Rye International Jazz & Blues Festival 2014

    Now in its 3rd year, the Rye Jazz Festival once again featured a number of great outdoor events around the beautiful streets of Rye.

    Turn a corner and you might find Terry Seabrook performing with Kjell Berglund or the group Cocktail Safari attracting a large crowed at The Butter Market.

    Guitarist Paul Richards was one of the highlights of last years free events. This year he performed in a guitar duo with Matt Wall in the intimate surroundings of The Borough Arms (when I say intimate, it was like they were performing in your living room).

    As soon as they’d finished they were off to their next gig, performing in the garden at the Globe Inn Marsh.

    A big success at this years festival was The Jazz Lounge (actually a cunningly disguised community centre) which featured top names such as Simon Spillett and Jason Rebello and was transformed into a late night jazz club for performances by Renato D’Aiello and Gareth Lockrane’s Grooveyard.

    Once again, The George proved a popular venue with the Iain Rae Trio playing outdoors in the sun and the Roger Carey Trio playing indoors when it rained.

    The Ypres Outdoor Stage also proved popular on the sunny days with the Mardi Gras Jazz Band attracting a large crowd.

   Of the ticketed events at this years festival, the most interesting was the duet of vocalist Claire Martin and vocalist/pianist/composer/comic Joe Stilgoe who performed in the intimate setting of The George in Rye.

    Performing such classics together as Let’s Fall In Love and Love Is Here To Stay, Joe Stilgoe was also given the opportunity to perform his own tunes.

    The highlight though was the second set with renditions of The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, Joni Mitchell’s Free Man in Paris, Devil May Care before ending with Someone To Watch Over Me.

    Not surprisingly, they received a standing ovation for their efforts and performed I Thought About You as an encore.

Charlie Anderson

(photo by Anabel Alegre)