- 36 Hours – Birmingham, England – NYTimes.com
“In terms of respect, Birmingham is the undisputed Rodney Dangerfield of British cities”. Thank you? - New Birmingham Jazz Scheme: Stepping Up
Birmingham Jazz have got three £1,000 grants to support the writing, touring or recording of contemporary jazz - Walk of Fame for King’s Heath
“A Walk of Fame is to be created along York Road to celebrate King’s Heath’s musical and comic heritage” - Film and TV productions worth £10 million to Birmingham over just six months
Stephen Poliakoff drama Dancing on the Edge starring actors Matthew Goode and Chiwetel Ejiofor, has just finished filming in the city.
Gor blimey, it’s another one of those really long weekends. Here are some things you might want to consider filling all that time with.
For starters, I haven’t got a flyer for this one but Lizzy Parks is playing in the Symphony Hall foyers today (Friday) from 5.30pm to 7pm and it’s free. Info on the THSH website. Or indeed the Birmingham Jazz website.
Earlier in the day (in fact from 12pm to 7pm) head over to Lombard Street in Digbeth for PST’s street party. This here flyer says there’s going to be food, live art and heavy bass. And face painting.
MakeIt Zone are having an open day on Saturday.
Capsule have got an event at Kings Heath’s Hare and Hounds on Saturday night called Wedlock. Dunno what that’s a reference to but I like the pretty picture.

There’s loads of other stuff happening too. Have a look at Live Brum for listings.
On 23 February, Mostly Jazz were set to launch their 2011 Festival at The Rainbow, with a performance from a trio of contemporary Jazz performers; local, world class drummer, Tony Levin (above), saxophonist Paul Dunmall and young bass player Nick Jurd.
Sadly, Tony Levin passed away earlier this month, and so the gig is now set to go ahead in tribute to him, featuring the musicians originally booked to play alongside the legendary drummer.
The first set at 9pm will feature the Nick Jurd Quartet with Rachel Cohen on saxophone, Sam Wooster on trumpet, Nick on bass and Jim Bashford on drums. The second set will feature Paul Dunmall on saxophone, Mark Sanders and Tony’s son, Miles Levin on drums and Nick Jurd who Tony had personally chosen for the original gig.
Tickets for this event are £5, for more information, visit Birmingham Jazz, where they’ve also posted a tribute piece.
All proceeds will be donated to Blue Chairs: Shropshire Blood Trust Fund http://www.justgiving.com/bluechairs2
- Tributes to Tessa Sidey, fine art curator at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
One of many tributes to Tessa Sidley - Digital journalist & shameless parish gossip « Custard Factory
Having read the job description, is journalist a more acceptable word for marketer these days? Either way, there’s an interesting job going - Birmingham music groups urged to share facilities and staff
BCMG and Birmingham Jazz: “following concerted lobbying, the two music groups will be given an extra six months funding if they make moves to join a cost-saving music hub with the Symphony Hall, CBSO, Town Hall, Ex-Cathedra and other groups” - Creative England
First glimpse of Creative England – the new configuration of the regional screen agencies. Sign up to their mailing list to keep up with news/opportunities/etc - SOUNDkitchen | Feed your ears!
This is “an organisation dedicated to the promotion of composers and artists working in the field of sound” - Matt Edgar – Green Sand and Subterfuge
A story about Matthew Murray from Leeds and his battles with Boulton & Watt of Birmingham – dirty tricks in business during the Industrial Revolution - YouTube – ‘Tornadoes, Moons, Bridges and Balloons’ – A 16 song Compilation Cover by Muchuu
I like this – Muchuu covering The Smiths, Beirut, Bon Iver, Rihanna, Coco Rosie and a whole bunch of others - Thinktank museum given funding for Made In Birmingham gallery
“Birmingham’s Thinktank science museum has been awarded £900,000 Lottery funding to bring some of its artefacts out of cold storage” - Michelin Guide recognises West Midlands restaurants
“Birmingham’s trio of Purnell’s, Simpsons and Turners all retained their one-star rating in the guide, as did La Bécasse and Mr Underhill’s in south Shropshire”
On 20 November, The Hare & Hounds and Birmingham Jazz will be welcoming the Grammy nominated Christen Scott Quintet to Birmingham.
Considered somewhat jazz pedigree, as the nephew of saxophonist Donald Harrison, Scott has become one of the great innovators of his generation as part of an achingly cool new wave of contemporary jazz artists. He arrives at the Hare & Hounds in support of his new album ‘Yesterday You Said Tomorrow’.
Tickets are £13 (£10) and are available online via theticketsellers, by calling 0844 870 0000 or in person at Polar Bear Records, Kings Heath.
A bit more news in the follow-up of Artsfest, this time on the musical front. Over the weekend BBC Radio 3 recorded two homegrown jazz performances for the Jazz Line Up programme, which was broadcast last weekend, on Sunday 26 September.
