And all that jazz!
There’s lots on offer for jazz fans at this year’s Lichfield Festival, from Sinatra to Sondheim, solo sax to big band and Broadway. We’ve rounded up a few highlights for you.
Back in 2021, Tommy Smith OBE gave a mesmerising, late evening gig in Lichfield Cathedral. Now the internationally-acclaimed saxophonist is back for another acoustic performance in which the audience gets to choose what he’ll play – from jazz, folk, classical, pop and praise song traditions – right there, live, in the concert!
Lighting up Lichfield Cathedral stage, Broadway star Melissa Errico brings Great American Songbook classics, alongside songs by Michel Legrand and Stephen Sondheim, to what is sure to be a spectacular and glamorous evening. She’s joined by a stunning quartet from Ronnie Scott’s, led by pianist James Pearson (Ronnie Scott’s Artistic Director).
Another unforgettable Cathedral night is in store when James Pearson and violinist/vocalist Lizzie Ball join forces for Celebrating the Songwriters: Carole King, Joni Mitchell and the late, great Burt Bacharach. A sensational hand-picked team of the UK’s top jazz musicians join the two Lichfield Festival Associate Artists for a night of iconic hits.
The Duke Ellington Orchestra’s signature tune Take the A Train in the style of Mozart, improvised Bach-style inventions, and why Miles Davis and Eric Satie were kindred spirits – these are just some of the ways award-winning piano/sax duo Euan Stevenson and Konrad Wiszniewski explore the fascinating links between classical and jazz in New Focus: The Classical Connection.
It’s Palm Springs, 1971, and Frank Sinatra, together with his ‘friend’ Jack Daniels, reflects on his career. In Sinatra:RAW, actor, writer and singer Richard Shelton shows why he is now a headline name in the US jazz scene and one of the world’s great interpreters of Ol’ Blue Eyes. He mixes Sinatra classics and monologue in “a truly immersive experience and an evening of undiluted entertainment” (Edinburgh Music Review).
Lichfield’s Guildhall is the setting for Jazz Through the Decades from The Doorknobs and guests. There’s swing, jazz and big band favourites from the 30s to the present day as the Aldridge-based big band and guest vocalists chart a path through the great tunes of the Jazz age.
Unforgettable songs, hilarious anecdotes and an evening of uplifting and joyous entertainment is promised in singer and pianist Jeremy Sassoon’s MOJO (Music of Jewish Origin). It’s a barnstorming celebration of legendary musicians, from the golden era of Gershwin and the Great American Songbook to Carole King, Billy Joel, Randy Newman and Amy Winehouse.