We said the lovely people of Leeds had a fantastic time at Catch A Fire at the Town Hall last week. Don’t just take our word for it…watch this! And this response has been replicated at every venue the Lively Up! Festival has been to! AWESOME! Congratulations to all of our wonderful Festival artists!
It’s no use…even Gary Crosby, Jazz Jamaica’s esteemed band leader, doesn’t have any spare tickets for the COMPLETELY SOLD OUT Catch A Fire show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre next Wednesday (24 Oct) with Brinsley Forde, Urban Soul Orchestra and the amazing 70+voice VoiceLab choir!
However, you can still get to see this fabulous show at:
Fri 26 Oct LEEDS Leeds Town Hall 0113 224 3801
Wed 31 Oct LEICESTER De Montfort Hall 0116 233 3111 (with the fabulous Amika Choir!!)
Fri 02 Nov EDINBURGH Usher Hall 0131 228 1155 (last night of the tour – PAR-TAYYYY!)
Here’s some footage from the Catch A Fire show in Birmingham with Jazz Jamaica All Stars, Brinsley Forde and Urban Soul Orchestra, made all the more special with the addition of the soulful Birmingham Town Hall Gospel Choir. They were AMAZING!
Meantime, we’re looking forward with great excitement to the rest of the Catch A Fire shows and to catching the fire of the VoiceLab choir in London and the Amika Choir in Leicester. Check the Festival Dates page for details!
Thanks to everyone who came to Jazz Jamaica All Stars’ sensational SOLD OUT Lively Up! Festival show at Birmingham Town Hall with Brinsley Forde and Urban Soul Orchestra on 13 October and to our also sensational show at Guildhall Southampton on 12 October. Both gigs were storming and the Town Hall Gospel Choir in Birmingham made the fire of Catch A Fire burn even brighter.
There are just three more opportunities to catch the fire of Catch A Fire (as London on 24 October is already completely sold out).
Anyone in Brum who couldn’t get a ticket should try Leicester (De Montfort Hall – 31 October) as there are still some tickets available at the moment.
Anyone further north can try Leeds (Town Hall – 26 Oct) or – if you’re very far north – Edinburgh (Usher Hall – 2 Nov)
Hope to see you soon, and thanks for supporting the shows!
If you haven’t already bought your ticket to see Jazz Jamaica All Stars with Brinsley Forde, Urban Soul Orchestra and the massive Voicelab choir, we have bad news as the show has now completely SOLD OUT – two weeks before the gig!
Tickets are still available for the following shows, but Usain Bolt Yourself and go get your tickets fast!
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Fri |
12-Oct |
Southampton |
Jazz Jamaica All Stars/Urban Soul Orch/Brinsley Forde | Catch a Fire |
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Sat |
13-Oct |
Birmingham |
Jazz Jamaica All Stars/Urban Soul Orch/Brinsley Forde | Catch a Fire |
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|
Fri |
26-Oct |
Leeds |
Jazz Jamaica All Stars/Urban Soul Orch/Brinsley Forde | Catch a Fire |
|
|
Wed |
31-Oct |
Leicester |
Jazz Jamaica All Stars/Urban Soul Orch/Brinsley Forde | Catch a Fire |
|
|
Fri |
2-Nov |
Edinburgh |
Jazz Jamaica All Stars/Urban Soul Orch/Brinsley Forde | Catch a Fire |
Photo: Attitude Magazine
Yeeeup! Even better than superstar boy band, JLS!
That’s what a 12-year-old girl said after attending the Jazz Jamaica All Stars/Urban Soul Orchestra/Brinsley Forde premiere of Catch A Fire at Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham!
So does this mean JLS are relegated from the teen ‘hottie’ music league?!
Judge for yourself…Usain Bolt Yourself and go get your ticket to to one of the remaining Catch A Fire shows listed on the Lively Up! Festival Dates page
Jazz Jamaica Family Fun Club kicked off the Lively Up! Festival on Friday 28 September at Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham with a Mango Spice performance workshop for 70+ primary school children supported by EMJazz.
That evening saw a long-held dream realised for bassist/band leader Gary Crosby OBE with the premiere of Catch A Fire with 30-piece orchestra made up of big band Jazz Jamaica All Stars, strings section Urban Soul Orchestra and the incredible vocalist Brinsley Forde (Aswad) at Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham.
Jason Yarde’s wonderfully rich music arrangements delivered that massive sound for which Jazz Jamaica is so well-reputed. And the band was joined for four songs by the exceptional local voices, Gang Of Angels Choir who put in an outstanding performance having had just one rehearsal with us just before performing it live!
Brinsley had the audience on their feet, singing and dancing, cheering and whooping, and insisting on MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE!… They just didn’t want to leave!
Brinsley also sang a beautiful acapella tribute to our Lively Up! Project Manager, Fish Krish whose mother sadly passed away a week ahead of the start of the Festival.
It was brilliant to hear some of Jason Yarde‘s magnificent arrangements for the first time. Sonically rich and sumptuous, we just can’t wait to hear the finished product! And thanks to our dear friends at Southbank Centre for very kindly hosting our stage rehearsal.
Thanks also to our dear friend, photographer Ben Amure for popping into the rehearsal to take some photos for us.
Lots of excitement in the Dune office as the kick off for our Lively Up! Festival looms ever closer. Just two days to go to the first clutch of shows. We’re starting in Nottingham, the city where the original Bob Marley and the Wailers Catch A Fire tour started!
A small posse of us are heading up to Nottingham today to launch the festival alongside the New Art Exchange’s fabulous I Is Another exhibition this evening (Thu 27 September), and then the festival starts in earnest on Friday in Nottingham with Catch A Fire and Mango Spice at Royal Concert Hall, Parallel – A Tribute To Joe Harriott at Lakeside Arts, Steppin’ Over dance party at Nottingham Contemporary
Meantime, check out the festival dates and hope to see you soon on one of these brilliant shows!
Check out this short Catch A Fire trailer we made with our featured vocalist, reggae star Brinsley Forde, Gary Crosby (founder and leader of Jazz Jamaica) and Jason Yarde who is busily preparing some deep and fabulous big band arrangements for the forthcoming shows by Jazz Jamaica All Stars, Urban Soul Orchestra and, of course, Brinsley on vocals.
The actual concert features a 30-musician massive with full rhythm section, horns and reeds sections, strings sections, and backing vocalists (our take on the wonderful I-Threes!) so, for the moment, this is just a taster.
Listen to the 20-piece Jazz Jamaica All Stars on their album Massive (Dune Records DUNECD06).
Then imagine this sound enlarged by 33% with strings, lead and backing vocals performing tracks from Catch A Fire…truly MASSIVE!
We’d love to know what you think so do feel free to leave a comment! We’ll be posting up the full lineup for you shortly. Enjoy!
Lively Up! Festival 