Flying in for a Festival
Some really great jazz musicians are flying in and out, from and to many parts of the world to take part in the 3rd Shetland Jazz Festival. Ace clarinet and saxophone player Gilad Atzmon is coming here straight from a prestigious gig in Athens, the all-star Brian Kellock Trio members are flying from Edinburgh, whilst both Atzmon and Kellock fly off after the Shetland concert to gigs in New York. All four musicians are taking some time in between to share their incredible jazz experience and expertise with music students at the Anderson High School next Monday.
The festival kicks off on Friday 30 May, with a Shetland Jazz Showcase at Mareel featuring five top home-grown groups playing the music they love in a venue made to show off the best in music. Full Swing, Mahogany, Alan McKay and Robert Bennet, Jane McLaren and Norman Willmore, plus Shetland Improvisers Orchestra who feature a special appearance by Shetland writer Laureen Johnson and a piece that incorporates The Jabberwocky read by Kevin Briggs. This promises to be a thoroughly entertaining evening and a true celebration of Shetlands own jazz-related talents. As it says on the tin: “Jazz and Literature – a Potent Mixture”. Click here to buy tickets online at Shetland Box Office, priced £15/13. Doors 7pm for 7.30pm start.
Saturday’s featured gig is a reading from a facsimile of the 102-foot roll on which Jack Kerouac typed his famous On The Road epic. Jeff Merrifield reads of the astounding adventures of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty with bebop saxophone accompaniment from the much-talented Norman Willmore and Cuban-style drum breaks from the musicians of Aestaewast. Merrifield will also show rare film of Kerouac and Cassady as well as footage of Ken Kesey (who wrote One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) travelling America on his Magic Bus and his own stories, pictures and film of when the new Magic Bus, Kesey and his Merry Pranksters came to Scotland in 1999. The event will take place at The Bop Shop, Harbour St, Lerwick at 7.30pm. Nearly sold out but still a few tickets left.
Shetland Jazz Club and Shetland Arts have combined to put on what should be a hugely enjoyable third festival of the musical genre called jazz. It’s a wide spectrum this jazz music and it is hoped that Shetland audiences will support this plucky experiment in Jazz and Literature and a sustained tradition of jazz music in Shetland.
Jeff Merrifield Festival Director