Colin Clark, who runs a regular gig at the art and craft gallery Gallery 30 in Petersfield says: “We are proud and excited to announce the first Petersfield Jazz festival, which we hope will become an annual event.”
UKJazz News: What has led you personally to want to put on a festival in Petersfield?
Colin Clark: Why? I’m a tenor sax player and have been running a monthly jazz club in Petersfield for the past two years. My wife and I had a band called Rehab with which we played numerous festivals from Victorious in Portsmouth to local beer festivals and the Foodie Festivals around 8 a year for three years. We were the main support band, so we learnt a lot about what makes a good festival and wanted to use this experience. Petersfield and the surrounding area have a wealth of musical talent, but most opportunities are for rock and cover bands. As with the reason we started the jazz club, Strange Fruit, we wanted to enable people to listen to top quality jazz locally.
UKJN: Who’s headlining?
CC: Headliners are Stefan Redtenbacher’s Funkestra, featuring Jo Harman on vocals. They will be performing their Joni re-imagined set which has had such success.
UKJN: Tell us about “The Remedy”?
CC: The Remedy is the band my wife and I formed having stopped Rehab. Rehab was a ska band, we’re getting too old for that now and besides, we prefer playing jazz. The Remedy features a lot of Amy Winehouse numbers from her Frank album plus jazz and blues standards.
UKJN: Where will it be?
CC: It’s all set in the grounds of a local public school, Churcher’s College which is a nice contained venue with plenty of parking. The proceeds from the bar are going to Music for Dementia and hopefully if we sell enough tickets, we will make an additional contribution as well.
UKJN: How many people is the capacity and how many stages are there?
CC: There is just one stage, it’s all under a 30m long marquee which will hold up to 500.
UKJN: Is Plan A for it to be indoors or outdoors
CC: Hopefully it will be glorious sunshine and we can have the sides and back open
UKJN: What time does it start and when can you go on until?
Gates will open at 12:00pm and the first band, Pete Roth Trio starting at 1:30pm. We have eight bands and have to finish at 10:00pm. Rehab is the ‘filler’, if we’re running behind time, we’ll do a shorter set or not play at all.
UKJN: I see that under 10’s get in for free (?!) So this is a family-friendly event?
CC: We’ve had quite a few very well-behaved kids at the jazz club (better than a lot of adults) and so we wanted to make this family friendly. Also, I want my grandchildren to come. I think it’s important to encourage young families, I would hate it if they couldn’t due to babysitters etc.
