Jazz singer Porter joins West music festival team
GRAMMY Award-winning singer Gregory Porter is the new artistic curator of Cheltenham Jazz Festival, it has been announced.
Porter will headline next year’s event and work in collaboration with guest artists as part of the three-year role.
The American takes over from Jamie Cullum, who has filled the role since 2010 and will become associate curator
Porter, 47, will perform on May 4 and will curate a series of other artists for the festival.
He said: “Cheltenham Jazz Festival has an international reputation for bringing the very best artists together and producing unique shows. I’m very excited to be working with the festival team to help create this extraordinary artistic village.”
Cullum added: “Like me, Gregory has a history with this great festival. I am delighted that he will be joining the team at Cheltenham to bring audiences unique events, intimate shows with major artists and highlighting the next generation of incredible artists.”
The festival has also announced that the popular Free Stage will move to a new location.
It will now be in the Festival Village in Montpellier Gardens to ensure that the crowds who gather to see the top local and national talent for free over the bank holiday weekend have space to sit back and relax.
There will also be more space in the Henry Westons Big Top. Capacity will increase by 50 per cent to 2,000 seats.
The festival has also announced some of the other acts due to appear at the event from May 6 to 11 next year.
Brazilian bossa nova legend Sergio Mendes makes his first visit to the UK in many years when he plays the Big Top on Saturday, May 4. With more than 35 albums, three Grammy awards and an Oscar nomination to his name, Mendes’ influence on the music indus- try has spanned five decades. His signature song Mas Que Nada, originally a hit in 1966, topped the charts again in 2006 in collaboration with The Black Eyed Peas and has since featured in the animated film Rio and the Fifa World Cup.
Joshua Redman performs on Saturday, May 4, with drummer Gregory Hutchinson and bassist Reuben Rogers. One of the most acclaimed jazz artists to have emerged in the 1990s, Redman postponed a place to study law at Harvard in order to pursue a career in jazz.
Making their first visit to Cheltenham is The Bad Plus on Sunday, May 5, with a new pianist, Orrin Evans, joining founding members Reid Anderson on bass and Dave King on drums. This boundary-crossing trio has won critical acclaim for their original compositions but are also known for their genre-defying covers, from Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
Head of programming Emily Jones said: “It’s a pleasure to announce these first four artists as we continue to bring the best in jazz to Cheltenham, especially when so many more people will be able to enjoy the gigs next year thanks to our bigger Big Top venue.
“With Gregory Porter on board, we also have some unique experiences in store, which will be revealed when the full line-up is announced next year.”
Tickets will go on sale to Cheltenham Festivals members at 1pm on November 27 and to the general public at 1pm on November 29.
The full Cheltenham Jazz Festival line-up will be announced on February 13. To be the first to hear Festival announcements, sign up at www. cheltenhamfestivals.com/jazz