New Northern
New Northern is Jazz North’s promoter bursary to support live emerging talent.
New Northern supports promoters to programme emerging northern artists by underwriting risk and helping pay essential costs.
Designed both to support emerging artists in the north and give an injection of cash to promoters who need it, this easy-access scheme offers a quick intervention to northern grassroots promoters facing difficult financial circumstances.
2024 Recipients
Meet the seven promoters we’re supporting in 2024/25 with New Northern bursaries of up to £1,000. These promoters were awarded bursaries as they are actively making a difference to the northern scene by promoting emerging talent. The bursaries will support fees and costs for northern emerging artists and support acts.
Chris Bye, Jazz North CEO, says:
“Jazz North is thrilled to support the work of promoters across the North of England who are working to keep grassroots music alive and support that all important pipeline of talent in the North.”
Jazz North will share gig dates and spotlight features on each promoter over the coming months. For further news and updates, follow Jazz North’s social media channels.
2023 Recipients
Meet the ten promoters supporting emerging Northern jazz talent with our New Northern support.
“The ten promoters that make up the New Northern roster show just how thriving the northern jazz scene is. Every name on this list has demonstrated an absolute commitment to both their locality and the next generation of artists that represents the future of northern jazz. Jazz North is proud to support their work, their ethos and their gigs.” - Chris Bye - CEO
Jazz North will share gig dates and spotlight features on each promoter over the coming months. For further news and updates, follow Jazz North’s social media channels.
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Hulljazz (Dave Ellis, Hull) will support emerging artists local to Hull and Leeds: harpist Stephanie Halsey, saxophonist Dustin Kitsch and bassist Fergus Quill. The subsidy will help offset the costs of publicity, advertising and general administration, all currently carried out by volunteer supporters.
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No Such Thing Records (Danni Skerritt, Manchester) will support a one off performance of Audio-visual artist Ruby Tingle , in conjunction with her exhibition Afterlife at The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery. The exhibition private view on December 14th will feature both tracks plus material from her latest electronic jazz EP Fountainia, played out in front of a new video piece.
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ParrJazz (Jonathan Butters, Liverpool) will bring together diverse, disconnected or hard to reach communities to express themselves through Mutant Jazz - the emergent scene in Liverpool: multi-genres, multi-generational, multi-communities morphing jazz into new combinations.
Their first mini-festival on 28th September, at Metrocola, features Bop Kaballa, Sweet Beans, Bonk! and Ranga plus female hip-hop MCs and a jam session, in collaboration with You & I Presents.
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Melodic Distraction, Winter Jazz Festival (James Zaremba, Liverpool), will host a one-day ‘Winter Jazz Festival’ at Melodic Bar, with three Merseyside bands and two DJ sets with a focus on unheard and emerging talent.
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Footprints Jazz Club (David Sheard, Sheffield) provides a safe space for Sheffield's new jazz scene and gives emerging artists the chance to perform in the basement of Sidney and Matilda. The bursary will support Footprints to extend to other cities and introduce wider and more diverse lineups from across the North, and recruit a videographer to produce debut live recordings for artists booked at Footprints.
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Live @ Union Lane, Brampton Community Centre (David Gosling, Brampton, nr. Carlisle) Live @ Union Lane will produce a young emerging artist programme to help them develop a younger audience to join their core jazz lovers and in turn provide a platform for continuing to showcase new northern talent at this north Cumbria club.
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Jazz Club at The Grayston Unity (David Gosling, Halifax) is the only regular jazz event in Halifax town centre, giving emerging jazz artists in the North of England the opportunity to play in one of the area's most exciting grass roots venues. The bursary will support young artists from Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Manchester and Leeds to perform at the venue.
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JazzLeeds (Steve Crocker, Leeds) is a time-honoured supporter of young and new bands, offering support slots for their international evening concerts, “College Collections”, developing jazz in Leeds high schools, and much more. JazzLeeds will use the bursary to include groups from the first and second year at Leeds Conservatoire in their forthcoming programme at Seven Arts.
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Discontinued (Oliver Bolton, Leeds) is a monthly avant-garde performance night at Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds run by vocalist, poet, and performance artist Oliver Bolton, whose focus is on projects and performance styles that are so off the beaten path that they can be hard to programme, explain, or categorise. Oliver will expand its programme to include electronic and loop music, audiovisual projects and projects that artists struggle to find space for on the Northern jazz and arts scenes.
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The Wombat Jazz Club (Ni Maxine, Liverpool) has been popping up to produce iconic events which bring the community together and celebrate Black music, in all of its forms, with a focus on Jazz being the perfect genre to bridge generational gaps, with its legacy and recent resurgence. The Wombat Jazz Club will programme a series of alcohol-free ticketed live shows, platforming emerging jazz artists from Liverpool and beyond.
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North West Music Academy (NWMA) is developing a 4 storey heritage building in the heart of Barrow-in-Furness into a dedicated centre for music education & performance. As part of this they are establishing a regular platform for jazz - launching a micro-festival in 2025 which will become an annual event.
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Paul Rigby will present big bands at The continental in Preston. The events will showcase young and old talent but most of all give aspiring musicians in a big band setting a much needed voice to help hone their craft to jazz. Expect many a full house which young and old attend and appreciate exciting music from swing to funk.
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Jazz North is supporting the fortnightly YardFest Jazz night (Nanette Brimble) in Saltaire, Bradford by topping up its ability to fund a varied programme to include more local emerging artists.
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Offshoots (Anna Ross) is a jazz, experimental and avant-garde event which takes part in independent venues across Leeds. The aim of Offshoots is to give a platform to a diverse range of new musicians and provide a safe and non-judgemental experience for musicians to gain experience performing live.
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Through New Northern, Scarborough Jazz will support fees for emerging artists presented through their longstanding schemes Scarborough Jazz Introduces and New Jazz Generation. The first of these is an event at Scarborough Jazz which takes place on Wednesday 2nd. October (The Cask) and features the Jascha Bingham Trio.
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@ Hyde Park Book Club, Headrow House, Brudenell Social Club and Belgrave MusicHall
DJ Lubi (Lubi Jovanovic ) will present a program of contemporary jazz and world jazz at four venues across Leeds (Hyde Park Book Club, Headrow House, Brudenell Social Club, Belgrave Music Hall) featuring emerging Leeds artists - both professional and student musicians - taking place from October 2024 to February 2025 (9 gigs).
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New Northern funding will enable a brand new release through New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings (Wesley Stephenson) with a supporting album launch concert in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings project was established during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, offering a creative output for musicians when live performance opportunities were unavailable and encouraging artist independence.