Burton Agnes Jazz and Blues Festival Shapes Up - with discounted tickets on sale until May 31st
Wed 30th May 2018
This unique and boutique festival, which has grown year on year and is uniquely set in one of the UK's finest Elizabethan stately piles, our very own Burton Agnes Hall, is now regarded as firmly established within the festival calendar.
Highlights this year include soulful and intimate TipToe, who open the Festival on Friday evening with the award-winning Space-Funk Trio The ElecTrio who are from the UK and will take the classic sound of 70's instrumental Jazz-Funk-Fusion into the future!
Saturday afternoon brings the much-anticipated return of Matt and Carlos - the Jazz guitarist duo of Bolivian Carlos Olmos and Londoner Matt Smith, performing a mix of soul, funk and jazz and blues and then another firm favourite, vocalist Zoë Gilby, who offers compelling and original compositions. Her stockpile of music reaches a wide range of more contemporary material from composers such as Pink Floyd to Kate Bush, with influences from Sheila Jordan and Joni Mitchell. New to Burton Agnes Jazz and Blues Festival for 2018 is Ubunye (‘one-ness’) a band who unites singers hailing from Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa (now Huddersfield based) with Gospel and R’n’B players from Yorkshire in an inspirational blend of jazz, Isigqi – traditional Zulu music – and Afro-Pop.
Saturday evening and the wonderful Jo Harrop will play tribute to the sultry songstress and ‘regal’ Peggy Lee as she kicks off the Saturday evening line up. Headlining the main stage on Saturday evening, will be the Grammy nominee and Emmy Award winner Billy Branch supported by international blues harpist, Giles Robson and his band. Billy, Giles and the band are on fire and invite festivalgoers to be part of their exciting journey as they bring the pure blues out of the shadows and rock the Burton Agnes Jazz and Blues Festival!
Sunday begins with an electrifying new duo Skeltr in which Sam Healey’s roaring sax lines soar above Craig Hanson’s drum patterns, electronic soundscapes and samples, manipulated live in the moment: a striking expansive sound with a buzzing energy at its core. Then Kyla Brox with Danny Blomeley make their Burton Agnes festival debut.
Kyla's voice remains a stunning example of the soul singer's art: turning up the heat by degrees, lulling and charming before unleashing emotional catharsis, and blurring the distinction between pleasure and pain like the soul greats of old. Harnessing undiluted soul power in a duo with musical and life partner Danny Blomeley, Kyla Brox is without doubt the most authentic UK blues and soul singer of her generation.
The penultimate band to perform is the seven-piece Atlantic Crossover, the renewed version and second wave of a 'Tribute to Atlantic Jazz' who, after over 6 years of being apart, have revived the project and are now taking the original idea and concept to deeper depths. Still retaining its appealing soulful driving front line power combined with a dynamic and exciting rhythm section, expect to be taken on a journey further into the Atlantic Sound. Playing out this year’s festival, will once again be festival favourites Ben Beattie’s After Bidnight plus Simon Cunliffe-Lister.
There's additional evening bands in association with Strada Music Agency playing in the Wold Top Beer Tent, which include The Alligators, Nick Rooke Band and Polly Bolton and Bella Gaffney.
The Festival runs from July 13th - 15th. Tickets are available from 01262 490324 or lhttps://www.burtonagnes.com/Jazz_Festival/Tickets_and_Prices.html
