Applications are open We are excited to launch this years’ Open Call for all artists interested in playing at the 2024 Lancaster Jazz Festival. Apply to play at the festival. We program the majority of the festival through this call out and love working in this way and it’s especially exciting when projects that aren’t on our radar apply and blow us away! At Lancaster Jazz Festival we believe that the future of jazz is now and we take pride in promoting brilliant musicians from the broad church of contemporary jazz. We strive to promote a diverse programme from around the UK that includes new ..read more

We’re happy to announce the dates for the 2025 Lancaster Jazz Festival. Join us Wednesday 10 to Sunday 14 September 2025 for another journey into jazz. Expect an eclectic range of styles and sounds from national and emerging talent as well as local legends. Interested in playing at the festival? Fill in the submission form before 16 February 2025. Want to get involved? We’re always interested in meeting new volunteers – we couldn’t do what we do without them! And if you’d like to join our board or get involved in some other way, let’s chat! Find out more about volunteering and joining the boa ..read more

There’s a fascinating new documentary to check out: Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat, a film about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism. A bravura cinematic exploration that plays like a thriller, intertwining the story of jazz with the history of colonial machinations in the Congo. Nina Simone and Louis Armstrong feature in this Sundance Award Winner. If you’re in Lancaster, you can catch it at the Dukes on Sunday 1 and Sunday 8 December. Or check out dates for screenings around the UK. About the film: “Johan Grimonprez’s involving film, anchored by the rhythm of American jazz, reveals distur ..read more

It won’t be long before we start planning the 2025 Lancaster Jazz Festival. But before we do, we wanted to look back at some memories of this year’s festival with some of the brilliant photos from our amazing photographer Ginny Koppenhol. Ginny’s been capturing the vibe at the festival for a few years now, and if you’re a Lancaster Jazz regular you may have spotted her behind her camera. Her pictures perfectly showcase the excellent performances and fantastic atmosphere of the festival, with some pretty intense facial expressions from artists and audience members alike ..read more

Did you catch Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band at the 2023 Lancaster Jazz Festival? If so, you were lucky as the tickets sold out pretty quick! With a 30-odd strong band of amazing musicians, this was the biggest show we’ve ever put on, and it was such a special night. Now you can re-live the magic, or experience it if you wern’t able to get tickets, with a brilliant live recording coming soon on 13 December 2024. The perfect soundtrack to a cosmic Christmas. Live at Lancaster Jazz Festival by Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band is now available for pre-order from Bandcamp. Get one track now, and the rest whe ..read more

And we’re off! Huge thanks to Ruth Goller and Skylla for a captivating start to the festival. Lancaster Priory provided a majestic backdrop to a hypnotic performance that kept our audience entranced from start to finish. In the words of one of our audience members: A great start to my experience of the festival. What a unique band. And the perfect venue for them to shine. Don’t forget to check out the programme for more amazing shows over the next four days! Photography by Ginny Koppenhol – make sure you head to the Gregson for the exhibition of some of her photos of Lancaster Jazz Festival ..read more

We’re delighted to welcome Charlotte Keeffe back to to the Lancaster Jazz Festival as this year’s artist in residence. Charlotte will be headlining our Sunday programme with a very special show at Lancaster Library. Charlotte will also be leading a workshop at the Gregson Centre as part of the Innovation Hub series – an amazing opportunity to play with most exciting improvisers in the UK and then perform as part of the Sunday show at the library – not to be missed! We caught up with Charlotte ahead of her workshop and show… Welcome back Charlotte! Any stand out memories from previous Lancaste ..read more

Ginny Koppenhol photography exhibition For the last few years, photographer Ginny Koppenhol has done an amazing job of documenting the Lancaster Jazz Festival. Capturing the moments of excitment and stillness, the people and the places, Ginny has become a key part of the festival and its legacy. This year we’re delighted to host an exhibition of some of the iconic images Ginny has created over the last few years. In Ginny’s own words: “I started photographing the Lancaster Jazz Festival in 2022 and was a relative newbie to the genre. Within this exhibition I want to convey the emotion I witne ..read more

Huge congratulations to Lancaster Jazz Festival headliners Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band who have won the 2023 Peter Whittingham Jazz Award. Find out more about this year’s winners: The 2023 Peter Whittingham Jazz Award: meet the awardees They’ve won £5,000 in financial support towards their work and one-to-one business advice from experienced music industry professionals. Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band are in great company, previous winners include some familiar faces from Lancaster Jazz Festival including Lara Jones, Tom Rideout, Skeltr,  Fergus McCreadie, Roller Trio and Led Bib. Run by Help M ..read more

Concord Youth Experience, The Digital Era The latest in our series of micro-commissions is a short film from Kai Chareunsy: Concord Youth Experience, The Digital Era. Watch Concord Youth Experience, The Digital Era – premiers 12pm, Wednesday 13th December. We caught up with Kai about this compelling insight into the digital lives of a group of young people in Birmingham. Can you tell us a bit about this micro-commission and how you approached it? This piece is really the work of all the young people involved, I have been wanting to facilitate a piece that is youth-led for a long time and when ..read more