Recorded at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham bands led by Ben Markland and Percy Pursglove played at the special edition of Rush Hour Blues. The show is currently still available to listen to on BBC iPlayer.
Take a look at this post on the Birmingham Jazz blog to read a bit more about it.
Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research are hosting ‘Jazz and the Media‘, in partnership with Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham Jazz on 15 October. The event welcomes three internationally recognised speakers who will be presenting seminars throughout the day.
Mike Connolly is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with over 10 years experience in factual and arts television production.
William Ellis is at the vanguard of music photographers and is widely recognised as having created an important document of the contemporary jazz scene in Africa, Europe and The Americas.
Alyn Shipton is an award-winning author and broadcaster, who is jazz critic for The Times in London, and a presenter/producer of jazz programmes for BBC Radio.
To read more about these guys and their extensive careers working around jazz and the media, visit the event page.
Tickets can be ordered online at jazzandthemedia.eventbrite.com.
I saw Mother India: 21st Century Remix in 2008 and it was honestly one of the best things I saw that year. It’s been off on tour since but will be back in Birmingham on Sunday (11 April) to crown Mother India weekend – a bunch of events happening at the Town Hall and Symphony Hall.
This version of Mother India is:
A reinterpretation of the 1957 Indian cinema classic as a 45 minute silent movie with new musical score will be performed live by DJ Tigerstyle, drummer David Shaw and cellist Matt Constantine with Josh Ford as visual editor.
MI21 is a compact, powerful and sensual take on Mehboob Khan’s Hindi masterpiece – a hugely important film in South Asian cinema, known for its iconic imagery and powerful storyline: the common shorthand is to reference it as India’s ‘Gone with the wind’.
Definitely go and see it. Here – here’s the link to get tickets.
Other things happening as part of the weekend:
- Fri 9 April Arun Ghosh Sextet (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
- Fri 9 April – Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)
- Sat 10 April – Mid-day Mantra – Sanchita Pal (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
- Sat 10 April – Amaan & Ayaan Ali Khan (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)
The first is in association with Birmingham Jazz, the others with sampad and, in some cases, The Drum.
The Mid-day Mantra thing sounds quite good – a variant on the Rush Hour Blues series, I guess. That’ll be happening once a month from now on and will be a freebie.
- MySpace – ::The Other Woman’s Club
“The Other Woman’s Club are a creative women’s collective of talented DJs, Photographers, Musicians, Jewelery Designers, Clothes Designers, Journalists, Promoters…and one man” - FREESTYLE Exhibition | Hare and Hounds
I missed this – a showcase of twelve different photographers and illustrators from around Birmingham. I’m going to do some short posts on them instead (if I can find em online, and I think I’ve found most) - MAKE YOUR CITY: JANUARY 2010: GO TO THESE SHOWS
January gig recommendations for those who like their music loud and slightly awkward - D’log :: blogging since 2000 » Terry Grimley profiles Peter James
As well as linking to the interview, D’log rounds up a collection of books on the pre-1945 history of phootgraphy in the West Mids - BASS 2010 commissions « Punch Records
“For BASS 2010 Punch are opening up the commissioning scheme and we are offering awards of between £500 – £3000 to support new work developed for the festival. We are looking for innovative and creative projects that explore the theme of DNA” - Mostly Jazz line-up
I don’t think I’ve linked to this yet. Anyway, the acts performing at the two-day jazz fest in Moseley have been announced. It’s being organised by the folks behind Moseley Folk and Birmingham Jazz and The Yardbird are pitching in too - One More Take
Tommy Pearson does the CBSO’s podcasts. This is his blog - Tom Binned over Queen’s speech gag
Mixed fortunes for (ex-)BRMB DJ Tom Binns – he got engaged on Christmas morning then went to work and got himself sacked
- Vote for Created in Birmingham (another shameless plea)
If you’ve not yet voted, please do.
If you have voted please vote again (you can vote DAILY until Tues 13 Jan) - Birmingham Photospace: Choose a Photographer
Birmingham Photospace, the people looking to establish a permanent photo gallery in Birmingham, are asking which photographer you’d like to see exhibiting in the city - Big Brum Quiz of the Year 2008 – Birmingham: It’s Not Shit
I got 71%. I’m sure you can do better - Birmingham Jazz News – Sammy Goulbourne: Barack Obama Mixtape
In honour of 2009 and of Barack Obama’s Election victory, Birmingham Jazz’s friend Sammy Goulbourne has recorded a mixtape for you to download - ESRC report on Future Management of the UK’s Creative Industries.
Nick summarises the report which he also paraphrases as “Whoah – this is all a bit confusing. Can we do some more research please?”
