Cheltenham Jazz Festival is a jewel in the crown of annual UK music gatherings and offers a broad church of music genres and not just jazz, attracting an audience of thousands, of all ages from across the UK and overseas.
The 2025 edition kicked off on Wednesday 30th April – opening on International Jazz Day – with headliner Katie Melua and a special jazz-themed festival show. The six day event which closes tonight [Monday 5th May] delivering more than 50 artists from across the jazz, blues, pop, soul and World music spectrum, celebrating sounds from all corners of the globe.
Cheltenham Jazz Festival returned this spring with an expansive line-up of international stars, emerging talent and celebrated UK acts. Marking a special milestone as part of Cheltenham Festivals’ 80th anniversary – the charity behind four world renowned Jazz, Literature, Music and Science Festivals and talent and outreach programmes.
Since launching in 1996, Cheltenham Jazz Festival has built a reputation for hosting world class acts and this year present globally celebrated performers including legendary Scottish singer Lulu, whose “Champagne with Lulu” show is inspired by her life during the 1960s; co-founder and lead singer of The Who and Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee Roger Daltrey who performs the final date of his UK tour; one of the all-time great soul singers Beverley Knight, and US soul star Macy Gray with her Cheltenham Jazz Festival debut.
Chart-topping Scottish singer-songwriter Tom Walker; soul-inspired three-time Brit-award winner Lisa Stansfield; multi-Grammy winning Corinne Bailey Rae with the Ronnie Scott’s Orchestra; revered pianist and broadcaster Jools Holland, and multi-million-selling British singer-songwriter David Gray, who recently released acclaimed new album “Dear Life.”
The Festival continues its long-standing partnership with the BBC and this year they presented a special edition of its Soul Jazz Summit show by the Guy Barker Big Band and BBC Concert Orchestra, with special guests Emeli Sandé, Vanessa Haynes, Lisa Stansfield, Lulu, Tommy Blaize, Lucy Anne Daniels and Curtis Stigers.
Jools Holland with Louise Marshall & Chris Difford
An array of contemporary jazz luminaries from across the globe were present this year, including Grammy-nominated trumpeter Keyon Harrold, Miles Davis collaborator and the quintessential fusion drummer Billy Cobham, blistering US saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, and multi-million-selling US singer and saxophonist Curtis Stigers.
A special treat with the booking of the famed Buena Vista All Stars featuring original members of the multi-million-selling Buena Vista Social Club project, legendary gospel group Blind Boys of Alabama, and Malian duo Amadou & Mariam.
Apart from the global stars and legends, the festival underlines its continued commitment to championing emerging and established homegrown talent with performances by the trailblazing saxophonist Nubya Garcia, Leeds based seven-piece jazz electronica group Submotion Orchestra, the Neil Cowley Trio, [who return after eight years to perform music from their new studio album “Entity”], London-based afrobeat octet Kokoroko, and the boundary-pushing Ezra Collective pianist Joe Armon-Jones.
Fabulous singer/songwriter and Blue Note recording artist Maya Delilah shares the headline billing with award-winning British neo-jazz singer Ni Maxine, rising star blues singers Elles Bailey and Alice Armstrong, neo-soul singer Elli Ingram, and local saxophonist Kim Cypher featuring Ashley Slater from 80’s jazz big band, Loose Tubes.
Also in the line-up: National Youth Jazz Orchestra performing ‘The Fire Next Time’ [a tribute to James Baldwin], trumpeter and bandleader Mark Kavuma, Mercury-nominated and Ivors Academy Award winning Cassie Kinoshi and her six-piece project Brown Penny, BBC Jazz Award-winning trumpeter Byron Wallen performing Peter Shenai’s ‘Hurricane Bells’, Tomorrow’s Warriors alumni Daniel Casimir and his Big Band, fast-emerging London-based trumpeter Poppy Daniels, Iberian-born pianist Marco Mezquida, duo Alexander Hawkins and Sofia Jernberg performing tracks from their album Musho, newly-formed vocal trio Flight Call (Georgia Cécile, L.A. Daniels & Pete Horsfall), the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Siena Jazz-Accademia Nazionale Del Jazz Ensembles and composer and bandleader Olivia Murphy, who was recently appointed Resident Musical Director for NYJO.
Cheltenham Festivals – the charity that powers Cheltenham Jazz Festival – marks its 80th anniversary in 2025 with a mission to provide 80,000 children with access to arts and culture. As part of its year-round talent development and outreach programmes, this year’s Jazz Festival featured a variety of family-friendly shows, including Jazz It Up on the Free Stage, a Family Concert and a Jazz Concert for Schools.
As part of the festival’s wider commitment to talent development and local arts scenes, across the week, emerging and local talent played in venues across Cheltenham including folk multi-instrumentalist Catriona Borune, singer-songwriter Erica James and local performers from The Music Works.
Here is our selection of superb images of our pick of some of the best performances of CJF 2025, snapped by our newest man with a camera, Fred van Leuwen; his first shoot for Music Republic Magazine after a move from South Africa to the UK. Welcome Fred; great job….[Editor’s note: As a former drummer in South Africa, Fred was in his element when he got to see/hear and photograph Billy Cobham at CJF for us…]
- We also have a few pix from ‘the rock and roll doctor’, Charlie Chan; cancer surgeon by day, also a celebrated music photographer. See our “Big Shots” feature on Charlie here: https://musicrepublicmagazine.com/2024/01/big-shots-charlie-chan/
Monday: Buena Vista All Stars [Big Top] – World music superstars travelling from the streets of Havana in Cuba to the live music venues across the globe for circa 28 years.
The dozen-strong ensemble at Cheltenham, led by original members Barbarito Torres, Demetrio Muniz, and Manuel Machado, presented their sizzling show “Una Noche En La Habana” (One Night in Havana) in fine style to a full big top on Monday afternoon.
Formed in 1996, the band’s 1997 debut album produced by guitarist Ry Cooder was a global hit and catapulted them to huge international success.
They named the group after the members’ club of the same name in the Buenavista quarter of Havana, a popular music venue in the 1940s.
They showcased the popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero and danzón, and recruited a dozen veteran musicians, some of whom had been retired for many years.
Sunday: James Brandon Lewis Trio [Arena] – New York tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis is blazing a trail as a rising star of jazz, but with wide influences as wide as hip hop and funk, his is an intoxicating brew. Here with his trio of bassist and drummer, promoting his new album “Apple Cores”.
Saturday: Billy Cobham [Cheltenham Town Hall] Jazz and drumming legend Billy Cobham is now 80 and still firing on all cylinders, touring globally. The Panamian -American drummer came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. But he has played with a who’s who of music stars in many genres, not just jazz and was a pioneer of jazz-rock fusion.
Saturday: Maya Delilah & Ni Maxine [Arena] – Ni Maxine is a gifted neo-soul artist with a big future, ‘Breakthrough Act of The Year’ at The Jazz FM awards a few days ago.
Friday: Elli Ingram [Arena] – Brighton born and bred soulful singer and songwriter, with nods to the likes of Any Winehouse.
Saturday: Maya Delilah & Ni Maxine [Arena] – London-based singer, songwriter and guitarist Maya signed to iconic jazz label Blue Note in 2022, and released her debut LP “The Long Way Round” in March this year, via Blue Note/Capitol to great acclaim. The album features organ star Cory Henry.
Photos by Fred van Leeuwen *
* [Except: Lulu, Katie Melua and Jools Holland by Charlie Chan.]
Words by Steve Best
