Five M<strong>in</strong>utes With… Nick Dewhurst The <strong>Lichfield</strong> Blues & Jazz Festival is back this June, and features a selection of fantastic artists, all play<strong>in</strong>g at some great venues across <strong>Lichfield</strong> for a fabulous week of events! We caught up with Nick Dewhurst who will be perform<strong>in</strong>g over this weekend, as well as be<strong>in</strong>g more heavily <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> the plann<strong>in</strong>g side of the festival. • Hi Nick, thank you for agree<strong>in</strong>g to answer a few questions for us. To beg<strong>in</strong> with, could you tell us a little bit about yourself. “Sure, so I’m orig<strong>in</strong>ally from <strong>Lichfield</strong>, and I’m a Jazz Trumpeter, Guitarist, Music Educator, Composer, Arranger, and Promoter too. In addition to music, I’m a big fan of Formula 1!” • Can you tell us, <strong>in</strong> your own words, what it is you do? “Everyday I’m <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> all sorts of musical activities, which <strong>in</strong>cludes play<strong>in</strong>g gigs, teach<strong>in</strong>g trumpet and guitar, lead<strong>in</strong>g ensembles, writ<strong>in</strong>g and arrang<strong>in</strong>g music, as well as organis<strong>in</strong>g and promot<strong>in</strong>g jazz gigs, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g recently plann<strong>in</strong>g the upcom<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Lichfield</strong> Blues and Jazz Festival!” • How did you get <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>dustry? “I’m go<strong>in</strong>g to answer this one with my promoter’s hat on... and say that I first started putt<strong>in</strong>g on gigs whilst I was still at school, when my band at the time ‘Funktional’ used to play once a month at the K<strong>in</strong>g’s Head. After graduat<strong>in</strong>g from the Birm<strong>in</strong>gham Conservatoire, I then started a monthly jazz night <strong>in</strong> the Back Room of the George IV pub. This jazz night then moved to the Cathedral Hotel, and became part of the <strong>Lichfield</strong> Arts programme, where you can still f<strong>in</strong>d live jazz on the 3rd Wednesday of the month! For several years now I’ve also been part of the team that puts on the <strong>Lichfield</strong> Blues &Jazz Festival, and last year I became the festival’s new director, tak<strong>in</strong>g over from the late, great local legend Brian Pretty. This year we’ve expanded the festival to be a week-long, with all sorts of fantastic artists play<strong>in</strong>g at brilliant venues across <strong>Lichfield</strong>!” • Can you describe your musical style for us? Has this changed or evolved at all over time? “In a word, jazz. Hav<strong>in</strong>g said that, jazz is a wide-rang<strong>in</strong>g genre, and depend<strong>in</strong>g on the gig, my band will play slightly different sets. So for <strong>in</strong>stance, my 6-piece band (which is play<strong>in</strong>g on the Friday night of the Blues & Jazz Festival) will play a set of upbeat jazz, mixed <strong>in</strong> with funk, fusion and pop too. Sometimes though I’ll play gigs with a smaller l<strong>in</strong>e up, such as a jazz trio, where we will focus more on jazz standards.” • Which artists <strong>in</strong>spire and <strong>in</strong>fluence you the most, both grow<strong>in</strong>g up and now? “I have so many favourite artists, and different artists have <strong>in</strong>spired me at different times (for <strong>in</strong>stance my favourite band whilst at school was Feeder, and I loved the virtuosic rock guitar play<strong>in</strong>g of Joe Satriani), but as a jazz trumpeter, I’m a big fan of Nicolas Folmer, Till Brönner, Wynton Marsalis, Randy Brecker, Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw, plus many more, and as a guitarist I’m a big fan of Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, and Mike Walker, plus I love Big Band music and groups such as the WDR Big Band, the Metropol Orkest, and the Jazz at the L<strong>in</strong>coln Center Orchestra. It’s absolutely worth say<strong>in</strong>g that artists I saw <strong>in</strong> <strong>Lichfield</strong> at the Blues & Jazz Festival when I was younger have also had a huge impact on me, such as trombonist Dennis Roll<strong>in</strong>s (who I’ve s<strong>in</strong>ce had the pleasure of gigg<strong>in</strong>g and record<strong>in</strong>g with), guitarist Matt Schofield and the trumpeter Abram Wilson.” • What motivates you to create your music? “I th<strong>in</strong>k prepar<strong>in</strong>g for a variety of different gigs and projects really motivates me to create music. For example, on Sunday 11th June, I’ll be lead<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>Lichfield</strong> Jazz Big Band through its new set of summer music, as we debut out Sizzl<strong>in</strong>’ and Sw<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>’ Summer Special! I’ve no doubt that <strong>in</strong> the leadup to this gig I’ll get musical ideas when I least expect them, and when I do get these ideas I have to capture them right away (by either writ<strong>in</strong>g them down, or record<strong>in</strong>g them <strong>in</strong>to the voice memos app on my phone). Once I’ve caught the <strong>in</strong>itial idea, I’ll then develop it at a later stage, which sometimes can be a quick process, or one that takes much longer.” • How important do you feel that music as an art form is to society? “I th<strong>in</strong>k it’s vitally important. Whether it’s learn<strong>in</strong>g how to play, play<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a band or ensemble, listen<strong>in</strong>g to music, attend<strong>in</strong>g gigs or festivals, s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g along to the radio, hear<strong>in</strong>g music as part of a TV programme or film, buy<strong>in</strong>g and collect<strong>in</strong>g records, there’s so much fun to be had from music, and I’m only scratch<strong>in</strong>g the surface here! Music really can be enjoyed by everyone <strong>in</strong> society.” • And f<strong>in</strong>ally, what does the <strong>Lichfield</strong> Blues & Jazz Festival mean to you? “It means a lot to me! I’ve attended the festival as fan of live music, I’ve played at the festival as an artist, and now to be direct<strong>in</strong>g the festival too is a real honour. I hope the programme this year has someth<strong>in</strong>g for everyone, and I look forward to see<strong>in</strong>g people across the week at all our wonderful venues!” <strong>Lichfield</strong> Blues & Jazz Festival will be held from Sunday 4th - Sunday 11th June. Featur<strong>in</strong>g a selection of fantastic artists, all play<strong>in</strong>g at iconic venues across <strong>Lichfield</strong>. Limited availability, reserve your ticket via the <strong>Lichfield</strong> Arts website at www.lichfieldarts.org.uk. 12
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