Chichester Jazz Club hosts Jazz In The City

Chichester's jazz festival Jazz In The City will be back again at the end of the summer, with a new format and a greater emphasis on local performers. Hugh Ashton, chairman of Chichester Jazz Club which stages the event, said: "We debated whether to do it because last year was not as well supported as we would have liked, but we have decided to go ahead."
In its fourth outing, it will kick off o ADVERTISEMENTn Friday, September 4, and run for eight days: "In the past we have been intensive over a weekend, but this time we are going to spread it out over a longer period, and just have one or two events each night in different venues predominantly featuring local bands and musicians."

It's a new format which will see the risk shared, rather than shouldered by the jazz club: "This time we have approached venues and said 'If you would enter in the spirit of the jazz festival, would you be prepared to take a risk just with your own particular concert?' "We told them that we would provide the umbrella organisation and produce the leaflets and provide a degree of sponsorship". The response was good enough to make the festival viable.

Army Big Band
Hugh is hoping it will get off to a great start with a concert from the Army Big Band at the Venue on September 4 at 8pm. "They are a 25-piece jazz orchestra, a mixture of singers and musicians. "The musicians are called from various parts of the army's vast array of musicians and they come together to play jazz. "They are all very accomplished musicians in their own right".
The event will raise money for the Help For Heroes charity.

Local talent
Apart from the Army Big Band, the emphasis this year will be much more on the area's own talents.
"It's a matter of economics to a degree.
"We have featured local bands in the past, but we just thought we would make that more formal. There is a lot of talent around here."
Hugh concedes it is all moving away from the traditional jazz festival format – a weekend with music from midday to midnight. But it is a question of trying to increase audiences, and also to show how approachable jazz can be.
"In these days of big, inaccessible stars, jazz offers you the chance to get close to accessible performers in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere," Hugh added.

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