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The first jazz festival of the year will be the new Bath Jazz Weekend. Peter Slavid reports:

For over ten years, starting in 1996, one of the highlights of the jazz calendar was always the Jazz Weekend of the Bath International Festival. It was an unusual and eclectic programme and it introduced us to many European musicians appearing in the UK for the first time. As well as a big local audience it attracted visitors to the city from all over the country and beyond. It has been much missed by its hardcore group of fans.

The new Bath Jazz Weekend – Friday 4 to Sunday 6 January 2019 – will be a bit different, but hopefully will lead on to greater things. This is very much a pop-up festival put together by Nod Knowles (who ran the original weekend). He has the support of some of the fantastic musicians now living in the area, and has managed to create a really interesting programme from these local artists.

With a single indoor venue, and pricing that provides a full weekend pass, as well as individual tickets, this should allow a proper festival atmosphere to develop.

The music is a mix of styles from swing to bebop and from jazz-rock to electronica and should make sure there is something for everyone. I have no doubt that the European wine-tasting will attract a lot of interest as well.

It’s always great to see new festivals appear, particularly at this time of year. This one certainly deserves lots of support that will hopefully allow it to expand and flourish in the future.

The programme so far:

Friday 4 January
A Taste of Europe
5pm until late
Dave Newton & John Pearce
European Wine Tasting
& more artists tba

Saturday 5 January
The Weekend Remains Afternoon
12noon to 5pm
Karen Street’s Streetworks
Iain Ballamy/Jason Rebello Quartet
& more artists tba

The Weekend Remains Evening
6pm until late
Tony Orrell & Vyv Hope Scott aka The Jellilalas
Andy Hague’s Quintet with Jim Blomfield
Get The Blessing

Sunday 6 January
European Family Afternoon
12 noon to 6pm
James Lambeth’s Lambeth Swing
John Law’s Re-Creations Quartet with Sam Crockatt
The Bristol European Jazz Ensemble

LINK: Detailed info and tickets