Emphasis On Music At Leeds International Film Festival

Once again music is placed at the heart of the Leeds International Film Festival, with a number of astonishing documentaries and live performances this year.

Artists such as Kurt Cobain, The Wu-Tang Clan, and Tokyo’s underground punk rock scene all feature in the extensive list of documentaries on offer between 7 – 18 November.

An exclusive live screening of Cinema Soloriens and the Cosmo Drama: Sun Ra features a special programme of experimental shorts by cult American filmmaker James Harrar in Leeds Town Hall on 10 November. The Hall will be filled with live musical accompaniment led by the band leader of the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra, Marshall Allen.

Ultravox co-founder John Foxx is back following his sell-out performance of Cathedral Oceans at last year’s Film Festival with a rare live performance and presentation of his new multimedia project, Tiny Colour Movies.

Fans of the W-Tang clan will be salivating at the prospect of Rock the Bells’ UK Premiere, an electrifying fly-on-the-wall documentary about a dedicated music promoter whose dream of reuniting the group for a Californian hip-hop festival in July 2004 became both a living nightmare and a legendary event.

Kurt Cobain: About a Son is an intimate meditation on the late, great Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audio taped interviews by Michael Azerrad, author of Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.

Also making its UK Premiere is Orquesta Tipica, charting the rise of a dynamic group of street buskers, reclaiming Argentina’s great musical art form, Tango, and becoming international stars.

Rock’n Tokyo follows four underground rock bands whose energy and intensity puts most contemporary western bands to shame while rebelling against the uniformity and order prescribed in Japanese society.

Black leather clad garage rock renegades Guitar Wolf line up with rock-a-billy queens The 5678s (stars of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill), The Jet Boys, led by lunatic punk exhibitionist Assman Ono Ching and Nine, who play impromptu live sets in front of Shinjuku station.

Chris Fell, Director of Leeds International Film Festival said:

“The worlds of music and film are firmly entwined. We are often interested in the stories behind the music we love and therefore it is with great pride we have secured so many thrilling music features for this year’s festival.”

For more information on the 21st Leeds International Film Festival, go to www.leedsfilm.com or pick up a FREE 129-page brochure from the following places:

Hyde Park Picture House
The Carriageworks
Leeds Town Hall
Leeds City Art Gallery
Tourist Information (Leeds Train Station)
Travelling Man (behind House of Fraser)
Seven (Harrogate Rd, Chapel Allerton)

Alternatively e-mail your name and address with postcode to filmfestival@leeds.gov.uk (put FREE GUIDE in the subject box) or call the Film Festival office on 0113 247 8398.

Celebrate Leeds 2007 is an inclusive festival marking Leeds’ 800th birthday. It is organised by Leeds City Council in partnership with the Royal Armouries Museum and the Yorkshire Evening Post. It marks the date in 1207 when Leeds first received its charter as a new town. The festival aims to offer something for all the people of Leeds. This includes high-profile, large-scale events, such as the Light Night, 800 Trees and a 'Searching for Loidis' university lecture series as well as a successful community grants scheme, an ongoing ‘Where I Live ‘ project, and a range of educational activities. Visit www.celebrateleeds07.com for further details.

London Jazz Festival: Friday 16 To Sunday 25 November

The London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3 is delighted to announce its full programme for 2007. The Festival continues to grow apace through the sheer wealth of events on offer and the ever expanding number of venues that join the Festival each year. This year’s programme presents an enticing mix of must-see headline gigs at major venues with a vital club programme. Over 10 days a staggering 192 events take place across 41 venues, stretching from Finchley to Barnes, Notting Hill to Stratford and pretty much everywhere in between.

The reach of the Festival and jazz itself presents an unrivalled opportunity for everyone to find music that will inspire and entertain, be it in pubs, clubs, concert halls, hotels, restaurants or museums, through performances, free events, live broadcasts, talks and films. The London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3 has become one of the highlights of the cultural calendar and an event that’s passionate about making the music available for everyone to enjoy.

