Cheltenham Jazz Festival announces record-breaking year
3rd May 2017
Where: Cheltenham
When: April 26 to May 1, 2017
Another record-breaking year has been announced for Cheltenham Jazz Festival as more than 30,000 visitors flocked to the event over the Bank Holiday weekend.
BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music broadcast 12 hours of live radio from the Festival, including concerts from Jack Savoretti and Friday Night is Music Night. Presenters Jo Whiley, Clare Teal, Janice Long and Cerys Matthews also presented shows from backstage at the Festival.
On Clare Teal's show singer Gregory Porter said: "[Cheltenham Jazz Festival] creates this extraordinary artistic village... it's a really amazing, beautiful place. It's small, yet big, yet cool, yet not too slick."
As well as events in the festival village in Montpellier Gardens, more than 90 free gigs also took place all over town.
Festival Director Ian George said: "We issued just under 30,000 tickets and over 15,000 people enjoyed free gigs in our around town programme.
"Another 15 million people will have heard music from Cheltenham over the last six days on national BBC radio shows."
International artists this year included jazz legend Chick Corea performing the only UK date on his spring tour, Ben Folds flying in just for Cheltenham and soul giant Booker T Jones.
Hot new act Kansas Smittys House Band brought some late-night cool to The Daffodil for a four-night residency during the Festival and performed for 600 school children in the Jazz Festival's very first Concert for Schools.
The region's best school jazz bands donned their sharpest suits to perform to appreciative crowds on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the annual Jazz It Up programme.
Cheltenham Festivals' next event is Cheltenham Science Festival which takes place from June 6 to 11. For more details, visit www.cheltenhamfestivals.com
Main image: DJ Jo Whiley by McPherson Stevens
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