Birmingham Town Hall / Symphony Hall announces new Jazzlines Fellows.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Jazzlines has announced trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, vocalist Lauren Kinsella and bassist Chris Mapp as the second year of Jazzlines Fellows at Town Hall / Symphony Hall. Press release attached.
PRESS RELEASE FROM TOWN HALL & SYMPHONY HALL BIRMINGHAM
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Jazzlines has announced Yazz Ahmed, Lauren Kinsella and Chris Mapp as the second year of Jazzlines Fellows, a scheme supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation to assist highly talented UK musicians aged between 21 and 35 in early to mid-career stage. Jazzlines Fellowships offer mentoring and one-to-one advice, master classes, professional development workshops, resources to support artistic development, ?go and see’ visits and high profile performance opportunities. At the end of the year, the Fellows showcase their own new work as part of the Jazzlines programme.
Yazz Ahmed plans to compose a suite of songs inspired by the work songs of the Bahraini pearl divers and the wedding music of the female drumming groups of the Gulf region. Singer Lauren Kinsella’s work will explore new relationships between music ensemble, theatre space and actor, and will form two contrasting sets of music highlighting both musicians and poetry. Chris Mapp plans to record a series of albums and performances working with his ensemble Gonomoblast and hopes to use the fellowship to develop expertise as an improvising musician and producer of quality recorded music.
Mary Wakelam Sloan, Jazzlines Programme Manager, says:
We’re thrilled that the continuing, much-valued, support from Jerwood Charitable Foundation enables us to welcome Yazz, Lauren and Chris as our second year of Jazzlines Fellows. We look forward to working with them all through the next year. This scheme strengthen Jazzlines’ pioneering talent development programme and consolidates Birmingham’s claim as a nationwide powerhouse for exceptional jazz provision and innovation.?
Yazz Ahmed
http://www.yazzahmed.com/ @YazzAhmed1
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it54uTMnbz0
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/yazzahmed/flip-flop-finding-my-way-home
Yazz says, ?I am absolutely delighted to have received such a wonderful opportunity and support in developing my career as a composer and musician. During the fellowship, as well as writing a major new piece of work, I want to inspire people of all ages and cultural backgrounds, particularly young women and girls who struggle to find positive role models, and to participate in music.
I plan to compose a suite of songs, linked by instrumental interludes, inspired by the melodies, lyrics and rhythms of the work songs of the Bahraini pearl divers and the wedding music of the female drumming groups of the gulf region. This would be complimented by jazz harmony and improvisation, interwoven with elements of contemporary electronic sound design. ?
Lauren Kinsella
http://www.laurenkinsella.com/ @laurenkvoice
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QStrlvKqmeo
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/snowpoet/alive-with-closed-eyes
Lauren says, ?I am delighted to be a Jazzlines Fellow this year and throughout the course of the next 12 months, I hope to learn and engage in new pathways as my development as an artist. I have many aims that will culminate in what I hope to be an original, engaging and high quality performance of somewhere in between. This project is about realising new relationships between the music ensemble, the theatre space and actor, and the setting of particular text to both improvised and composed music. There will be two contrasting sets of music during the performance that serve to highlight both the musicians and the poetry in contrasting ways.
Throughout the course of the year I hope to learn new expertise, improve as a mediator and bandleader, develop new skills as a composer and improviser and produce a new piece of work that audiences can really engage with. I look forward to realising this project and my journey as a developing artist throughout the course of the year.?
New Jazzlines Fellow Lauren Kinsella lends her expertise to the Jazzlines Women in Jazz Professional Development Panel on Saturday (24 January 2015), details at: http://www.thsh.co.uk/event/women-in-jazz-professional-development-panel/
Chris Mapp
http://www.chrismapp.co.uk @mappage
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/chris-mapp
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCJwbtXIa360qWIc0Q-E0IQ
Chris says, ?My plan for my time as a Jazzlines fellow revolves around my ensemble Gonimoblast, focusing primarily on recording a series of albums/EPs and a two night performance. Both the recording sessions and the performances will be orientated around the core ensemble of myself, Sam Wooster on trumpet, Dan Nicholls on keys, Leafcutter John on electronics and Mark Sanders on drums. I will also invite guests to play live and to record with us.
In undertaking this fellowship and in particular these activities, I am aiming to develop myself as an improvising musician as well as a producer of recorded music. By performing and recording regularly with the same core group of musicians I hope to further develop my understanding of improvisation in this context. I hope that this project and the fellowship in general will help to raise my profile as an improvising musician, and producer of quality recorded music.?
Jazzlines Fellows
Town Hall & Symphony Hall’s Jazzlines Fellowship scheme is supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation. Three Jazzlines Fellowships are offered to talented musicians, aged 21-35, nominated by industry professionals based on their skills, commitment and potential to develop. The first Fellowships were awarded to Dan Nicholls, Lluis Mather and Percy Pursglove in March 2013.
Jerwood Charitable Foundation is a company dedicated to imaginative and responsible revenue funding of the arts, supporting artists to develop and grow at important stages in their careers. It works with artists across art forms, from dance and theatre to literature, music and the visual arts.
http://www.jerwoodcharitablefoundation.org
Jazzlines is Town Hall & Symphony Hall’s dynamic strand of concert programming and inspirational education work from jazz producers Tony Dudley-Evans and Mary Wakelam Sloan, connecting people to jazz music. Launched in April 2012, Jazzlines is supported by a three-year funding grant from Arts Council England under the National Portfolio Organisation scheme. The programme encompasses live jazz performances at a wide variety of venues around the city, including Town Hall & Symphony Hall, and an innovative participation, learning and talent development programme.
http://www.thsh.co.uk/jazzlines
Town Hall and Symphony Hall are managed together by Performances Birmingham Limited, a Registered Charity No 1053937. Between them, the two halls present an exciting and varied programme of around 800 concerts and events a year, connecting people of all ages and backgrounds to music from jazz, folk, world, roots and classical, to rock and pop. Over 500,000 people visit Town Hall and Symphony Hall annually, and almost 12,000 young people and 6,000 adults participate in the thriving Education and Community programme.
Funded by Birmingham City Council | Supported using public funding by Arts Council England
Town Hall Birmingham re-opened in October 2007 following a £35m renovation funded by Birmingham City Council
(£18.3m), Heritage Lottery Fund (£13.7m), European Regional Development Fund (£3m).
Town Hall & Symphony Hall Box Office 0121 780 3333 http://www.thsh.co.uk