A total audience of well over 62,000 this summer means the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival is coming back for its 43rd consecutive year in 2027.
Organisers at Big Bear Music have revealed that 178 gigs, 165 with free admission, performed at 102 venues in Birmingham, Sandwell and the wider West Midlands attracted audiences totalling 62,702 across 11 days this August.
And a survey of that audience has revealed that an impressive 98% rated performances ‘very good’ (83%) or ‘Good’ (15%), while 86% said they expected to visit the festival again in 2027.
Jim Simpson, the renowned Birmingham music impresario who runs Big Bear Music, today confirmed that the “overwhelming enthusiasm” of live music fans means the festival will run again from 16 to 25 July in 2027.
Mr Simpson said: “They say an audience votes with its feet, and that’s certainly the case this year with tens of thousands of jazz and blues fans turning up at venues in Birmingham and across the West Midlands.”
He also revealed that a crowdfunder campaign launched to help support the festival’s costs had now reached nearly £10,000.
Mr Simpson said: “We not only enjoyed large audiences, but we were once again humbled by many individuals’ generosity for the festival via financial contributions.”
Those public donations, together with a £10,000 grant from Sandwell Borough Council, £800 from The Musicians’ Union and £650 from USA broadcaster Rockefellas TV, mean that the 2026 festival’s financial support totalled nearly £21,500.
Mr Simpson explained that while this only covered around a third of the total costs, he was determined to dig deep into Big Bear Music’s other revenues to cover the remainder.
He added: “A huge thank you is deserved by all our funders, ranging from an enthusiastic pensioner who insisted on giving us £5 to our major backer Sandwell Council, who once again contributed £10,000.
“We will need more funds to fully finance what will be our 43rd consecutive year in 2027, but we’re heartened by the support we have received and are already exploring other funding avenues.”
The 2026 festival featured 59 musical acts and 265 musicians from Birmingham, the West Midlands and across the UK, many acknowledged as leading British jazz and blues musicians.
International musicians included Andres Roots (Tartu, Estonia), the B. D. Lenz Trio (New Jersay, USA), Ben Toury (Paris, France), Miho Hazama (Tokyo, Japan) and Stacy Mitchhart (Cincinnati, USA).
Venues included everywhere from stately homes to markets, art galleries to libraries and gardens to shopping centres, as well as clubs, pubs, bars, cafés, hotels, city squares, museums and bandstands.
The festival survey, conducted by volunteers throughout the festival with 1,372 written responses, found that 60% of the audience came from Birmingham or Sandwell, 28% from the wider West Midlands, 10% from elsewhere in the UK, and 2% from abroad.
The audience age profile was 53% aged 50-plus, 26% 30-50, 20% 18-30 and 1% under 18, with 65% out to specifically attend the festival, and 25% watching for the first time.
The audience brought extra spend to the region, with one example being people staying overnight. Of those surveyed who came from outside the region, 54% booked rooms in local hotels or guest houses, with 59% staying for between three to more than six nights.
The festival also attracted what Mr Simpson described as “an impressive demonstration of valuable support-in-kind” from 19 companies and groups. This included the Plough & Harrow Hotel, the festival’s official hotel partner, which provided rooms free of charge for visiting musicians.
The other in-kind supporters were QuaySpace, Fair Deal Music, Genesis Radio Birmingham, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, IT Contact and Big Bear Records. Additional support came from Brindleyplace, Southside District, Royal Sutton Coldfield BID, Jewellery Quarter Bid, Paradise, Henrik Does Events, Caffé Nero, Millennium Point, City of Wolverhampton, and the Mailbox.
Big Bear Music Group has been based in Birmingham since 1968. Its operations include Big Bear Records, probably the UK’s longest established independent record company, which is at the forefront of jazz, swing and blues, with more than 100 album releases.
Since 1985, Big Bear Music has organised the annual Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, Europe’s biggest free admission jazz party every July, bringing international bands to venues across the West Midlands. Big Bear Music also operates Henry’s Blueshouse, Birmingham’s home of the blues since 1968, with weekly gigs at Barbara’s Bier Haus on Broad Street. Henry’s Blueshouse blog and weekly Bluesletter features interesting stories, music and video from the past, present and future of blues.
Big Bear Music is also an agency for artists, booking a wide variety of acts for public events and private functions. It represents touring bands including King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys, Tipitina and Lady Sings The Blues and more.
Since 1987, Big Bear Music has published The Jazz Rag, a bi-monthly, nationally-distributed magazine of news, which was winner of the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best UK Jazz Publication.
Big Bear Music has a rich photography archive stretching back to the early 1960s, featuring some of the most illustrious names in rock and roll, jazz and blues.
Photo:
Jim Simpson 5th from left with speakers and Hit Parade Heroes at Jazz Festival launch
