Let’s get the music out there…
Multiple opportunities for jazz and blues artists to play in this historic town, all year round!
This is what we’re doing…
The Buskers
We're creating regular weekly daytime spots — certainly one at the weekend — where people know with certainty there'll be great music every week: somewhere to meet friends, grab coffee and food, play chess, take a break from shopping. Suits solo or duo (trio at a push), a certain standard, within the jazz/blues tramlines. Indoors if the weather's poor; artists get a bite and a drink on the house and earn as buskers do — your own tipping app, or the venue inviting contributions with the bill. We have an ideal café in mind for Saturday mornings: small room, around 40 people, quieter styles. Regional musicians especially welcome.
The Half Note Club
Inspired by the original Half Note Club, run out of an Italian restaurant in '50s New York. We recreated it at Fratelli's in Midhurst recently — everyone in '50s dress, Joe Stilgoe presiding — and it started a story. Now we want to run it weekly as a low-key, after-hours speakeasy at Fratelli's, roughly 9pm till midnight. Not a performance, not a dining experience, not a pub. My own upright piano is in there: imagine meeting friends while a pianist plays in the corner, maybe a double bass, maybe a trumpet, musicians changing through the evening, playing what they want. Informal, seriously good musicianship — the place you end Friday nights.
The Jam Sessions
The two jam sessions at last November's festival were rammed — among the most popular experiences of the whole weekend. We carried on upstairs at the Wheatsheaf, though the extremely hot summer nights forced us to cancel a couple. Now we're keen to get them going again as a regular fixture: monthly at first, moving to weekly once musicians and audiences get in the habit of coming along. There are cheap pizzas from Fratelli's too. We're really keen to encourage participation from musicians across West Sussex — come and play, whatever your instrument, and help make this a proper scene.
The Langham Sessions
The Langham Brewery sessions matter for two reasons. They're our first venture outside Midhurst town centre — but more importantly, they're a focal point for newer, funkier, more innovative forms of jazz and blues. Our first session in July featured the amazing Resolution 88. I'm really keen to hear from musicians — especially from the region — playing jazz, blues and funk styles that genuinely appeal to audiences in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Whether you're from the great jazz course at Chichester or involved with jazz re:freshed in London, we want to hear from you. This is where the newer sound lives.
The Festival Fringe
At last November's festival, alongside the headline events in Midhurst's two larger venues, we put music out on the streets, in cafés, in shop windows — anywhere, really — so that anyone turning up in Midhurst was transported to a magical musical place where little performances, workshops and jams were simply happening across the town. The effect was extraordinary: an incredible atmosphere, and a sense of scale, fun and magic for the festival as a whole. We're recreating the Fringe over the Saturday and Sunday, 21–22 November. If you'd like to be involved, please get in touch.
Please let me know if you’d like to be involved. All of this needs to be scheduled pretty quickly now, so if you are interested, fill in the form below ASAP!
THANK YOU:
I know we have details from many of you, but last year our records and systems were mainly manual and improvised. This year we’ve seriously upped our game. I know it’s a big ask, but re-entering your key information here makes it MUCH easier for us to include you in our scheduling and to communicate opportunities to you.
So thank you!