Jazz, the top names of real jazz would disappear from the city."

Gary Newbon

"Witnessing world-class musicians playing live is an immeasurable joy and privilege...Birmingham Jazz has provided some of my most thrilling and contented moments."

Jim Crace