Zara McFarlane Publicity picture supplied

Peter Bacon reports:

The Rye Intl Jazz & Blues Festival has announced a few big names for its seventh outing this summer (24-27 August).

Jazz and blues forms a big church for the organisers, so headlining the programme will be Zara McFarlane (Saturday 25 August), Courtney Pine (Sunday 26 August) and Joan Armatrading (Monday 27 August). In addition, the festival takes liberties with both geography and genre as it goes west for a couple of big events at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea in early September (Corinne Bailey Rae on Friday 7 September; Dionne Warwick on Saturday 8 September).

Regarding the Rye weekend, the press release states its offer: “the very best of local and regional talent who will be performing a varied and dynamic mix of music styles including Jazz, Blues, Roots, RnB, Soul, Cuban, Latin and Funk. The atmosphere is amazing and the streets of Rye come alive with sounds and colours similar to that of New Orleans”.

LINK: Rye Intl Jazz & Blues Festival website