We’re delighted to be involved with the Cheltenham Jazz Fringe festival again this year. Here are the details of all that’s going on:

http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/jazzfringe

FRINGE ON THE TOWN

Thursday 22 April

Time: 8pm

Venue: University of Gloucestershire Pittville Campus Bar

Acts Amy Spencer, Joe Summers

The gentle melodies and beautiful vocals of Amy Spencer have swept away numerous audiences. Influences include Bon Iver, Florence and the Machine and Norah Jones

www.myspace.com/amyspencermusic

Joe Summers is a songwriter and musician who takes influence from the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Jeff Buckley. His folk-rock style coupled with wistful vocals creates arresting songs of heartfelt intimacy.

www.myspace.com/joesummerstheband

Time: 7.30pm

Venue Frog and Fiddle

Act: Alexander John & The Tom Hollister Trio

Alexander John brings the best of Delta Blues, Country slide guitar styles of Sea-Sick Steve and the sounds of soul searched Gospel. www.alexanderjohn.com

The Tom Hollister Trio are a vibrant powerhouse of blistering original material, fusing rock and blues for the soul. www.tomhollistertrio.com

Friday 23rd April

Time: 5.30pm

Venue: Railway

Act: Cheltenham Underground

The Cheltenham Underground in association with the Cheltenham Jazz Fringe Festival presents a night of excellent live music at the Railway featuring amongst others London singer-songwriter and teller of dark stories – Mark Hole; player of multiple harmonicas – Brendan Bayliss; Coventry troubadour – Ryan Martin; Swindon’s 12-year-old master of the loop station – Theo Altieri and sultry, quirky covers courtesy of The Coronettes.

http://www.myspace.com/cheltenhamunderground

Time: 8pm- 3am

Venue: Slak

Acts: Brown Torpedo (Live & DJ sets), Radioactive Sparrow & Andrew Lips

Brown Torpedo perform Tor-Guides, a virtual tour through the history of an alter-dimensional Cheltenham with pictures and wigs, expressed through improvised handheld techno and abstract poetry. www.myspace.com/browntorpedo

Radioactive Sparrow have delighted and confused countless crowds with their improv-noise free-jazz rock mess. Like The Fall, PiL, Can and Captain Beefheart in a cement mixer; Radioactive Sparrow are quite simply, the most legendary group you have probably never heard of. www.myspace.com/radioactivesparrow

Andrew Lips is a young domestic anti-folk troubadour, who presents his amazingly honest tales with brave wit and endearing charm. www.myspace.com/andrewlips

Saturday 24 April

Time: 2pm

Venue: Vine

Acts: Men Diamler & Dale Campbell

Forget any preconceptions you have of singer-songwriters! Men Diamler plays dark folk tunes, full of black humour and his live shows are as energetic as they are unusual. http://www.myspace.com/mendiamler

Dale Campbell is a solo acoustic guitarist who plays percussion, chords and melody simultaneously, in a unique style that must be seen to be believed – drumming, tapping, slapping, strumming and plucking. www.myspace.com/dalecampbell

Time: 6pm

Venue: Montpellier Wine Bar

Act: Swing From Paris

Jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. This four-piece ensemble bring their own sound to jazz and swing classics, evoking the sounds of the streets of Paris – all with an infectious swing rhythm!

www.swingfromparis.com

Sunday 25th April

Time: 12 – 2pm

Venue: Exmouth

Act: Paul Newman

Popular local musician and guitar teacher Paul Newman performs a lunchtime set of classic jazz standards for solo guitar.

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Beehive

Act: Anita Walsh & The Dixies

Local vocalist and song writer Anita Walsh has an incredibly versatile voice, able to sing anything from blues to pop and rock. She performs a set of well known standards and her own compositions.

anitawalsh.co.uk

The Dixies are an exciting young, jazz band from Gloucestershire who play a wide range of jazz music, from toe tapping Dixie standards to the far flung corners of the jazz genre.

myspace.com/thedixies

Wednesday 28th April

Time: 6pm

Venue: Exmouth

Act: Tom Hollister presents… The Jazz Fest Quiz Extravaganza!

