Jazz festival returns after 20-year hiatus

A city-wide music festival is set to return in May after being on hiatus for 20 years.

Norwich Jazz Festival, which first ran more than 40 years ago, has curated artists from around the world to perform in venues across the city.

Headline acts include Brazilian jazz-funk legends Azymuth and Norwich-based trio Mammal Hands, who will perform alongside a number of UK rising stars.

Bradley Glasspoole, the festival programmer, described how the event had been designed to showcase the "many facets" of jazz, in a way that was accessible to young people and families.

He said: "For some people, 'jazz' might be not for them because they might think it's too middle class or they might think they don't understand it and so forth, but this is very accessible."

To encourage a younger audience to attend, people aged 25 and under will be able to purchase tickets to some performances at a reduced rate.

One of which will be a show by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, whose alumni include Amy Winehouse and Mark Armstrong.

Norwich first became home to the jazz festival in 1981, with events held intermittently until 2005.

Gigs will be held in a range of venues across Norwich, including Norwich Arts Centre, Epic Studios and Cinema City.

Artists will take to the stage on Thursday, 15 May, with the festival drawing to a close on Saturday, 24 May.

Additional acts are expected to be announced as part of the line-up in the coming weeks.

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