Plans revealed for Eastbourne’s Jazz & Blues Festival with line-up including Jay Rayner
and live on Freeview channel 276
This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.
The new festival will be held on July 29-30 on Western Lawns.
The line-up includes a range of acts including Jay Rayner. Although he is known for being a food critic and has regularly appeared as a judge on MasterChef, he is actually part of a sextet - a group of six people playing music or singing together.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdA spokesperson for the event said: “Now he leads a sextet of top flight musicians to celebrate the greatest of those 80s songs, with new arrangements of brilliant tracks by Sade, Matt Bianco, Working Week, Everything But The Girl, Swing Out Sister, Sting and much more. Get your jazzy 80s on with the Jay Rayner Sextet. Box-shouldered jacket and big hair optional.”
Sarah Jane Morris is famed for her association with the Communards in the mid-80s and infamous for a banned rendition of the classic Me and Mrs Jones. She will be joined by guitarist Tony Rémy, drummer Martyn Barker, bassist Henry Thomas, and guitarist Tim Cansfield.
Sarah said: “We will be singing the songs of John Martyn from our album ‘Sweet Little Mystery’, which celebrates the genius of the songwriter. We won an Edinburgh award from the festival just before the first lockdown and would have toured this show all over the world, and then the world closed down. We will also perform songs old and new.”
Ian Shaw is a multi-award winner as best jazz vocalist - BBC Jazz Awards 2007 and 2004, Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2018, alongside nominations from the Jazz FM Awards 2013 and Downbeat Magazine 2017.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIan has amassed a number of highly acclaimed internationally released albums and is a popular performer both in the UK and the US. He has been cited, along with Mark Murphy and Kurt Elling, as one of the world’s finest male jazz vocalists.
Jazz group Pigfoot will play an ‘imaginative reworking’ of a range of Duke Ellington’s iconic compositions, from the early Cotton Club blues material to swing hits and through to the exotica that was inspired by Ellington’s extensive travels.
A group spokesperson said: “Pigfoot will remind you of music you loved, and make you love it all over again. It’s the sort of artistic mission that could give jazz a good name.”
Oye Santana formed in 2012 and have played up and down the UK at theatres, music venues and festivals. In 2018 they were awarded official UK No1 winner at the The National Tribute Music Awards, This led to greater things for the band, who then quickly ventured out into Europe and beyond. Based around the exciting dance rhythms of Santana’s Latin music, Oye Santana is more of a party than a concert.