Month: February 2025
PRS Foundation’s New Music Biennial
mjf is proud to be one of the 20 organisations to have been selected to premiere new work as part of the PRS Foundation’s New Music Biennial.
PRS Foundation’s New Music Biennial is a critically acclaimed free festival presenting 20 pieces of new music across two festival weekends, at Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture (6th – 8th June 2025) and London’s Southbank Centre (4th-6th July 2025), broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and available for download from NMC Recordings.
Click the link here to learn more.
A premiere of our work (P E A C E) will take place at The Carlton Club during mjf2025.
Click the link here to browse our work.
P E A C E
We are delighted to present the world premiere of this brand new commission, conceptualised and created by former mjf originals and hothouse artist, Verity Watts.
Does music about peace have to be peaceful? What does peace sound like in 2025?
Drawing on her creative catalogue, Verity Watts brings together four world-class artists from contrasting experiences: musically, culturally and spiritually. In the gloriously diverse city of Bradford, where the first Peace Studies department was inaugurated and now houses the Peace Museum, ‘P E A C E’ finds musical commonality in the cracks and creates something beautiful by joining together contrasts. Featuring electronic sounds, rap, scratching, spoken word, bassline improvisation and fused with historic archive audio samples, mjf presents a radical and ambitious commission.
The collaborators will include world champion turntablist DJ Woody; legendary jazz bassist Dave Kane; Bradford-born singer, rapper and songwriter Kenzo Jae; poet and spoken word artist Scout Tzofiya Bolton and Archive Producer Anna Rhodes who will curate audio samples from Bradford, that feature in the music.
Thank you to the Peace Museum, University of Bradford’s Peace Studies Department and Bradford City Museum for their generous support.
Click here to learn more about the commission.
We are back! #mjf2025 has landed, with our full line-up announced and on sale via Eventbrite.
Jazz lovers rejoice – mjf is back to jazz up your summer with a bumper edition, as we celebrate our 30th anniversary festival.
Lighting up venues across the city, mjf2025 will see hundreds of artists from the north (Olivia Cuttill Quintet, Ponyland, Ladies of Midnight Blue), across the UK (Steam Down, Mammal Hands, Camilla George) and abroad (ganavya, Sylvain Rifflet, Sanem Kalfa, Nabou, Ella Ronen) as they descend upon Manchester, showcasing the genre’s leading lights alongside its most exciting emerging talent.
And of course we’ll be seeing our 30th birthday out in style with two special celebratory events (our 30th anniversary party feat. Honeybee Jazz and the mjf wrap party feat. Ed Kainyek Quartet) taking place at the ultimate late night venue, Matt & Phreds. Plus this year we welcome the addition of three new venues to mjf: Aviva Studios, Flawd Wine Bar and Stage & Radio.
Click here to find out more below and browse our full line-up here.
Opening Weekender: mjf@First Street
Our free opening weekender celebrates the breadth and individuality of our home-grown scene: bands from, or with a strong connection to, the north. It’s also about shining the spotlight on artists who’ve journeyed through some of our talent development programmes in recent years.
As well as some of the north’s leading artists gracing our House of Social Main Stage (Ubunye, Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band, Mali Hayes, Phil Meadows’ Beware of the Bear) on Friday and Saturday, you can check out some of the northern bands from our Soundcheck and hothouse artist development programmes on the Ask Garden Stage (Thanda Gumede, Cup Noods, Trees.R.Good). Accomplished performers in more intimate settings adorn the Home Stage (Jose Dias, New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds, Jascha Bingham Trio) throughout each day.
On Sunday we partner with Jazz North for the return of the Northern Line showcase: we’ll present the five acts selected by industry experts for their 2025 artist roster (Ex Easter Island Head, The Exu, Ellen Beth Abdi).
Returning mjf Legends
It wouldn’t be our 30th anniversary without paying tribute to some of the legendary artists that have been instrumental in shaping mjf. This includes Richard Iles’ Miniature Brass Emporium, for which Richard will revisit mjf’s first ever commissioned work from 25 years ago in New Futures II. Fittingly reinvented for 2025, this performance brings together players from the original line-up with emerging players of today.
Norma Winestone, Nikki Iles, Mike Walker and Steve Watts come together for Small Print, a chamber iteration of the cherished Printmakers ensemble. John Helliwell’s Super Big Tramp Band have reunited for an anniversary show at RNCM, and in a nod to our original 1996 lineup, John Ellis, who headlined our very first festival back then, will bring his new band to the stage as part of the opening weekender.
P E A C E
Continuing our commitment to new work, mjf is one of the 20 organisations selected for the PRS Foundation’s 2025 New Music Biennial, for which we’ve commissioned sound artist Verity Watts to create P E A C E. Airing at mjf, Bradford UK City of Culture and South Bank Centre and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, the radical work uses turntables, spoken word, bassline improv and archive audio samples to ask us what peace sounds like in 2025. You can witness the premiere at The Carlton Club as part of our Brume x mjf night.
St Ann’s Church
A firm favourite venue for mjf regulars, St Ann’s welcomes Matt Owens back for the album launch of Keys, a work he premiered there at mjf 2014 that focusses in on music for various keyboard instruments, including the noble St Ann’s Church organ.
Low Four Studio
We’re partnering with this intimate recording and performance space to offer you the chance be in the audience for three live recording/streaming sessions, with artists including Alice Zawadzki’s Za Górami and Elliot Galvin’s new quartet.
Band on the Wall
Once again we’ll head to Band on the Wall for a jam-packed party weekend. Highlights include Afro-punk band Steam Down, visionary saxophonist Camilla George and a new duo bringing together the talents of celebrated pianist Gwilym Simcock and fast-rising saxophonist Emma Rawicz, along with a host of free gigs in The Copper Bar throughout.
mjf at Aviva Studios
In collaboration with Factory International, we’ll welcome to Manchester a triple bill of the most genre-pushing international jazz artists from across Europe. International work has always played a pivotal role in the mjf programme, often giving many artists their UK debut. In these free to access performances, you can hear Nabou (Belgium), Sanem Kalfa’s Miraculous Layers (The Netherlands) and Sylvain Rifflet’s We Want Stars (France). In between sets, unplugged performances from Lou Barnell + Neighbourhood Voices choir and the high-energy Young Pilgrims brass band fill the outdoor space.
Click here to discover more free to access performances.
We can’t wait to welcome you!
First time attending a jazz gig? – click here to this handy article and it will let you know what all the fuss is about!