Jazz Jamaica

‘Jazz Jamaica…Well known for blowing the roof off live shows. A joyful, cosmopolitan tribute.’ Jazzwise

The mighty Jazz Jamaica have rightly earned their reputation as ‘one of the UK’s leading good-time bands’ (The Independent) from their many exuberant live performances and dynamic album releases over the past two decades. As the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival put it: Jazz Jamaica should be permanent ambassadors to the United Nations of Good Times.

In Autumn 2012, Gary regrouped Jazz Jamaica All Stars for a sensational roots-rock-reggae-jazz salute to the iconic Bob Marley and The Wailers paying tribute to their seminal album Catch A Fire as headliner for the new Lively Up! Festival that toured the UK from September-November 2012. He invited reggae star, Brinsley Forde and the funky strings of Urban Soul Orchestra to join him, creating a sensational 31-piece orchestral music extravaganza that had audiences up on their feet and partying the night away.

Gary also invited local gospel choirs in each city of the tour to join the band for some of the songs, reaching out so that the community could participate in and celebrate some of Jamaica’s finest music. You could really feel the heat of Catch A Fire when the choirs began to sing – it was awesome!

If ever you needed a measure of how great this show is…the Southbank Centre in London hosted the show in the 900-seat Queen Elizabeth Hall on a cold Wednesday night in October 2012 with an 85-strong Voicelab community choir. It sold out two weeks in advance! So brilliant was the show, they rebooked it for Saturday 13 July 2013, but this time in the bigger, 2,500-seat Royal Festival Hall and with a 240-voice choir!

Following the success of the Jazz Jamaica All Star’s The Trojan Story tour in 2018, we are getting this show back on the road for another, even larger tour 2019-20. The Trojan Story features many of the best-loved tunes from the seminal Trojan Records label, including Desmond Dekker’s hit Israelites, Tony Tribe’s classic Red Red Wine and Harry J All Stars’ Liquidator, especially arranged by Jason Yarde.

Jazz Jamaica All Stars will feature an impressive line-up of established and rising stars including singers Noel McKoy and of  Brinsley Forde. At each performance we’ll be working with local choirs.

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