Jazz with added razzmatazz at Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

THE Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival has unveiled a major expansion into one of the city’s biggest venues, as part of a long-term bid to raise its profile.

The 1,900-capacity Festival Theatre, which now hosts the film festival’s high-profile premieres, has become the flagship venue for the jazz and blues event – the curtain-raiser for Edinburgh’s summer festivals – now in its 34th year.

Jools Holland, New Orleans icon Dr John, Clint Eastwood’s son Kyle, Grammy-award winners the Manhattan Transfer and Kurt Elling, and Scottish soul-funk veterans the Average White Band are among the highlights of this year’s programme.

American stars the Bad Plus, Barbara Morrison and the North Mississippi All Stars will be flying in for the festival, while special seasons of Italian and Polish jazz are planned.

The festival relocated to a new slot a week earlier in the calendar last year to avoid a clash with the Fringe, during the second half of its programme.

And organisers insist that, despite a drop in ticket sales of 4.5 per cent last year, the move was a success and is to remain permanent.

They have secured a £50,000 grant to revive the traditional festivals parade along Princes Street, which will be held on the opening Sunday of the jazz festival, just weeks after the completion of tramworks there.

The opening weekend will again feature two days of free entertainment in the Grass- market, which have drawn crowds of more than 10,000 in previous years.

Three festival venues are to be run again in Assembly Theatre’s Fringe arena, George Square Garden, despite problems last year with noise intrusion into some concerts.

The festival has also expanded into trendier venues such as the Bongo Club and the Voodoo Rooms, in an attempt to tap into a younger audience.

Among the more contemporary acts appearing this year are the hip Australian dance outfit Tijuana Cartel, French street band Jazz Combo Box and Edinburgh-based electronica outfit Hidden Orchestra. Other hot tickets are expected to include New York favourites the Bad Plus and the Stooges Brass Band, one of the hottest outfits on the New Orleans scene.

Fiona Alexander, director of the festival, which is being held from 20 to 29 July, said: “It’s been an ambition in recent years to see the festival really expand, and moving into the Festival Theatre very much fits in with that ethos.

“It’s obviously a much bigger venue than many of those we already use – it’s a more sophisticated setting and it doesn’t suffer from any problems with pillars.

“We’ve used the Usher Hall in the past for some concerts, but it’s not always been available in recent years. But its size and feel is more appropriate to the kind of concerts we put on, as it retains an element of intimacy.”

Ms Alexander added: “We are running three venues in George Square Garden again, but we have worked very carefully to programme the concerts there to avoid any of the issues we had last year.”

The jazz festival has won backing from the Scottish Government’s “Expo Fund” to create a new “world orchestra”, which will be unveiled during this year’s event. It will be masterminded by Fife-born saxophonist Joe Temperley.

Previous festival favourites Colin Steele, Niki King, Haftor Medboe, Laura MacDonald, Kevin Mackenzie, Brian Kellock and Mario Caribe will all be returning.