South Wales’ most highly respected “Answer Prancer” brings his own twist to the Jazz Festival Quiz Night. Two hours, forty questions, loads of music and general mirth for this special one-off Jazz & music sprinkled quiz.

Time: 9pm

Venue: D-Fly

Act: Strayhorn

£5 on the door, proceeds go to Cheltenham Jazz.

A New cutting-edge jazz quartet featuring some of the area’s leading jazz musicians, playing original groove-heavy material alongside high-octane renditions of jazz and pop classics. For this Jazz Festival special, singer Wayne Elliot guests in a tribute to Sting’s jazz-influenced Blue Turtles Band.

FRINGE ON THE SQUARE

Thursday 29th April

Time: 5.30pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Special Guest

A special guest performance launches Jazz on The Square.

Time: 5.45pm- 6.30pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band

Formed as a proper old style Spasm Band in 2006, this group brings you red hot choruses and kazoo solos. Playing homemade instruments, the seven piece has played all over the UK, Holland and Germany.

www.myspace.com/theoriginalrabbitfootspasmband

Time: 6.40pm- 7.30pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Thrill Collins

Thrill Collins (Cheltenham’s Best Band) are a skiffle-pop lounge-jazz trio that specialise in 80s & 90s covers, very much in the tradition of their genre. The band have several residencies around Cheltenham and have enjoyed recent success with support slots for The Wurzles and Blackberry Wood. www.myspace.com/thrillcollinsmusic

Friday 30th April

Time: 5.30pm- 5.45pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Megan Henwood.

We welcome BBC Radio 2’s Young Folk Musician of the Year 2009 to play a few tracks opening our stage for the evening. Megan’s music is rooted in folk tradition, vibrant and melodic. Join Megan later in her main programme slot supporting Eric Bibb. www.myspace.com/meganhenwood

Time: 5.55pm- 6.40pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Budvar Brewed Jazz Competition Winner.

Budvar, in collaboration with Barclays Cheltenham Jazz Festival has been looking for the very best pub bands in Britain, and here the 2010 winning band, selected by a panel of top UK jazz specialist judges, will take to the stage.

Time: 6.50pm- 7.30pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Cattle Market.

From the sunny and often damp fields of far west England comes a delectable mix of raw funk, latin and jazz – reared and nurtured to form the most perfectly marbled product in the form of an 8 piece package, full of explosive flavour packing all the energy you’d normally get from your five a day.

www.myspace.com/cattlemarketuk

Saturday 1st May

Time: 12 – 2pm

Venue: John Gordons, The Promenade

Acts: Joe Noel & Swiss Trio

Joe Noel is a young singer/songwriter who performs catchy, melodic songs about dreams, drives and impulses in a witty and inviting style.

www.myspace.com/joenoelmusic

Swiss Trio return to the Festival with their ‘fraudulent jazz’, a dynamic and exciting fusion of infectious melodies, rock rhythms, electronica musings and jazz improvisation.

www.myspace.com/theswissmusic

Time: 2.45pm- 3.30pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Jake Hall

It’s a voice that’s unforgettable and almost unimaginable for someone 20 years old. Jake gives a soulful, raw and confident performance way beyond his years, his voice has leanings from black US soul legend Bill Withers to the UK’s Paul Weller on any given day.

www.myspace.com/jakehallofficial

Time: 3.45pm- 4.30pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Conservatoire Band

A group of rising stars from Birmingham Conservatoire’s acclaimed jazz course perform a special Cheltenham Jazz Festival set. See the future of jazz today!

Time: 6.15pm- 7.00pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Jim Lockey

Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun are a country folk punk band from Cheltenham, made up of four lost souls with a passion for politically poetic storytelling. Influenced by Bright Eyes and Billy Bragg they have supported the likes of Mumford and Sons and Frank Turner.

www.myspace.com/jimlockey

Time: 7.15pm- 8.00pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: 8 Fold

Festival favourite’s 8-fold have been stunning audiences up and down the country with their inimitable brand of gyp-hop. They fuse styles such as hip hop, jazz, funk and drum and bass in energetic and exciting live performances.

http://www.myspace.com/8fold

Sunday 2nd May

Time: 3.00pm- 3.45pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Conservatoire Band.