- New ‘Creative’ guide launched for West Midlands entrepreneurs
I can’t find a copy but it looks like it could be a blimmin interesting/useful document to get your mitts on. Can anyone find this online? - Young People Arts Project: New Project Opportunity – Audiences Central
“Audiences Central, with arts consultant Kerry Endsor, is looking to develop and deliver a high-profile, public-facing, arts project that will encourage and inspire young people in the West Midlands to engage with the arts and culture”. If you’re interested in getting involved then register your interest on the Audiences Central site before 19 Dec - Welcome to BYPY
Nominations for the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year are open - heavy handbag
Ramjeena Aujla is a “split-second-stealing snapper” and she blogs at Heavy Handbag - Screen WM – The year that was… 2008
Suzie Norton wraps up what they’ve been up to over at Screen WM this year - B(l)og
A couple of the Audiences Central peeps have started their own blogs recently, with this one from Fiona likely to be the most, um, quirky. She has/had a secret obsession – rating the city’s (and likely other cities’) toilets. So far pubs and restaurants feature highly - Birmingham Jazz News – Birmingham Jazz gigs in Guardian’s top gigs of 2008!
Congrats to Mary and co for gaining “recognition from respected Guardian Jazz critic John Fordham on the Dave Liebman tour and the Django Bates StoRMChaser project amongst others as highlights of the year” - Make and Do at The Edge
Antonio Roberts went to “the first Make and Do Party over at The Edge, which was hosted by Friction Arts. There were about 20 artists present and there was a strong emphasis on just having fun creating art!”. He has a quick write-up and some pics
Birmingham Jazz and Birmingham Town Hall‘s resonance events are well worth catching when they’re on. The last one was in October and featured the Heritage Orchestra and Lizzy Parks among others. A vid’s just gone up on YouTube with a couple of interviews that captures things really rather well.
- Rhubarb Radio: Want Airplay?
Send your material to: Rhubarb Radio, c/o Reception, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham, B9 4AA - The WGGB blog – News from the West Midlands
The first 9 months of the Writers Guild, West Mids branch - Let It Go … – Birmingham Post – Lifestyle Blog
Fiona Ferguson waxes lyrical about the opening of Heard and Not Seen and implores you to at least check out the website - Light. #1 | A Distorted Reality.
Alexander Young is serialising a short story called ‘Light.’ on his blog. This is part 1 - Birmingham Jazz News
Birmingham Jazz have a blog - Opportunity for performances in Paradise Forum – Audiences Central
Argent, who run Brindleyplace and Paradise Forum, are interested in theatres and other performing arts organisations who would like to perform in Paradise Forum in the run up to Christmas
I saw the The Heritage Orchestra at the Town Hall (one of their rather good resonance events) last month and they were great, so I was chuffed to hear about Birmingham Jazz’s plans for celebrating Stan Sulzmann‘s birthday:
Stan Sulzmann has had a long relationship with Birmingham Jazz and is a Honorary Fellow at Birmingham Conservatoire. So when Stan mentioned that he will be 60 this November, plans were immediately put in place to mark the event in Birmingham with a concert with a small version of The Heritage Orchestra (THO) and with arrangements of Stan’s material by both Jules Buckley and Stan himself.
Stan will be playing with THO’s 13-piece string section plus an extended rhythm section with piano, bass, drums, guitar and percussion. There will also be new material written for the occasion by Stan himself and by THO members Tom Richards and Sam Bullard
Woo-hoo! It’s on Sat 29 Nov at the CBSO Centre and tickets are available NOW!
Info about Stan Sulzmann’s 60th Birthday Celebration is here along with all the other stuff Birmingham Jazz have got on this month (ooh, Portico Quartet on the 28th).
The second resonance events soiree will happen at the Town Hall on Friday 3 October featuring a host of local talent as well as the very excellent Heritage Orchestra performing the songs of Amon Tobin. Musically, we’re talking jazz and hip hop but soul, leftfield, classical and any number of other styles will feature.
Here’s the full line-up:
- The Heritage Orchestra
- Lizzy Parks (album launch)
- DJ Cro hosting 2 and a half hours of local MC talent including Ko-Syne (Soulthump, Livebox), SPX (Kung Funk), Redbeard (Eat Good) and more
- Visuals by Chromatouch
It’s competition time!
I’ve been given a couple of tickets to give away for this. All you have to do is shout up for them in the comments. Just some quick rules:
- The first person to claim them takes both the tickets (well, guestlist places)
- No-one CiB-related can play
- No previous competition winners can claim the tickets
- You’ll need to use a proper email address for me to confirm things with you
- I get the final say on any decisions (if it’s really necessary)
So go for it…
Meanwhile, here’s the flyer:
You can also have a nosey at the interview with Mary Wakelam, of Birmingham Jazz, who co-promotes these events.












