Latest News
New Northern: YardFest - building a community with live music
In our fourth New Northern feature Helena Summerfield talked to Nanette Brimble about YardFest. Nanette applied for a New Northern bursary to help support the fortnightly YardFest Jazz night in Saltaire, Bradford by topping up its ability to fund a varied programme to include more local emerging artists.
Merseyside Jazz Scene - Challenges and Solutions
Members of the Merseyside jazz community came together to discuss the challenges facing their local scene and explore potential solutions. The forum revealed a proactive desire to overcome these issues through collaborative efforts, improved communication, innovative financial models, and strategic advocacy. Read our report.
New Northern: supporting the next generation at Scarborough Jazz
In our third New Northern feature we travel across to the east coast of Yorkshire and Scarborough Jazz to catch up with promoter Bob Walker. Their New Northern bursary has been used to support fees for emerging artists presented through their Scarborough Jazz Introduces and New Jazz Generation schemes.
Celebrating our biggest Jazz camp weekend yet
Over the weekend of 8th-9th March, eight ‘Jazz Camp for Girls’ events took place across the north of England. The camps gave 122 young musicians the chance to explore jazz and improvising, some for the very first time. Feedback from the camps received so far has been extremely positive.
New Northern: Ensuring the future of big band development in Preston
In the second of our New Northern spotlight features we hear from promoter Paul Rigby. Paul applied to New Northern to present a series of big band performances at The Continental in Preston. The Jazz North team were impressed by the way Paul’s events were designed to showcase talent both old and new and give aspiring big band musicians an opportunity to develop their craft.
International Women's Day and the Jazz Camp for Girls weekend
On Saturday 8th March Jazz North will be joining supporters around the globe to celebrate International Women’s Day and, closer to home, our ‘Jazz Camp for Girls’ weekend. Earlier in the week jazz camp project manager Helena Summerfield visited Manchester University to deliver a seminar and improvisation workshop for music students as part of their Musica Festival programme.
New online resource to help artists and promoters win when creating a social media campaign
In today’s musical climate, being an artist or promoter involves much more than just having some great tunes or booking artists to perform at your event. Music professionals are required to wear a number of hats and in response Jazz North have created a series of helpful online resources.
First ever Jazz and Blues Weekender in Barrow 21-23 Feb 2025
The first of our New Northern spotlight features highlights the work of North West Music Academy and promoter Lesley Faulkner. North West Music Academy (NWMA) is a music charity based in Barrow-in-Furness. Their mission is to bring high-quality music education, activities and performance to the local community.
Latest Northern Line artists revealed
Jazz North announces its latest roster of Northern Line - the live talent development programme for jazz across the North - Amy Thatcher & Francesca Knowles, Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band, Ex-Easter Island Head, Ellen Beth Abdi & The Exu make up the cohort of northern artists to watch.
Education Forum: Focus on Youth Jazz Orchestras
The Education Forum focused on the conclusion of a significant project funded by Arts Council, which involved commissioning 10 British jazz composers to create new pieces for 10 youth jazz orchestras across northern England.
Celebrating 7 Years ‘Jazz Camp for Girls’ in the UK
8 ‘Jazz Camp for Girls’ events will be taking place across the north over the weekend of 8th-9th March 2025. Camps will be taking place in Beverley, Doncaster, Gateshead, Grimsby, Lancaster, Leeds, Penrith and Sale.
How we support music educators across the North!
159 people have now subscribed to the Learning Resources Area of the Jazz North website since launching in October. It’s free to create an account and access our free and downloadable resources. As planned, a fresh batch of activities have now been added to the area and we are keen to hear from people that have tried using any of the materials in their various teaching situations.
Youth Jazz Orchestra Commissions project enters the next stage
The Youth Jazz Orchestra Commissions starts 2025 ready for the next stage of the project. All ten YJOs have had the commissioned works for about 9 months now. Lots of band leaders have been in touch to say how brilliant it was to have the composers working with their young musicians and I hope those sessions have been inspiring and memorable for the young band members.
National 9 date tour for Vipertime in Jan / Feb 2025
Northern Line artists Vipertime are heading out on a national 9 date tour starting at the end of January 2025. Leeds’ aggro-jazz quartet Vipertime have Iggy Pop as one of their fans. On his BBC R6 radio show he said “I wouldn't mind hanging out somewhere where that was going on. I guess I'd have to go to Leeds".
Meet our Northern Line Advisory panel
We change up our panel each year to bring new voices to the room and make sure we’re representing jazz across the sector.
Huge thanks to our panel - they do amazing work for the music industry and support artists from across the scene. Head to the link in our bio to read the ‘Meet the Panel’ blog post and find out more about what they do.
Tight budgets, limited time - free tools to create assets
We want to clue you in on what you can do yourself with handy free tools like Canva. With the help of our brilliant guest, Evie Henderson, we are here to help! Come to our online workshop on Zoom, Mon 16 Dec 11-12pm.
Bringing the Playlist Project to life
On a cold but bright November morning, five musicians arrived at The Nave in Stanningley, Leeds ready to bring Jazz North’s ‘Playlist project’ to life. Led by Learning and Participation project manager Helena Summerfield (alto sax) the band also featured stalwarts of the Northern jazz scene Aaron Wood (trumpet) Graham Maynard (keys), Hamlet Luton (bass) and Caroline Boaden (drums).
What’s new in our touring support programme for northern artists?
Applications are invited for Northern Line, Jazz North’s live touring support programme for northern artists. The artist opportunity offers bursaries of up to £3000, a showcase at manchester jazz festival and dedicated 1:1 support.
Jazz North launches new initiative to encourage improvisation in schools
One of the challenges facing music educators is finding reliable resources; when time and money is at a premium it is often tempting to stay with ‘old favourites’ rather than trying something new.
Emerging Artist Toolkit
You’ve formed your band, written some music, got a set together, done a few local gigs…what next? This toolkit will help you begin to navigate your journey through the live music sector.