Conscia Jazz, the Bedford based jazz promotion and education company, are delighted to announce that the ‘Conscia Jazz Presents: The Bedford Jazz Festival 2016’ is set to take place over the weekend of the 19th of March.

Over the two-day period, there will be around 20 different acts at four different venues in the town centre, including The Quarry Theatre, The Corn Exchange and The Pavilion Café. 

A big feature in this year’s festival is the ‘Main Stage’ being held at The Quarry Theatre, with four acts between midday and 4.45pm on both days. As well as being able to buy tickets for each individual event, there are also ‘Main Stage Passes’ available for each day. These allow you to go to all four events on the ‘Main Stage’ on that given day with one ticket; at £29 for adults and £21 for students.

At 8pm on both days we have our headline events. On Saturday we have the New York based trumpeter and Blue Note artist Ambrose Akinmusire and his quartet performing at The Quarry Theatre, which features Sam Harris, Harish Raghavan and Rodney Green. This is the last date in their European tour, and their only one in England, so we are extremely delighted to have them. To close the festival on the Sunday, we have the internationally acclaimed husband-and-wife duo, of British jazz diva Jacqui Dankworth and American vocalist/pianist Charlie Wood with their band, performing their ‘Just You, Just Me’ project in the main auditorium at The Corn Exchange. This project celebrates some of the great musical partnerships of the 20th century, including Ray Charles & Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong and George & Ira Gershwin. Both of these events are certainly not ones to miss!

Jacqui Dankworth / Charlie Wood

An addition to this year’s festival is a community stage. This is designed to give local musicians a chance to perform, and will be free entry for the public. As well as the community stage, there will also be a couple of fringe events, including the film ‘High Society’, in partnership with ‘The Bedford Film Festival’, and a ‘Jazz at the Park’ event.

Ambrose Akinmusire 

For more information regarding which acts are performing, ticket prices and more, please go to www.conscia.org.