Three of the “greatest names in contemporary music all in one place” is the promise for the fourth annual Chichester JAZZ-FEST25 at the New Park Centre on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25 from 5.30-10.30pm.
00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts at Sussex Newspapers. Always great to speak to Nick Saunders. Nick, you do fabulous things, interesting things. You've got the 4th Chichester Jazzfest 25 coming up at the New Park Centre. On, and what is the date? I've temporarily lost it. Bank holiday Monday, August the 25th, 5.30 to 10.30. What's it all about? What do you do on this day, the Jazzfest?
00:28Oh, we have a really great, it's kind of our end to our season of jazz gigs that we've been putting on at the Chichester Inn and also in South Sea. And it's just a real conglomeration of a bunch of artists that I've really wanted to put together and make a big community event with some really world-class musicians, jazz musicians.
00:55And great line-up this year.
00:56This year, we've got headlining three of the greatest musicians, I think, that I've ever played with before. We've got Heidi Vogel, great singer with the Cinematic Orchestra.
01:08And we've got Jim Mullen, a fantastic Scottish guitarist who was made famous with Level 42 and people like that. And Dave O'Higgins, who, actually Dave O'Higgins is the one who played with Level 42, a great saxophonist.
01:28So, three of the very best for all.
01:32And linking them all is your trio.
01:34Your trio, your trio, all of them.
01:35My trio, Rhythm Earth Trio, will be the house band for the night, yeah.
01:42And we'll be, one after the other, the conveyor belt will be on.
01:46And we'll have a great, we'll have a great, love playing.
01:49Are you saying the point of it all is to provide the best possible musical experience in a beautiful city?
01:56I think so.
01:57I think so.
01:58In the beautiful Chichester, we have, yeah, because I've made my home here for the last 28 years or so, 30 years now.
02:06And we really feel that to bring world-class acts down to Chichester, and especially including them in a community event, when we begin this Jazz Fest, we always begin at 5.30 in the foyer of the New Park Centre and have a jam session.
02:26And all and sundry comes along.
02:28We had over 13 or 14 people last time.
02:31And in fact, one of the headliners came and joined in with the jam session, too, as he'd got there a bit early.
02:38And he came and joined in and played with everybody, too.
02:41So anybody who plays, it's really nice.
02:45It's really nice.
02:46It's nice to just include people and, you know, make jazz that kind of communal event.
02:51Yeah.
02:52And especially at the time of year, as you're saying, in August, most jazz clubs go dark, don't they?
02:56So to do this in August is extra special.
02:59A lot of the time.
03:00A lot of the time, yeah, it's hard.
03:01People say it's hard to get audiences in August, you know, but we've half sold out already for this one.
03:08So looking forward to having another full house again.
03:12Fantastic.
03:12So it's the New Park Centre and Bank Holiday Monday, August 25th, starts 5.30, goes on to 10.30.
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