Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival

About

Colin Gorrie and Denny Ilett started Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival, sharing the belief that a city like Bristol needed, and deserved, a high calibre festival dedicated to jazz and blues. Bristol’s long and illustrious association with jazz dates back to the ‘50s and ‘60s when a dizzying array of stars – including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald – regularly played to sell-out audiences at Colston Hall.

And so Colin and Denny set out to produce a jazz and blues festival unlike any other for a maverick city that likes to break the rules.

The programme is designed to appeal to music lovers of all ages and tastes and over the past few years they have successfully grown and diversified their audience considerably. The festival celebrates jazz and blues in a way that makes these important genres accessible and appealing to a wide and diverse audience – from primary school children to OAPs.

Highlights this year include: 

 - 17 March: Cult Fiction Live! Sounds from the Small Screen

- 17 March: Trio HLK with Evelyn Glennie

- 18 March: Cartoon Jazz II feat. Ian Shaw

- 18 March: Cuban Dance Party feat. Dockside All Stars
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