BRECON JAZZ 2012 LINE UP ANNOUNCED

Orchard, the new operator of the world famous Brecon Jazz festival has announced a compact and powerful programme for the August event, an interim year given the short timescales involved, which brings the festival back into the town of Brecon with a sprinkling of star names, Jazz favourites, emerging and Welsh talent, Jazz Club nights, innovative collaborations and a party atmosphere returning to the streets of the beautiful Mid Wales town.

Friday August 10th brings the truly legendary voice of five-time Grammy Award winner Dionne Warwick celebrating 50 years in the business and 100 million records sold for a concert in the festival’s iconic Market Hall. Another big name gracing the Market Hall stage this summer is vibraphonist/vocalist Roy Ayers, the respected Jazz/R&B artist and renowned as the Godfather of Neo-soul making an exclusive UK appearance. Welsh pianist Huw Warren is involved this year as artist-in-residence, in collaborations with Thomas Stronen and Peter Herbert, and Jazz fans can look forward to performances by the likes of Neil Yates, Lighthouse, Trio Libero; Neil Cowley; Claire Martin; YolanDa Brown, Stan Tracey; Bobby Wellins; Alan Barnes, Kit Downes; Ginger Baker and many more.

Orchard director Pablo Janczur worked with Huw Warren to put the programme together. Pablo said: “Orchard was appointed by the Arts Council of Wales at the beginning of May, so this month has been pretty hectic in trying to get the artists we wanted within the timescale. We aimed to recover the Mojo that people feel Brecon has lost in recent years, and hopefully we’ve put together a bill that is attractive to both a local audience in Wales and to the legions of travelling fans who have made Brecon Jazz such a special, and economically beneficial event over the years. Given the time constraints, 2012 was always going to be an interim year, but we have well over 20 gigs in the classic Brecon town venues, with colour and atmosphere returning to the streets of this beautiful part of Wales.”

In addition to the Market Hall, there will be concerts in Theatr Brycheiniog, emerging artists and home grown Welsh talent will largely perform in the Guildhall, and there will be special events in Brecon Cathedral. The town centre will be the location for some spectacular street entertainment, and the Brecon Fringe is running an extensive programme of music in bars, venues and around the town throughout the weekend. There is even a commemorative concert for Jed Williams, the founder and Artistic Director of Brecon Jazz throughout much of its 28 year history, promoting Jazz4Jed, a bursary set up in his name to benefit Jazz talent in Wales, along with workshops held in Christ College.

Pablo Janczur again: “Brecon Jazz is a heritage brand with a great international reputation. If we can get close to recapturing the values, spirit and magic of the heyday of Brecon Jazz, we’ll have done our job. The musical line-up is exciting, we’ve had a great amount of goodwill from the town, the County and the Festival Fringe, so we’re now all set for a fantastic weekend in August.”

Tickets for all shows will be available from www.breconjazz.com - the site will be live from 9am Thurs 7th June and tickets on sale from 9th June.. The box office telephone number is 01874 611622 (Theatr Brycheiniog) and the 24 Hour telephone booking Number is 0844 858 8521.

All festival information can be found on www.breconjazz.com