‘YOU have a world famous jazz festival here in Brecon, don’t lose it!” These were the words of Darius Brubeck from the stage of his sell-out concert in Brecon’s Guildhall Theatr last Saturday night. Brecon itself was also hosting this world famous jazz name for the first time in its 34-year history.

So the festival is far from dead, as some pundits suggested earlier this year, following the publication of the Nod Knowles report for Brecon Town Council. Moreover, the opportunity missed by the partners in last year’s Brecon Jazz weekend has now been rectified and the roads closed-streets alive and ‘open air’ aspect of the Festival has been restored by the planning group this time.

People came from all over the UK to the events and we sold out sooner and our audience numbers were higher this year, although the Theatr and Cathedral did not participate in the Jazz Festival this time. The Jazz Club is working with its associates, Friends of Brecon Jazz and UK/Wales jazz networks, with friends from Aberjazz, Black Mountain, Cardiff Jazz and Rhondda Jazz all there in the audience. We invited Marc Edwards of ‘Jazz Futures’ to join us on the stage on Sunday, in introducing a very special concert of a Welsh-trained trio who stole the hearts of the audience. They began with the song ‘Blue Skies’ and earned a strong encore at the end, these smiling new legends of jazz. They were a great tribute to the strength of the young musicianship coming through in Wales thanks to the Royal Welsh College ‘jazz performance’ course led by Paula Gardiner.

This year also saw new venues coming forward, such as the guesthouse Ty Helyg, which put on a Strings go Swing harp/violin duo and was packed out, starting the jazz weekend with great style. There were also 20 free high-quality jazz events put on around the Bulwark by Festival organisers and Fringe venues, which added to the quality of experience for the jazz visitors attending the ticketed concerts as well as those attracted by the ‘Streetscene’ festival stage, stalls and activities.

At the same time, Brecon Jazz Radio through the work of Rhys Phillips and Anna Corbett of Radio Cardiff, was on air throughout the weekend, sending out the sounds of jazz in Brecon to anyone who wanted to connect to the Festival. We were very proud of the work of everyone, including Ian Cooper Music and also Spartan Audio, both of whom specialized in engineering our sound systems. For the Guildhall concerts, we also had to hire in a piano which was turned on its side to get it in the lift and onto the stage area for our concerts! As organisers of Brecon Jazz Club and programmers for the Festival concert stages, we were delighted with the solos and ensembles of the musicians we invited to come and play. Audiences too gave rapturous receptions and warm applause, very glad to be there. They are very loyal to Brecon and keen to return.

Many members of the jazz club and supporters from far afield had protested earlier in the year about attempts to kill off our festival, and they came forward to show their support. And high praise for the 20-strong jazz Volunteer team, led by professional Sian Jones, came from all sides. They also ran a smooth ‘pop up’ online box office service over the weekend. Visitors had much else to admire in the Guildhall foyer, with an exhibition (funded by the Brecon Beacons National Parks) of 34 years of Brecon Jazz, which was displayed together with a dazzling series of prints and artworks from the work of the Vaults Arts group – Angharad Pickering, Gemma Schiebe, Sarah Powell, Karin Mear, also with specially designed jazz collage postcards from photographer Velvet Cole. Fellow organizer Paul Whittaker of EPM Marketing even managed to secure attractive Brecon Jazz 2017 mugs and coasters for sale, which went down very well with the visitors. So there were souvenirs once again on sale at BJF.

And the reviews as well as the plaudits are coming in. Ian Mann of the specialist ‘jazzmann’ website has already posted highly complimentary reviews of the concerts this year. The Festival weekend began with the sounds of music in the streets and a Big Band concert at the Castle Hotel and warm welcome to the audience by Mayor Cllr Ieuan Williams. We saw jazz excellence at the Guildhall as well as new talents; the Muse was a less formal but packed out Sunday jazz venue and dressed in style. The Festival closed with a groovy trio of jazz experts at the Wellington Hotel. A great time was had by all. We thank everyone who supported us, including Brecon Town Council and all the jazz club members and private companies that provided funding.

Now discussions will surely begin about the future of Brecon Jazz. As Brubeck said, ‘the first 20 years are the hardest’. Well, we are well past that in Brecon – as we inaugurate the 35th year of the Brecon Jazz Festival.

n Brecon Jazz Club resumes on Tuesday, September 12, at the Muse at 8pm with the Kathy Davies Quartet: Swansea vocalist Kathy is joined by saxophonist Julian Tucker making a first appearance at the club, and two regular favourites, Jim Barber on keyboards and Robin Hames on double bass. Entry on the door £10 (£8 for members). Contact by email: [email protected]

LYNNE GORNALL