Here to Stay: Jazz Promotion Network Conference 2023 sends out positive signals

As with the 2022 conference in Belfast, which was energised by the charismatic Brian Irvine, Jazz Promotion Network (JPN)’s annual conference was kicked off this year by the equally engaging keynote speaker, Birmingham-born Soweto Kinch.

Kinch’s forthright address to the 150-plus conference delegates (a record attendance for a JPN event) focussed on the need for uncompromising truth, in the telling of the history of jazz and the history of slavery, racism and denial within jazz – in the USA and, by more than just implication, in the home nations of the JPN. Truth was essential, too, in the handling of the music amongst the complications and conflicts in today’s social and political milieu.

Soweto Kinch delivering his keynote speech

The conference’s heading ‘Here To Stay’ (taken from Freddie Hubbard’s 1962 album of the same name) would only be a meaningful assertion if it applied to the people of all our communities as well as to the music that they play, promote and listen to. Art Blakey had famously said that, ultimately, the community would decide about the validity of music and, avowed Soweto, it was essential for the jazz world to be honest and to avoid superficial or tokenistic approaches to issues of diversity and inclusivity in our community.

The conference programme that ensued, hosted by B:Music at Symphony Hall, Birmingham City University and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire was packed with a plethora of showcases, speakers, panel sessions and discussions, all of which focussed on the current situation and future potential for jazz in the UK and Ireland.

Two sessions subtitled ‘Where Are We Now?’ examined the current state of play on essential issues for the jazz community. One mirrored Soweto Kinch’s concerns about the reality of inclusion and diversity in jazz; the other concentrated on how the Brexit implosion had affected opportunities for musicians to work abroad and for promoters to present artists from overseas and what could be done to improve the situation.

The ‘New Generation’ strand of sessions looked at ways in which musicians starting out on a career in jazz could expect to be supported and then at how young promoters new to jazz could be encouraged and equipped. ‘In Practice’ sessions focussed on the work of jazz labels and radio broadcasting.

Other sessions – with a similar broad spectrum of speakers and panellists from all sides of the jazz community and across the UK and Ireland – continued to tell the story of other aspects of today’s scene. The conference heard about the thriving Birmingham jazz scene, about current academic research, the challenges facing volunteer promoters, special projects such as Jerwood Jazz Encounters and the looming implications of AI for the whole music scene.

Seonaid Aitken Ensemble

Threaded throughout the two days were seven performances by showcase artists plus three additional guest artists and a new commission (all listed below), in a pioneering programme that presented artists from all five countries of the JPN. Supported (as the conference was) by the various funding bodies from across the British Isles the showcase programme put down a clear marker for future years in which JPN aspires to put British and Irish bands in front of an invited international audience of jazz professionals.

Summing up the two days of music and discussion JPN Chair Ros Rigby, who had been helped by other JPN Board members and the Birmingham hosts to structure the event, invited contributions from two other successful and long-standing music network organisations – Making Music and Europe Jazz Network. Their representatives were emphatic about the value of networks, which had achieved far more for the collective benefit of their respective sectors than any individual or sub-group could ever have managed.

In essence it was this understanding that motivated the development of the JPN – and the 2023 conference and showcase programme, undertaken this year with considerable voluntary effort and with slender resources underlined JPN’s commitment to the maxim ‘Here To Stay’ and to building a strong, inclusive network worthy of the music and musicians that inspired everyone involved in the UK and Irish scene.

The conference hosted performances including a world premiere of B:Music’s new commission BLACKSABBATHMODE presented by BIGHEADMODE and Plumm (and supported by the PRS Foundation) plus showcases from Seonaid Aitken Ensemble (Scotland); Duski (Wales); Marco Woolf (England); Soweto Kinch Trio; Bianca Gannon (Ireland); Collidescope (England); Nathan Somevi Trio; Fergus McCreadie Trio and Aku! (Scotland) and Rachael Cohen Trio (England). On the day after the conference delegates were also invited to the Eastside Jazz Club to hear Paul Dunmall Invites… with Percy Pursglove, Olie Brice and Will Glaser.

For more information visit jazzpromotionnetwork.org.uk