International Jazz Festival

Swarms of Jazz enthusiasts make their way across the Solent for this year's International Jazz Festival, over the weekend of April 11-13.

It was a blustery weekend in Ventnor with bracing sea breezes along the esplanade but the talent on display at various indoor venues across the town was enough to brighten up even the gloomiest weather conditions. Keeping in line with previous years, the festival attracted some of the biggest names in Jazz music some of who travelled all the way from the USA, Canada, France and Israel to perform as part of the three-day event; accentuating its truly 'International' theme.

A burst of summer sunshine at the Winter Gardens

Located at the top of the Cascades looking down on the seafront, the Winter Gardens formed the hub of this year's activities. This unmistakable art-deco building was built by the council in 1936 and is still managed by Ventnor Town Council today.

The Winter Gardens played host to cabaret/dance floor style events and the main headline acts, which included legendary American saxophonist Maceo Parker and his Band featuring award winning trombonist Dennis Rollins on Friday evening. The Messin' Around Club Night with Thabani, Manteca and several popular DJ's allowed revellers the opportunity to dance the night away on Saturday. The venue was then transformed into a formal sit down concert on the third and final night for Pete Long's Swing Orchestra to take to centre stage with the Liane Carroll trio and Ian Shaw delighting the crowds.

Chilling out at the Boathouse

The scaling down of the festival in comparison to last year meant that it was more concentrated around the seafront and Pier Street area, which was bustling with people all weekend long. Down at the Spyglass Inn at the Western end of Ventnor Esplanade, the Boathouse hosted the Jazz Chill stage, sponsored both by Wines from Spain and the owners of the Spyglass Inn.

On Friday afternoon and evening, the Baddest Blues Band (Ever) followed by DJ Tim Boogaloo with the Filthy Six demonstrated their racy take on boogaloo and blue note numbers. Then on Saturday and Sunday John Paul Gard's Pedalmania, Tom Cawley's Curios, Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston, Faye Patton, Zoe Galant performed in this most relaxing of settings.

A complete free for all!

For those wished to sample some of the atmosphere and music completely free of charge, Mick Smith of Quay Arts hosted a jazz fringe all weekend down at the Mill Bay Inn.

This was interspersed with some big band sounds at the Baptist church and Glorious Chorus gospel St Catherine's Church on the Saturday, where a Sunday service with Glorious Chorus was also held the following morning.

Spiritual awakening & fine dining

"On the Edge" at Ventnor Baptist Church allowed Jazz fans the opportunity to catch one of the bands tipped for the top later this year, Empirical. This tranquil and very novel environment also welcomed contemporary artists such as Brigitte Beraha, Shez Raja and Louis Vause. Like the Boathouse, on the door tickets were available for those without wristbands, who didn't want to miss out on the chance of seeing individual jazz favourites.

A 15-minute walk away from the main Jazz Village towards Bonchurch saw the Ventnor Towers Hotel sponsoring a traditional Sunday Jazz Lunch with the Sussex Kings. For those who wished to totally immerse themselves in Jazz, the Royal Hotel offered a resident's only weekend jazz dining package, which proved itself to be very popular.

Fusing the generations to generate global acclaim

This year's festival spanned jazz generations and introduced the jazz talents of the modern day. The bold programme successfully carried jazz from its from its swing heyday of the 1940's right through to funk and fusion. This was a festival for all ages, reminding visitors that that jazz is music to dance and boasts a truly international range of sounds. The event was well attended with an estimated 90 percent of enthusiasts travelling over for the weekend from the mainland.

The jazz musicians themselves all originated from a variety of cultural backgrounds, their national flags spanning the full length of the esplanade, from the Winter Gardens right down to the Spyglass Inn. Each contributor to the Jazz Festival demonstrated a diverse and unique approach to his or her art. Once again the quirky town of Ventnor was the perfect backdrop for all the festivities, providing a relaxed and varied feel to the event, which is due to take place again the weekend after Easter next year between 17-19 April.

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