manchester jazz festival is back for 10 days of jam-packed festival fun and musical vibes
across the city this May!
mjf2023 will take place between 19-28 May 2023 at venues and sites across Manchester,
celebrating the latest up and coming talent from across the North, and the best names in
contemporary jazz including: Hot 8 Brass Band, Buena Vista Social Club’s Eliades Ochoa,
Mica Millar, Billy Cobham, Arun Ghosh, Fred Wesley and the New J.B.’s, Yemi Bolatiwa and
many more…
The festival begins with a spectacular FREE opening weekender at the new vibrant
neighbourhood: First Street (mjf @ First Street) from 19 – 21 May. There will be three event
stages: Main Stage, Garden Stage and HOME stage, each celebrating the breadth and
individuality of our home-grown scene: bands from, or with a strong connection to, the North.
There are weekday gigs at St Ann’s Church, nightly gigs at Matt & Phreds, events at Forsyth
Music Shop and at The Yard with partners NQ Jazz, with a couple of cheeky additions at
The Blue’s Kitchen and the festival closes with an extended weekend-long party at Band on
the Wall. mjf are also hosting a new commission *THEMORY taking place at The
International Anthony Burgess Foundation – an immersive audiovisual installation, drawing
from the subjective and fluid forces of family and history, place and time.
Ticket prices range from free to £35 but there’s plenty of free-to-access music and activities
taking place at locations across the city centre, including the whole of opening weekender: mjf
@ First Street.
Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday 24 February at manchesterjazz.com
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Highlights of the festival programme are as follows:
• mjf @ First Street, 19 – 21 May
Wizards of Twiddly, Yemi Bolatiwa, Good Habits, Ni Maxine, Charlotte Keeffe’s Right Here
Right Now Quartet, Nick Walters, Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band, Apollo House, Nasa Parka,
Moby Dickless, Aaron Wood & James Girling, Gary Washington Quartet, Rory A. Green, Paint
or Pollen, J2oh and Moore & Fairhall.
As well as some of the North’s leading artists gracing the Main Stage on Friday and Saturday
(19 – 20 May), some of Greater Manchester’s 18-25 year-old bands from mjf’s Soundcheck
talent development programme, and a selection of mjf hothouse alumni artists, will perform on
the Garden Stage and on Sunday (21 May) mjf partners with Jazz North to celebrate 10 years
of the northern line touring support scheme: showcasing five acts selected by industry leaders.
• The Yard, presented in association with NQ Jazz, 22 – 24 May
Donovan Haffer, Alina Bzhezhinska’s HipHarp Collective ft. Tony Kofi and Nathaniel Facey
Trio
• St Ann’s Church, 24 – 26 May
Freight Train featuring Paul Clavis, Liam Noble & Cathy Jordan, Robert Mitchell and Stan
Sulzmann & Nikki Iles
• Matt and Phreds, 19 – 27 May
Alligator Gumbo, Henry Botham’s New Orleans Piano Gumbo, Los Chichanos, Arun Ghosh,
M&P x mjf Open Jam, Cuba Vida Salsa Band, The Chanteuse, Jim Wallace, Baiana, Dan
Burnett and Deadbeat Brass.
• Band on the Wall, 25 – 28 May
Mica Millar, Rosie Frater-Taylor, Band on the Wall triple-bill: Robocobra, Romarna Campbell
& Marcus Joseph, Emma Jean Thackray (DJ set), Hot 8 Brass Band (*at Albert Hall, promoted
by Band on the Wall and mjf), Julie Campiche Quartet, Hannabiell & The Midnight Blue
Collective and Buena Vista Social Club’s Eliades Ochoa.
• Forsyth Music, 25 – 26 May
Nishla Smith – The Beast, The James Pearson Trio (Ronnie Scott’s) – 100 Years of Jazz Piano
• The Blue’s Kitchen, 23 – 24 May
Fred Wesley & The New J.B.’s and Miles Davis: Kind of Blue with Olivia Cuttill Quintet
Steve Mead, mjf CEO and Artistic Director, said: “We can’t wait to welcome you back to our
10-day festival – the 28th mjf – to share some hugely inspiring artists with a host of venues and
partners across the city. mjf is acknowledged for championing northern talent, under-the-radar artists and debuts of
new music, as well as bringing some big names to Manchester, and of course for celebrating
the diversity of our music and its artists. For many, mjf is the sound of surprise – it’s the sound we love and we hope you will too. We
can’t wait for you to join us.”
mjf2023 will take place from 19 – 28 May 2023 in venues across Manchester city centre.
Tickets go on sale at 10am on 24 February at manchesterjazz.com