Bracknell Jazz Festival
The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a jazz festival, which took place from 1975 to 1991 in Bracknell in Berkshire (England). It was one of the most important festivals for modern jazz in the UK in the 1980s.
It took three days on the first weekend in July at the base of the Victorian Gutssitzes South Hill Park instead. It was organized by John Cumming, who later with his Serious Agency and the Camden Jazz Week and its successor, organized London Jazz Festival. As the successor of Bracknell festival also for a time was also organized by the Cumming Outside In Festival, Crawley (West Sussex ).
The rural setting also invited for picnics during the concerts and drew up to 4,000 listeners. The festival offered a wide variety of jazz, a forum, both international stars and British jazz musicians. Were also represented avant-garde jazz, free jazz and modern creative. In the early 1990s it was replaced by a non - specific Bracknell more jazz festival and then through Big Day Out. 2012, efforts were made to revive a weekend jazz festival in Bracknell.
There were rhythm and blues and rock musicians such as Alexis Korner, Charlie Watts on with his big band and Jack Bruce and jazz musicians such as Barbara Thompson with their paraphernalia ( TV recording 1979), Ornette Coleman, Stanley Clarke, Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry, George Coleman, Evan Parker, Tony Oxley, John Surman, Ralph Towner, Alan Skidmore, Trevor Watts, Paul Rutherford, Django Bates, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani, members of the Canterbury Scene, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Tomasz Stanko, Bobby Hutcherson, Nana Vasconcelos, Michael Gibbs and Bill Frisell.
The Arts Council of Great Britain was for the festival several compositions in order ( such as: Bracknell Connection 1976 by Stan Tracey, The Cortege 1979 by Mike Westbrook, hoarded Dreams 1983 by Graham Collier, each listed with their bands ).
Several live albums emerged at the festival, for example, The Bracknell Connection ( 1976) by Stan Tracey with his octet, Don Cherry ( Live at the Bracknell Jazz Festival, 1986, 2012) or Mike Osbourne / Stan Tracey. Live at the Bracknell Festival ( 1977).