A group of rising stars from Birmingham Conservatoire’s acclaimed jazz course perform a special Cheltenham Jazz Festival set. See the future of jazz today!

Time: 4.00pm-4.45pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: The Friday Lunchtime Project

Winners of the Martyn Donaldson Music Trust Award at National Festival of Music for Youth, this talented young sextet from Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and Wakefield Girls’ High School, perform arrangements of compositions by Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Thelonious Monk.

Time: 6.30pm-7.15pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Polly & the Billets doux.

Championed by Bob Harris & Terry Wogan on Radio 2 as well as performing live sessions with Cerys Matthews on Radio 6, this band take their influences from jazz greats like Billie Holiday, adding a quintessentially English twist with divine harmonised vocals.

www.pollyandthebilletsdoux.co.uk/

Time: 7.30pm-8.15pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Waiting for Kate.

This lively Bristol based band play funky, big beat indie music featuring vibrant and energetic horn playing and upbeat vocals. Certain to make you dance along.. http://waitingforkate.co.uk/

Cheltenham Untapped

Monday 3rd May

Time: 11.00am- 11.45am

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: GYJO.

Gloucestershire’s high energy leading youth jazz ensemble. This is a first class big band with incredibly talented young musicians.

www.cheltenhamjazzarts.co.uk/youth_bands.php

Time: 11.45am-12.45am

Venue: Arena

Act: Kiss My Face presents TubeLord

With sweet vocal harmonies and riotous guitars, underground rockers Tubelord have been gaining momentum during the past couple of years. The band have sculpted

a reputation for charismatic live performances and have wowed crowds up and down the country, building up a devoted fan base. Tubelord are geek-chic at its greatest.

myspace.com/tubelord

Time: 12.45pm- 1.20pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Kim Cypher Band

The Kim Cypher Band is a lively and funky band fronted by one of Gloucestershire’s finest female saxophonists. They perform a varied repertoire of Jazz, Funk, Latin, Reggae and Blues guaranteed to get you off your seats or tapping your feet along to the compelling rhythms.

www.kimcypherband.co.uk/

Time: 1.25pm-2pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Tommy Charles Tetraphonic.

The spirit of jazz thrives in this energetic off-kilter four-piece from Cheltenham. The band play jazz, bebop, cool, latin and groove.

Time: 2pm-3pm

Venue: Arena

Act: GMF presents The AJL Big Swing Band and Metz Big Band

http://glosmusicforum.squarespace.com/

The AJL BIG Swing Band
The Big Swing Band has been running for over 10 years, featuring some of
the most talented jazz musicians in Gloucestershire. Under the direction of Andy Loveridge they perform a repertoire of big band standards and some fantastic fresh high energy charts, guaranteed to keep you toe taping and dancing all day long

Metz Big Band
Five years ago, following a Gloucestershire Music Services initiative to bring music to adults, a group independently formed the Metz Big Band to have fun and make music. Now this group enjoy playing the tunes of yesteryear and not so yesteryear, all in big band style.

http://glosmusicforum.squarespace.com/

Time: 3.00pm- 3.45pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Roving Crows

Cheltenham based “The Roving Crows” are funky and upbeat – guaranteed to get your feet tapping. With roots in traditional Irish music and influences ranging from country to rock and blues every gig is a moving and upbeat experience.
www.rovingcrows.com

Time: 4.00pm-4.50pm

Venue: Arena

Act:.JB Jazz and Blues

The band was formed a few years ago, bringing together five talented musicians from different backgrounds with a common approach to music – having fun. Their repertoire includes jump jive favourites and jazz standards. They have a surprise guest as well!

jbjazzandblues.co.uk

Time: 5.00pm-5.45pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Andy Nowak.

A young piano led trio from Bristol playing original tunes by pianist and composer Andy Nowak. With an emphasis on exploration and fun, the trio concentrate on bringing the compositions to life with effervescence and flair.. www.myspace.com/andynowaktrio

Time:7.30pm-8.15pm

Venue: Budvar Stage

Act: Dom Franks All Stars.

A funk-fuelled jam session to round off the free stage festivities featuring an all-star cast of local musicians and vocalists.