UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 27 MARCH 2023
The internationally acclaimed Mammal Hands will headline Birmingham City University’s Inspired Jazz event due to take place at its world-famous Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
The event – to be staged on Wednesday, 24 May 2023 - will celebrate the work of the University’s staff, students, and graduates, as well as its role engaging with the wider music industry across the city and beyond - showcasing its expertise as a leading provider of creative arts education.
Also performing at the University’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s (RBC) stunning Bradshaw Hall will be the talented Ishmael Ensemble, with supporting performances in RBC’s Eastside Jazz Club by Birmingham artists ‘Friends’, as well as RBC’s homegrown talent the Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra - made up of the University’s students and graduates.
Specialist contemporary Jazz DJ Tina Edwards will perform in RBC’s main foyer, while an exhibition celebrating BCU’s rich jazz heritage and research - curated by the University’s Keeper of the Archives Dr Pedro Cravinho - will highlight the excellence of the University’s specialist Jazz department.
RBC is a world-class teaching and performance facility located in the heart of Birmingham, attracting high calibre students and globally renowned performers and teachers, while producing some of the world’s best performers - including the 2022 BBC Young Musician of the Year Jordan Ashman. Its concert and performance spaces provide impressive venues and stages performances for visitors from around the globe.
BCU’s Professor Peter Francis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), said: “The University is absolutely thrilled to be hosting the incredibly talented Mammal Hands and Ishmael Ensemble, alongside some of the city’s best Jazz artists.
“It is incredible to have the opportunity to showcase the wonderful work of our staff, students, and graduates deliver, alongside contemporary bands whose music is recognised worldwide.
“The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s reputation for academic excellence is global. I am thrilled to be able bring new and existing audiences to the University, to see our wonderful facilities, and I hope they will experience a real feel for the expertise of our staff, and our wonderfully creative and talented students and alumni.
Professor Shirley Thompson, Interim Principal of BCU’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, added: “Music, culture and the arts sit at the core of RBC and BCU, and both contribute enormously to the cultural fabric of the city, region, and country.
“We are proud to be enabling the personal transformation of not only our students, but wider society, through excellence in practice-based education, research, and knowledge exchange.
Mammal Hands (saxophonist Jordan Smart, pianist Nick Smart and drummer and percussionist Jesse Barrett) has carved out a refreshingly original sound from a disparate array of influences - drawing on their electric love of electronic music, contemporary classical, world, folk, and jazz, including Pharoah Sanders, Getachew Mekurya, Terry Rile, Steve Reich and Sirishkumar Manji. They will perform at RBC less than two months after releasing their much-anticipated fifth studio album ‘Gift from the Trees’.
Meanwhile, over the past five years, producer and saxophonist Pete Cunningham’s Ishmael Ensemble has gone from being a humble bedroom recording project to an integral part of the thriving UK Jazz scene. The group’s ‘Visions of Light’ was crowned Huey Morgan’s ‘Album of the Year’ on BBC 6 Music and saw them perform at The New York Winter Jazz Festival for Gilles Peterson.
Inspired Jazz forms part of BCU’s Inspired Festival 2023, celebrating the exciting new talent emerging from the University’s Faculty of Arts, Design and Media, and offers a virtual window into the future of the creative industries.
Tickets for Inspired Jazz are priced at £20 and can be purchased here.