For starters, I haven’t got a flyer for this one but Lizzy Parks is playing in the Symphony Hall foyers today (Friday) from 5.30pm to 7pm and it’s free. Info on the THSH website. Or indeed the Birmingham Jazz website.

Earlier in the day (in fact from 12pm to 7pm) head over to Lombard Street in Digbeth for PST’s street party. This here flyer says there’s going to be food, live art and heavy bass. And face painting.

MakeIt Zone are having an open day on Saturday.

Capsule have got an event at Kings Heath’s Hare and Hounds on Saturday night called Wedlock. Dunno what that’s a reference to but I like the pretty picture.

There’s loads of other stuff happening too. Have a look at Live Brum for listings.

On 23 February, Mostly Jazz were set to launch their 2011 Festival at The Rainbow, with a performance from a trio of contemporary Jazz performers; local, world class drummer, Tony Levin (above), saxophonist Paul Dunmall and young bass player Nick Jurd.

Sadly, Tony Levin passed away earlier this month, and so the gig is now set to go ahead in tribute to him, featuring the musicians originally booked to play alongside the legendary drummer.

The first set at 9pm will feature the Nick Jurd Quartet with Rachel Cohen on saxophone, Sam Wooster on trumpet, Nick on bass and Jim Bashford on drums. The second set will feature Paul Dunmall on saxophone, Mark Sanders and Tony’s son, Miles Levin on drums and Nick Jurd who Tony had personally chosen for the original gig.

Tickets for this event are £5, for more information, visit Birmingham Jazz, where they’ve also posted a tribute piece.

All proceeds will be donated to Blue Chairs: Shropshire Blood Trust Fund  http://www.justgiving.com/bluechairs2

On 20 November, The Hare & Hounds and Birmingham Jazz will be welcoming the Grammy nominated Christen Scott Quintet to Birmingham.

Considered somewhat jazz pedigree, as the nephew of saxophonist Donald Harrison, Scott has become one of the great innovators of his generation as part of an achingly cool new wave of contemporary jazz artists. He arrives at the Hare & Hounds in support of his new album ‘Yesterday You Said Tomorrow’.

Tickets are £13 (£10) and are available online via theticketsellers, by calling 0844 870 0000 or in person at Polar Bear Records, Kings Heath.

]]> http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2010/09/30/bbc-radio-3-pick-up-on-some-of-birminghams-jazz/ Thu, 30 Sep 2010 07:57:38 +0000 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/?p=7298 [Read more...]]]> A bit more news in the follow-up of Artsfest, this time on the musical front. Over the weekend BBC Radio 3 recorded two homegrown jazz performances for the Jazz Line Up programme, which was broadcast last weekend, on Sunday 26 September.

Recorded at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham bands led by Ben Markland and Percy Pursglove played at the special edition of Rush Hour Blues. The show is currently still available to listen to on BBC iPlayer.

Take a look at this post on the Birmingham Jazz blog to read a bit more about it.

Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research are hosting ‘Jazz and the Media‘, in partnership with Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham Jazz on 15 October. The event welcomes three internationally recognised speakers who will be presenting seminars throughout the day.

Mike Connolly is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with over 10 years experience in factual and arts television production.

William Ellis is at the vanguard of music photographers and is widely recognised as having created an important document of the contemporary jazz scene in Africa, Europe and The Americas.

Alyn Shipton is an award-winning author and broadcaster, who is jazz critic for The Times in London, and a presenter/producer of jazz programmes for BBC Radio.

To read more about these guys and their extensive careers working around jazz and the media, visit the event page.

Tickets can be ordered online at jazzandthemedia.eventbrite.com.

I saw Mother India: 21st Century Remix in 2008 and it was honestly one of the best things I saw that year. It’s been off on tour since but will be back in Birmingham on Sunday (11 April) to crown Mother India weekend – a bunch of events happening at the Town Hall and Symphony Hall.

This version of Mother India is:

A reinterpretation of the 1957 Indian cinema classic as a 45 minute silent movie with new musical score will be performed live by DJ Tigerstyle, drummer David Shaw and cellist Matt Constantine with Josh Ford as visual editor.

MI21 is a compact, powerful and sensual take on Mehboob Khan’s Hindi masterpiece – a hugely important film in South Asian cinema, known for its iconic imagery and powerful storyline: the common shorthand is to reference it as India’s ‘Gone with the wind’.

Definitely go and see it. Here – here’s the link to get tickets.

Other things happening as part of the weekend:

• Fri 9 April Arun Ghosh Sextet (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
• Fri 9 April – Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)
• Sat 10 April – Mid-day Mantra – Sanchita Pal (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
• Sat 10 April – Amaan & Ayaan Ali Khan (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)

The first is in association with Birmingham Jazz, the others with sampad and, in some cases, The Drum.

The Mid-day Mantra thing sounds quite good – a variant on the Rush Hour Blues series, I guess. That’ll be happening once a month from now on and will be a freebie.