Important landmarks for jazz icons past, present and future are honoured this year. The Festival opens with a gala concert that pays tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on the 90th anniversary of her birth. We All Love Ella features a stunning line-up of vocalists that includes Jamelia, Lea DeLaria, Claire Martin, David McAlmont, Juliet Roberts, Ian Shaw, Terri Walker, Lizz Wright and other special guests, together with the BBC Concert Orchestra in homage to the life and music of ‘The First Lady of Song’. 2007 also marks 90 years since the birth of Thelonious Monk, a towering figure of jazz whose legacy continues to set a benchmark for jazz composition. The Festival marks this occasion with the return of the Monk Liberation Front’s Complete Works of Thelonious Monk which gives audiences the chance to experience all 70 of his works performed by leaders Tony Kofi and Jonathan Gee joined by a superb band that includes Cleveland Watkiss, Corey Mwamba, Quentin Collins and Winston Clifford. A unique event exploring a vital and vibrant period in jazz history through music and conversation, Harlem Meets Broadway marks the centenary of the birth of swing’s greatest saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter in partnership with King’s College London.

The 80th birthday of a major figure in British jazz aristocracy, John Dankworth is celebrated in a special big band event plus the Festival marks 10 years of Dune Music with a storming gig featuring New Orleans trumpeter and Dune artist Abram Wilson and the awesome London Community Gospel Choir, plus Dune stalwarts Jazz Jamaica join up with the Caribbean’s finest, Ernest Ranglin, Marjorie Whylie and Myrna Hague.

Jazz continues to embrace and inspire artists from the furthest reaches of music and this year’s programme reflects the breadth of musicians responding from both inside and outside the genre. Trailblazing drummer Steve Reid collaborates with Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) in a performance of their new album for Domino featuring musicians from Senegal pushing jazz firmly ‘out there’. Hailed as influential as Miles Davis or Jimi Hendrix, visionary composer/trumpeter Jon Hassell brings his Fourth World style of music to the Festival. Cult San Francisco band Tuxedomoon celebrate 30 years with an extremely rare London date and a new album out on Crammed, plus label mates Flat Earth Society explode their dynamic big band sound onto the Purcell Room stage. Southbank Artist in Residence Barry Adamson presents two events which include the first airing of his highly anticipated new album. Downtown New York meets cutting edge London in the return of the superb Adventures in Sound programmed in partnership with BBC Radio 3’s Jazz on 3 and featuring sets and collaborations between artists such as Gutbucket’s live-to-Superman-cartoons music plus award winning UK composer Tom Arthurs.

More key artists from Europe have been added to the programme including Norwegian polymath Ketil Bjørnstad performing his new Universal CD Devotions with brilliant Austrian saxophonist/flautist Wolfgang Puschnig and Dutch pianist Michiel Borstlap joins forces with Bill Bruford in an improvised set. From the UK we can announce The Northern Underground Orchestra featuring Tim Garland, The Geoff Gascoyne Project (featuring Jamie Cullum, Trudy Kerr and The Juno String Quartet) and London’s own Portico Quartet.

The Festival has always featured a strong world-jazz and international strand and this year is no exception with highlights including flamenco pioneers Son de la Frontera + Benjamin Escoriza of Radio Tarifa, star Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca (with support from Basquiat Strings) plus the acclaimed singer-songwriter Raul Midon.

The London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3 has an ongoing commitment to involving as many people as possible in jazz. This happens through performances but also by providing opportunities to take an active part in music-making to deepen understanding of the diverse music the festival presents. Initiatives within the Festival include a saxophone masterclass by leading UK saxophonist Andy Sheppard, a drum clinic run by Bill Bruford, a special mentoring scheme made possible by Youth Music, the Hear Me Talkin To Ya series featuring Charles Tolliver and Joshua Redman plus the ongoing jazz journalism clinic The Write Stuff. Society for the Promotion of New Music and the Festival are working together to encourage composers of contemporary music to experiment with improvising groups across the Festival (look for the spnm shorts tag in the brochure). Jazz in the Urban Jungle sees students from London secondary schools create new compositions that find the meeting point between jazz, hip hop and grime plus Claire Martin leads the Barbican Big Sing. Winner of the BBC Jazz Award for Innovation 2007, Tom Bancroft and his brother Phil also bring a new approach to teaching music in primary schools with the Apple Banana Carrot Method at the artsdepot.

Whilst the live events take place across London, BBC Radio 3‘s involvement has enabled the Festival to become a truly international event, with a vast amount of the music presented reaching audiences in the UK and worldwide through broadcasts on the radio and online across programmes such as Jazz Line-Up, Jazz Library, Jazz on 3, Jazz Record Requests, Performance on 3, World Routes and Late Junction.

The London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3 would not be possible without all of our sponsors and partners, which include Arts Council England, Universal Music Classics and Jazz, City Inn, Jazzwise Magazine and Baltic.

Please visit www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk for full details.