Lockerbie Jazz Festival announces a star-studded line up for it’s tenth anniversary. This year’s Festival will take place from Thursday September 24 to Sunday September 27 and will feature great names from across the jazz, blues, and soul world playing in Annan, Gretna and Moffat as well as Lockerbie. Ruby Turner headlines, with two leading US jazz stars, Melba Joyce( Main Photo) and Stephanie Trick also featured.
Thanks to the “major event status” granted to the Festival by Dumfries and Galloway Council, the Festival is able to expand its programme in 2015 to all the main population centres in Annandale – Annan, Gretna, Lockerbie, and Moffat – while keeping its main hub in Lockerbie.
Lockerbie Town Hall will host major concerts and be the hub of the very popular “Take Five” Saturday afternoon programme of concerts. The Moffat Jazz Sunday was a big hit last year and is continued with three concerts this year. Another success repeated from last year is the Jazz Dinner in Annan, and for the first time this year we feature a concert in Gretna.
Britain’s leading R’n’ B and soul singer,Ruby Turner , a mainstay of Jools Holland’s Band for many years, will appear in Lockerbie Town Hall on Friday September 25th with her own band and then moves on to Gretna Social Club on the following evening Saturday 26th . Both concerts will start at 8:00pm and are priced at £20.
Thanks to the ongoing and generous support of The Embassy of The United States of America, the Festival is able to bring over one of the legendary singers of the Big Band and swing scene, Melba Joyce. Melba is renowned for her many years fronting The Count Basie Orchestra, She’s had Broadway hits, and starred at clubs, Festivals and concert halls all over the world. Recently she’s been acclaimed by the great Tony Bennett “ Great, Wonderful, Some of us have got it, some have us don’t. Melba’s got it!” Melba Joyce flies in from New York to star at Lockerbie Town Hall with The Scottish Swing Orchestra in “The Story of Swing” on Saturday 26th.Melba will also appear in Moffat with the Brian Kellock Trio the next day.
Another American star, who already has a great Lockerbie connection, returns for the weekend. Pianist, Stephanie Trick was introduced to the UK Jazz scene by Lockerbie Jazz Festival two years ago. She made a sensational impact with her stride and ragtime piano fireworks and her disarming personality. So much so, that she’s been picked up by promoters throughout the country, and is now a favourite at Festivals from London to Edinburgh. Concerts sold out last time she was in Lockerbie and she’s back to play solo piano, and duets with the Italian piano maestro, Paolo Alderighi on Saturday afternoon in Lockerbie Town Hall and at Moffat Jazz Sunday.
Our other international visitors are one of the leading groups in Europe playing classic jazz styles, The Budapest Ragtime Orchestra. They will feature alongside a host of top Scottish talent, including Rose Room with special guest Konrad Wiszniewski; King Louis and the Primas, The Jazz Choir Scotland, The D G Big Band Kollective; and clarinet player Hamish McGregor’s Tribute To Acker Bilk. Sue McHugh and Campbell Normand will again host a Jazz Singers workshop in the Little Theatre.
In Annan, award winning singer Alison Affleck and star guitarist Graeme Stephen present an evening of blues, classic show tunes, and swing in “Swing Easy” at Del Amitri’s Restaurant on Thursday Sept 24th.
The Glasgow Gospel Choir will be back to appear at Dryfesdale Parish Church on Sunday 27th at 10:00 am.
Dumfries and Galloway Youth Jazz Orchestra was established by Lockerbie Jazz Festival last year, with support from Holywood Trust and Robertson Trust. This year, working in association with Dumfries and Galloway Council Education Department, the band will feature pupils from Annan, Dumfries, Lockerbie, and Moffat schools, and will be led by two of the most celebrated jazz educators in the country, Richard Michael and Richard Ingham. This is being set up as a long term project, and after the Festival, there are plans for performances by the Band in Annan, Dumfries Lockerbie and Moffat.
Derek Gorman, Festival Director, said “ It’s an amazing achievement for the Festival to have reached the ten year milestone. We’ve been able to bring some of the greatest musicians in the jazz world to Lockerbie over the years, and it’s testimony to the work of all the people who have been involved in the Festival that we’re now in the strongest position we’ve ever been, expanding our programme, increasing audiences, and investing in the future. We’re looking forward to the next ten years, continuing to grow the impact of the Festival, both for jazz fans and for the local community.”
The full programme will be available on the website and tickets will be on sale shortly from www.lockerbiejazz.com; from our ticket hotline: 07894 088218; in person from Margaret’s Newsagents 100 High Street, Lockerbie; and in Dumfries at The Mid Steeple
