“I originally started the festival because I found there were many similarities, to me, between the beautiful east Kent coast and the classic film Jazz on a Summer’s Day at the Newport Jazz Festival,” says Herne Bay Festival Director Kai Hoffman, as she looks forwards to the festival’s seventh edition. The programme for the 2024 Herne Bay Jazz Festival is announced, and the full listings for the event are below.
Tucked into the pebble-beached coast of Kent, the seaside hamlet of Herne Bay isn’t perhaps as well-known as its western neighbour Whitstable (think Tipping the Velvet, oysters, Somerset Maugham and all that) — indeed Herne’s Bay chief claim to fame for many years was for serving as the location of Ken Russell’s cheeky end-of-the-pier debut feature, French Dressing back in 1964. All that changed, though, during 2017 when the town became home to its very own full scale jazz festival.
Jazz festivals tend to be founded by entrepreneurs (think Alain Simard/Andre Menard and Montreal), fans (Claude Nobs and Montreux) and even critics (Ralph Gleason and Monterey). But for one to be created by a practising musician is a rarity…
And currently gearing up for its seventh annual outing, the Herne Bay Jazz Festival is exactly that sort of rarity. It is the brainchild of singer, songwriter and band leader Kai Hoffman.
The jazz bug bit Kai fairly early in life. “When I was sixteen, one of the tutors at a summer music club gave me a cassette mix tape with Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella in Berlin album on one side and Lamberts, Hendricks and Ross on the other. I was absolutely hooked and listened to that tape so often I memorised the whole thing. There was something incredibly joyful about Ella’s performance — and the wild, bebop phrasing of Lamberts, Hendricks and Ross was like nothing I’d ever heard before.
“Alongside legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker and Mel Torme, I would have to say that my jazz heroes include many contemporary performers and bands on the UK scene. There is so much talent coming out of our jazz community it is absolutely astounding and continues to amaze me. Herne Bay Jazz is very much about introducing this music to an audience that might not otherwise check out jazz, or indeed think that “jazz” is a dirty word (!), as well as appealing to the afficionados.”
Kai has performed everywhere from Boston (her hometown) to Bangladesh, but she is now a firmly established expat in the UK with a long running residency at Ronnie Scott’s. She is also a multi-instrumentalist admitting to playing the French horn “very well” and the banjo “very badly”. She has her own band, Kai’s Kats, runs her own record label, Broadreach, and has taken two one-woman shows to the Edinburgh Fringe featuring thirty original songs.
All this apparently wasn’t putting enough demands on her time, though — hence Herne Bay Jazz.
When I asked Kai whatever possessed her to launch a jazz festival, she laughed. “As Pete Long said to me once, ‘You have to be crazy to run a big band.’ I would say that the same goes for founding a jazz festival. Both are undertakings which require a huge amount of passion, determination and tenacity. Being slightly mad helps! You have to be able to imagine what could happen next, who’s going to sound good where, what’s going to appeal to the audience… and enjoy filling in forms, lots of forms… I originally started the festival because I found there were many similarities, to me, between the beautiful east Kent coast and the classic film Jazz on a Summer’s Day at the Newport Jazz Festival. I could see bands perching on rocks… or on the Pier Stage, with the beach huts and the sunset behind…”
The 2024 Festival
Herne Bay Jazz is headlined this year by the Ronnie Scott’s All Stars, Ray Gelato and the Giants (with whom Kai has toured and recorded), Snowboy and the Latin Section and the Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni accompanied by the fantastic guitarist Rob Luft. Other acts include Emma Rawicz, Leon Foster Thomas, Steve Waterman, Jo Fooks, the Ginger Bennett Quintet and The Big Smoke Family (endorsed by no less than Booker T. Jones: “This band is the bomb!”).
Kai’s own combo, Kai’s Kats takes a more modest billing than these performers, nestling on the festival poster along with the next tier of luminaries, including such goodies as the Kent Youth Jazz Orchestra, Frances Knight, Big Sound Collective, the Dulcie May Moreno Sextet, harmonica player Katie Bradley, singer and pianist Eriko Ishihara and Samba Ya Wantsum — Thanet’s only samba band!
The festival is a glittering array of treasures, aiming to bring as much music as possible to as many people as possible without allowing money to become any kind of a barrier. Indeed, many of the festival events cost nothing to attend (“Just turn up!”) and the festival itself is non-profit. (Did we mention that a festival created by a musician was a rare thing? Well, one founded on such altruistic principles is rarer still.)
The revels commence on Thursday August 15th with an Improv and Creativity Workshop under the aegis of Nina Clark and from here things rev up with a drumming workshop on August 16th and with Nina also providing a children’s workshop on the 17th. Admission for all these is free of charge as — amazingly — is much of the music. In fact, 27 of 32 events at the festival are free…
..and that includes the Ginger Bennett Quintet, Steve Waterman, Leon Foster Thomas and the Elina Duni Quartet with Rob Luft. These are all on Sunday August 18th at the Pier Stage. Don’t miss the Festival’s first ever New Orleans Mardi Gras style parade heading for the pier with local Nola experts The Native Oysters band plus Samba Ya Wantsum (meetup at 11:30).
