B:JazzFest 2022 has been a roaring success!

We kicked it off with a rousing performance from jazz ensemble Neighbourhd Wlvs in the Jennifer Blackwell. Additionally, we had dozens of young people aged between 11 and 19 to begin to learn the ropes in jazz instrumentalism; as part of our B:JazzFest Summer School programme

The next day we were proud to host Boing, a musical collaboration of Leafcutter John and Bex Burch. Pairing synth sounds with a gyil (West African xylophone), their performance was captivating to say the least!

On the Wednesday we had two performances: The Free Jazz Trio consisting of vocalist Lucy Anne Daniels, Andrew Woodhead and Blue Ruth. Together their improvisation was spellbinding, fusing elements of modern electronic music and traditional jazz.

Then we had the Black Flag project with Trish Clowes and Byron Wallen, the collaboration of these two jazz powerhouses created a very moving performance. The Summer School also had their mid week performance to show off their progress so far!

On the Thursday we saw the return of award-winning bassist and composer Daniel Casimir and the heard soulful tones of trombonist Shannon Barnett. Both performances had the audiences very moved!

On the final day we welcomed the return of drummer Romarna Campbell who electrified the Jennifer Balckwell with her jazz and hip hop infused beats. Then to conclude B:JazzFest we had harpist Alina Bzhezhinska of the HipHarp Collective give a very emotional performance to raise money for Ukraine. We are very happy to say she raised more than £600 for the cause!

Photography and images by Johnathan Williams