Online Weekender from Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival keeps the rhythms alive

EDINBURGH Jazz & Blues Festival supremo Fiona Alexander has told of the challenges of producing the much loved event during a global pandemic.
Jools Holland will return to Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival in 2021Jools Holland will return to Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival in 2021
Jools Holland will return to Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival in 2021

The 2020 Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival may have gone the same way as the city’s other landmark events this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but thanks to some quick thinking by the event’s organisers, Capital music lovers will still be able to enjoy the rhythm of the blues.

Producers of the festival, due to run from 17-26 July, have arranged that until Sunday, there will be an opportunity to relive The Scottish Blues Weekend, which took place earlier this year. For the next five days you can watch it from the comfort of your very own sofa.

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Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival producer Fiona Alexander recalls, “The Weekender was swamped with highlights. It was curated by Jed Potts, Nicole Smit and Sandy Tweeddale and each presents a knockout concert under their own name.

Producer of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival Fiona AlexanderProducer of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival Fiona Alexander
Producer of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival Fiona Alexander

“Mike Whellans delivers a stunning one-man-band set, which has to be seen to be believed and we presented the ever popular Blues afternoons led by Dana Dixon, Liz Jones and Charlotte Marshall. All are brilliant musicians, songwriters and singers with distinctive voices.”

Another distinctive voice entertaining at the Weekender was Maggie Bell, known to many as the singer of the Taggart theme, No Mean City.

Fiona adds, “The acclaimed Maggie Bell shares anecdotes about her life in music. All the live gigs took place over the weekend of 6-10 February, at St Bride’s Centre, which was transformed into a fantastic 200-seat venue with great sound, good lighting and an intimate atmosphere.”

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The online initiative comes on the back of the cancellation of this year’s festival, the possibility of which first reared its head near the start of the year.

Maggie Bell features in the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival's Blues Weekender onlineMaggie Bell features in the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival's Blues Weekender online
Maggie Bell features in the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival's Blues Weekender online

Fiona remembers, “Our first serious discussions were at the end of January, but we were hopeful that by July things would be back to normal. In retrospect this was very naïve. It was in early March that we started seriously looking at a decision to cancel, but we needed to give ourselves, the artists and venues time to look at rescheduling.”

When the decision finally came, it was one they felt they could delay no longer.

“We were in the process of developing some very exciting projects with Scottish musicians, which we hope to develop during this period of lockdown to present in the future, so I am not going to spoil the surprise,” she says. “We also had projects with our key European partners in Belgium, Italy and Norway lined-up. And we had invited a host of musicians who are making waves in the UK to perform.”

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Those musicians included, Nubiya Garcia, Soweto Kinch’s new project Black Peril, Shabaka Hutchings with the Ancestors, and BCUC from South Africa.

Also invited were gypsy guitar legends Tcha Limberger and Fapy Lafertin, Pat Thomas, the Kwashibu Area Band from Ghana and Ruba de Bodas, from Italy.

“Many of our American friends were also booked, including the stellar Blind Boy Paxton, Davina and the Vagabonds, the California Feetwarmers, Brandon Santini, Stephanie Trick and Curtis Stigers playing music from his new album,” reveals Fiona.

Artists from Cuba, Brazil, Jamaica, Costa Rica, South Africa and India were also set to journey to the Capital to share their carnival skills at the Edinburgh Festival Carnival. The logistics of pulling the second biggest jazz and blues festival in the UK after London (in 2019 the festival attracted more than 68,000 people to more than 140 concerts) has meant a busy time for Fiona and her team.

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“We have had to reschedule artists performances, cancel bookings in more than 15 venues, cancel accommodation, box-offices, temporary Festival staff, digital advertising, print advertising, brochure printing... the list in endless.”

The scale of that task comes into focus when Fiona adds, “Last year we had a turnover in excess of £1.25 million, and a projected economic visitor impact of £3 million, so the economic impact is significant. The Festival raises the curtain on the summer festival season, but about 80% of our audiences are local and more than 60% of our musicians come from Scotland, so it’s a real festival for the people of Edinburgh.”

Financed through annual project funding, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival relies on raising money from one year to the next. That funding comes both from the event’s funders - Scottish Government, Edinburgh City Council and Creative Scotland - and ticket sales.

“The funders have generously agreed that cultural organisations can adapt the funding to ensure that they can stay in business, save jobs and support musicians,” explains Fiona. “We don’t know what next year will bring, but I hope that by then we will be on the point of launching a dynamic 2021 programme.”

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The good news for next year is that two of the headline acts due to perform this year have already confirmed they will appear in 2021 instead.

“We have been able to reschedule Jools Holland and Curtis Stigers,” Fiona confirms.

“Everyone has been very understanding and grateful that the festival is able to reschedule to a time when, hopefully, things are back to normal. They, along with other musicians who we hope to reschedule, have been longtime visitors to the festival and really appreciate the atmosphere of the city and the support they have been offered by audiences. We are really excited that we will be able to promote new projects with musicians whose creativity is blossoming in lockdown.”

For Fiona, like many of us at the moment, the working day has changed beyond recognition since the coronavirus outbreak, so, what is the reality of running a world famous festival from your home?

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“Well, we’ve been running from several homes, but there’s been a lot to do - moving computers to people’s houses, setting up different management systems and ways of working, adapting to a daily changing set of circumstances and dealing with the psychological impact it’s had on everyone. But visiting the office last week to collect the post felt uncannily strange - almost impossible to believe that we ever worked there, so we are all more able to adapt than we think we are.

“We have also been able to adapt our music classes to run online too, so the Edinburgh Blues Academy, Edinburgh Jazz School and Gorgie Dalry Jam are still running. Visit the EJBF website to find out how to join.”

And as the Weekender goes live, who better to ask if there’s one session worth making a point of catching than Fiona, whose knowledge of jazz and blues is second to none.

“This is too hard,” she says, “So, I am going to cheat and suggest two; Three Men and Their Guitars featured Jed Potts, Sandy Tweeddale and Jon MacKenzie with stripped back acoustic blues and fast, flashy technical masterpieces. And Nicole Smit is growing into a singer with real presence and a compelling voice.., but then again Jed Potts and The Hillman Hunters are compelling with super tight grooves.

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“You know what, just watch the lot and let us know which one you prefer.”

For more details visit: www.edinburghjazzfestival.com/

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