manchester jazz festival is back for 10 days of jam-packed festival fun and musical vibes across the city this May!
mjf2023 will take place between 19 - 28 May 2023 at venues and sites across Manchester, celebrating the latest up and coming talent from across the North, and the best names in contemporary jazz including: Hot 8 Brass Band, Buena Vista Social Club's Eliades Ochoa, Mica Millar, Billy Cobham, Arun Ghosh, Fred Wesley and the New J.B.’s, Yemi Bolatiwa and many more...
The festival begins with a spectacular FREE opening weekender at the new vibrant neighbourhood: First Street (mjf @ First Street) from 19 – 21 May 2023. There will be three event stages: Main Stage, Garden Stage and HOME stage, each celebrating the breadth and individuality of our home-grown scene: bands from, or with a strong connection to, the North.
There are weekday gigs at St Ann’s Church, nightly gigs at Matt & Phreds, events at Forsyth Music Shop and at The Yard with partners NQ Jazz, with a couple of cheeky additions at The Blue’s Kitchen and the festival closes with an extended weekend-long party at Band on the Wall. mjf are also hosting a new commission *THEMORY taking place at The International Anthony Burgess Foundation - an immersive audiovisual installation, drawing from the subjective and fluid forces of family and history, place and time.
Ticket prices range from free to £35 but there’s plenty of free-to-access music and activities taking place at locations across the city centre, including the whole opening weekender: mjf @ First Street.
Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday 24 February at manchesterjazz.com
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Highlights of the festival programme are as follows:
mjf @ First Street, 19 - 21 May
Wizards of Twiddly, Yemi Bolatiwa, Good Habits, Ni Maxine, Charlotte Keeffe’s Right Here Right Now Quartet, Nick Walters, Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band, Apollo House, Nasa Parka, Moby Dickless, Aaron Wood & James Girling, Gary Washington Quartet, Rory A. Green, Paint or Pollen, J2oh and Moore & Fairhall.
As well as some of the North’s leading artists gracing the Main Stage on Friday and Saturday (19 - 20 May), some of Greater Manchester’s 18-25 year-old bands from mjf’s soundcheck talent development programme, and a selection of mjf hothouse alumni artists, will perform on the Garden Stage and on Sunday (21 May) mjf partners with Jazz North to celebrate 10 years of the northern line touring support scheme: showcasing five acts selected by industry leaders.
The Yard, presented in association with NQ Jazz, 22 - 24 May
Donovan Haffer, Alina Bzhezhinska’s HipHarp Collective ft. Tony Kofi and Nathaniel Facey Trio
St Ann’s Church, 24 - 26 May
Freight Train featuring Paul Clavis, Liam Noble & Cathy Jordan, Robert Mitchell and Stan Sulzmann & Nikki Iles
Matt and Phreds, 19 - 27 May
Alligator Gumbo, Henry Botham's New Orleans Piano Gumbo, Los Chichanos, Arun Ghosh, M&P x mjf Open Jam, Cuba Vida Salsa Band, The Chanteuse, Jim Wallace, Baiana, Dan Burnett and Deadbeat Brass.
Band on the Wall, 25 - 28 May
Mica Millar, Rosie Frater-Taylor, Band on the Wall triple-bill: Robocobra, Romarna Campbell & Marcus Joseph, Hot 8 Brass Band (*at Albert Hall, promoted by Band on the Wall and mjf), Julie Campiche Quartet, Hannabiell & The Midnight Blue Collective and Buena Vista Social Club's Eliades Ochoa.
Forsyths, 25 - 26 May
Nishla Smith - The Beast, The James Pearson Trio (Ronnie Scott’s) – 100 Years of Jazz Piano
The Blue’s Kitchen, 23 – 24 May
Fred Wesley & The New J.B.'s and Miles Davis: Kind of Blue with Olivia Cuttill Quintet
Steve Mead, mjf CEO and Artistic Director, said: “We can’t wait to welcome you back to our 10-day festival - the 28th mjf - to share some hugely inspiring artists with a host of venues and partners across the city. mjf is acknowledged for championing northern talent, under-the-radar artists and debuts of new music, as well as bringing some big names to Manchester, and of course for celebrating the diversity of our music and its artists. For many, mjf is the sound of surprise – it’s the sound we love and we hope you will too. We can’t wait for you to join us.”
mjf2023 will take place from 19 – 28 May 2023 in venues across Manchester city centre. Tickets go on sale at 10am on 24 February at manchesterjazz.com