Also free of charge is the festival’s professional livestream, free to view, on YouTube @hernebayjazz streaming Sunday 18th August 2pm until 10pm. “All thanks to Arts Council England,” says Kai. “For this we even have to create our own Wi-Fi signal 200 metres out in the sea! The quality is brilliant, so if you can’t make it along in person watch online. Or listen on our local radio, available online at cabin.fm.”
The festival’s music is wide ranging and high calibre, from jump blues to bop, swing to afro-jazz, and New Orleans to the Caribbean, taking in Latin, showtunes and the Great American Songbook along the way. It would be a privilege to hear musicians of this calibre at any time and in any place, but in an idyllic summertime seaside setting, for free, is almost too good to be true.
Jazz fans of every stripe, including everyone who loves fine music and everyone who loves an irresistible bargain, should be making a note in their diaries to make tracks for the coast this August.
Apologies to the spirit of Ken Russell, but Herne Bay now has something really special to be celebrated for culturally. Save me a seat for Elina Duni and Rob Luft please. And maybe an ice cream, too…
FULL PROGRAMME LISTINGS / FOR ALL DETAILS AND BOOKINGS CLICK HERE
Thursday, August 15th 2024
5:00 PM – Improv & Creative Workshop with Nina Clark (FREE)
7.:00pm The Yard @ She Rose, Festival Opening Pop Up
Friday, August 16th 2024
11:00 AM Drumming Workshop for All Ages & Abilities Location: The King’s Hall Time:
3:00 PM Mike Austin & Dan Banks Duo at The Ship
4:30 PM Andy MacLean Band feat. Diane Dunn
7:00 PM Katie Bradley Blues Band The Ship Inn (FREE). Please support the venue with food / drinks purchase.
7:30 PM The King’s Hall presents Ray Gelato & the Giants / Kai’s Kats / DJ Reverend Boogie (Ticketed). #
Saturday, August 17th 2024
10:00 AM Baytastic Market @ Wimereux Square
10:10 AM: Children’s Music Workshop at Wimereux Square with Nina Clark (FREE).
11:00 AM The Clock Winders Trio – Family Concert at Wimereux Square
12:10 PM: Maiuko Quarteto at Wimereux Square (FREE).
1:00 PM: Ellie Laine & Roger Lewin Duo at The Ship FREE. Please support the venue with your drinks/food purchase.
1:30.pm: Kent Youth Jazz Orchestra at Wimereux Square
3:00.pm Big Sound Collective at Wimereux Square
4:00 pm: Adrian Hackford & Friends at Pier Ceylon. FREE. Please support the venue with your food & drink purchases.
4:00pm Dulcie May Moreno Sextet, Upstairs @ The Ex-Serviceman’s Club. FREE. Please support the venue with your 4: 4:10pm Steve Nathan Big Band @ Wimereux Square FREE
5:00pm Sketch Jam with the Jo Doolan Trio at Beach Creative. Sketch Jam at Beach Creative – Live Jazz for artists to Draw / Paint / Sketch / Listen with Jo Doolan Trio featuring Richard Rozze guitar. This is event is ticketed at £6pp as spaces are very limited. Booking essential.
7:00 pm Eriko Ishihara Trio at Pier Ceylon. £10 music only/or £45 incl. 3-course meal. Booking essential.
7:30 pm The King’s Hall presents Ronnie Scott’s All Stars / Emma Rawicz Sextet. TICKETED event.
7:30 pm Geoff Mason with Dave Robinson Trio at Pettman House . FREE.
Sunday, August 18th 2024
11:30 am Mardi Gras Parade with The Native Oysters & Samba Ya Wantsum. Start/Meeting point: King’s Hall Steps. Destination: Central Parade by the Pier.
12:00pm Ian East Trio at Pier Ceylon. FREE. Please support the venue with your food/drinks purchase.
1.00pm: Sarah-Jane Hassell & Mick Bishop Duo at the Ship Inn. Cost: FREE. Please support the venue with your food/drink purchases.
2:00pm onwards: Livestream & Radio Broadcast from the Pier Stage ALL DAY
2:00pm Jo Fooks Quartet at the Pier Stage
3:00pm Team GB: The Ginger Bennett Quintet at the Pier Stage. FREE. Just turn up!
4:10pm: Steve Waterman at the Pier Stage
5:20pm Leon Foster Thomas at The Pier Stage
6:30pm: Rob Luft and Elina Duni Quartet at the Pier Stage
7:45 pm Snowboy and the Latin Section at the Pier Stage
9:10 PM Big Smoke Family at the Pier Stage (FREE)
PP Features are part of marketing packages. Andrew Cartmel is a playwright and the author of the Vinyl Detective and the Paperback Sleuth novels series. Once upon a time, he was script editor of Doctor Who.
Herne Bay Jazz Festival gratefully acknowledges sponsorship for 2024 from Arts Council England, Herne Bay Festival Charity and Canterbury City Council Levelling Up fund in conjunction with Cabin FM – and is always looking to welcome more sponsors.
One Response
Thank you Kai for all your hard work organising the Jazz Festival. The Artists taking part are of the highest calibre. Herne Bay are privileged to enjoy such amazing talent