The Southend Jazz Festival returns this month, promising to be bigger than ever, with something for everyone.

The week-long celebration of jazz, in all its forms, runs from the 26th September to 2nd October, at venues across the city, and sees this year’s headline show feature a stunning 17 piece Big Band at Westcliff’s Genting Casino, as ‘The Simon Spillett Big Band Plays Tubby Hayes’.

Darren Harper, Director of Southend Jazz Festival CIC joined us in the studio to chat to Keith Rogers about this year’s event.  You can hear the interview again here:

With a total of 16 events happening across the week, the festival is being delivered in association with Creative Estuary, an organisation set up to support the arts along the Thames Estuary.

Emma Wilcox, Creative Estuary Project Director says: “Supporting musical projects in Southend is part of our commitment to supporting our local artists and engaging our communities to contribute to their creative identity. In everything we do for the Estuary, we want to capture imagination and provide opportunities.”

Thanks to this support, this year is set to be the most inclusive and accessible festival to date, with subsidised shows, free events for the whole family, school workshops and special discounts for young people and assistance for music lovers on lower incomes.  The festival sees a great mixture of local talent, with the return of Southend’s popular “Mukasa Collective”, Dave Mascall’s Acid Lounge, and saxophonist Anita Carmichael leading a “Southend Jazz Showcase”, as well as some of the biggest and brightest stars from across the UK jazz scene, including pianist Deschanel Gordon, winner of the 2020 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year.

Darren Harper said, “we couldn’t be more excited about the 2022 festival. Thanks to the invaluable collaboration with Creative Estuary and support from Southend Council, we are able to bring some the very best of UK Jazz to Southend whilst making sure we put on a festival for everybody. Many event tickets are subsidised and a number of free tickets and events are also available. We’re also continuing with our drive to build the next generation of jazz musicians and enthusiasts with free school workshop places for over 200 children as well as a superb showcase event, where local musicians can come and show us all just how much talent we have in this City.”

Further information on the festival, and tickets to all the events, can be found on the website www.SouthendJazzFestival.com or you can call 07512 252699.