Steve Mead's highlights..

Lauren Kinsella

Here's the choice of Steve Mead from Manchester Jazz Festival of his highlights of the jazz year 2015

1. Experiencing the wonderful music of French trumpeter Airelle Besson with her quartet live at Jazz Sous les Pommiers in Coutances back in May. I’d been following the band’s formative stages over the past year or so and this performance really encapsulated Airelle’s highly personal vision for the music.
2. Our northern colleagues Marsden Jazz Festival presented a great mix of New Stream bands back in October, and I especially enjoyed vocalist Lauren Kinsella’s suite of new word settings commissioned by the festival ‘What Window Do You Look Out Of?’ – the audience were transfixed by her remarkable talent.
3. And mjf reaching its 20th birthday was something of a memorable jazz moment for the mjf team…

Steve