RWCMD Jazz Time Festival

It’s day one of RWCMD’S Jazz Time Festival and some of the biggest names in jazz will be performing in venues throughout the College over the next three days.

Following the success of RWCMD’s regular Jazz Time sessions and the Jazz Time tour, the three day festival will feature a rolling programme of performances by the College’s jazz students and the RWCMD Big Band alongside visitors including Norma Winstone, Neon Quartet and Neil Yates, the James Taylor Quartet.

Some of the student performances at festival will also be assessed as part of their final examinations. This is an innovative new step pioneered by Head of Jazz Studies, Paula Gardiner. “We always try to make assessed performances as professional and realistic as possible,” says Paula. “I am very relaxed about our students playing in front of the public – they’ve had so much experience of doing it and I’m very proud for people to hear them. They’re embracing the notion of becoming their own musicians with their own identities. They’re really shaping their own music – from its inception to its performance.”

The Festival is an exciting opportunity for students to showcase their own work, whilst being immersed in a variety of music from some of the best and most influential performers in the business.

“We have some of the most inspiring musicians in the UK appearing here,” says Paula. “Seeing these performers is going to be such an inspiration for our students, because it will fuel their own performances. Whether you’re playing or listening, you’re immersed in the music; you’re hearing what else is happening and that’s why it’s such a valuable experience for the students.”