Manchester music venue shortlisted for British jazz history award
Jazz fans have nominated Manchester’s Band on the Wall as a venue that has had a pivotal role in British Jazz, making it the only North West venue to be up for this prestigious award.
The (Kind of) Blue Plaque scheme, set up by Brecon Jazz Festival organisers, marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Miles Davis’ seminal jazz album Kind Of Blue and the 90th anniversary of the first jazz performance in Britain. Band on the Wall appears in the list of 12 venues shortlisted, along with the London’s Hammersmith Hippodrome and Ronnie Scotts.
Ian Croal, CEO at Band on the Wall said: “It’s excellent to have been nominated for this award. When the venue reopens next month our wide-ranging programme will continue to include the finest jazz from home and abroad.
“We have promoted jazz at the venue for 30 years. This has included great Americans such as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and most of the finest UK players as well as many from Europe, Africa and elsewhere. A feature of the venue also is that, since the 1970s, it has had a jazz education programme that will be continuing as part of our Learning and Participation programme from September.”
Peter Florence, Director of The Brecon Jazz Festival explains the rationale behind the award: “Though jazz has its origins in the US and Africa, we wanted to make people aware that, for almost a century, the British have been supporting jazz music and making it very much our own. We were impressed by the level of interest shown by the public – both by experts and by those who just love jazz.”
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Voting is open now until this Thursday – CLICK HERE NOW TO VOTE. The winning venue will be announced this Friday and the inaugural (Kind Of) Blue Plaque affixed to the outside of the winning venue in Summer 2010.