This weekend the Vortex held a festival for the dynamic Loop Collective. The club was packed for 4 days, with festival promoters from France such as Jazzdor in Strasbourg and journalists including Michael Ruesenberg from WDR in Cologne.
14 bands over the period, including BBC Jazz Award winners Fraud, Gwilym Simcock as a great sideman with Sam Crockatt, Blink, Outhouse......
I made the introductions and spoke to many of the delighted fans. Several even made clear that they found a Valentine's Day in a packed jazz club listening to these band a highly romantic experience. One called Phronesis "pure sex on stage"! Do you agree?
But I forgot to say one important thing. And that is, that people should not think that going to a day of a festival is enough. They need to keep going to gigs throughout the year, wherever and whenever they are. The quality of the music here is amazing and even quite accessible. That's what the festival showed. For bands: no need to underestimate your audiences. For audiences: the music's out there. Go and find it.
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