Bracknell Jazz Festival

The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a major showcase for British modern jazz in the 1980s. The festival was known for attracting a largish audience for free improvisation, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general. The festival organiser John Cumming said “the keynote of the Festival is to provide the jazz scene – listeners and musicians alike – with a weekend of the best in British jazz, spiced with visiting Americans, in an informal, relaxed atmosphere.” The two or three day festival was held in July from 1975 onwards in the grounds and the house of South Hill Park, a Victorian manor house converted into an arts centre in the Berkshire town of Bracknell, a typical Thames Valley new town. As well as the jazz festival, the centre is a venue for performances and education in jazz, other kinds of music and other art forms throughout the year. The jazz festival ended up being held over the first weekend in July until the last event in 1988.