BRECON INTERNATIONAL 'FESTIVAL OF JAZZ'

First staged in 1984, the town's mid-August Summer Jazz Festival has been a critical and popular success for over 35 years, staging leading international jazz musicians and up-and-coming local bands and musicians. Nearby Hay Literary Festivals promoted the event from 2009 to 2011 following the previous organisers, Brecon International Festival of Jazz Ltd.

The search for a new jazz festival contractor began in December 2011, and a number of organisations expressed an interest. Cardiff-based Orchard Events and Media Group Ltd were chosen as a preferred bidder by the Arts Council of Wales, Powys County Council, and the Brecon Beacons National Park. Orchard received a commitment for funding for the August 2012 festival, with an opportunity to submit further plans for 2013 and beyond. Brecon Jazz Club / Jazz Live Cymru and the 'Fringe' worked closely with the promoters to help make the festival a brilliant success - building on the Festivals' heritageand legacy brand. Orchard ceased involvement in December 2015. Local community groups, including Brecon Jazz Club & Brecon Jazz Music Trust have kept the festival alive through 2016, 2017, 2018.

Over the years, Brecon Jazz has hosted headline musicians such as Cleo Lane, John Dankworth, Courtney Pine, Bucky Pizzarelli, Allen Toussaint, Sonny Rollins, Van Morrison, George Melly, Humphrey Lyttleton, Jessica Williams, Joe Lovano, Scott Hamilton, Steve Waterman, Betty Carter, Martin Taylor, and many more, including our own brilliant local bands and musicians. The full Festival line-up includes ticketed concerts & worksops featuring legendary British and international jazz greats.

Jazz festivals that include ‘strollers’ and street music can offer audiences a means of engaging with music that may be outside their everyday listening or taste - further stimulating imagination. So, the view of jazz as ‘high brow’ can be dispelled once audiences engage with live music. Festivals in particular can encourage people to sample things that are unfamiliar. In this respect, jazz festivals really do offer access to another place, where people can feel differently about both the music and their environment.

We hope you will celebrate a unique and special experience where 'Brecon Jazz' is Brecon Jazz Festival, in the heart of the magnificent Beacons National Park – see you there in August!!

For more information about our involvement please contact:
Brecon Jazz Club – info(at)breconjazzclub.org

Jazz Clubs festival programme details HERE