The best of Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2022

Tickets are now on sale for Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2022, with some of this year’s must-see shows already selling out.

After two years of cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festival returns to celebrate its 25th year. Guest artistic curator Gregory Porter joins long-time associate curator Jamie Cullum to bring together the biggest names in jazz, funk, soul, blues, and world music.

Keep reading for your guide to some of the likely highlights from the star-studded line-up.

1. Emeli Sandé

BRIT-Award winner and ‘Next to Me’-singer Emeli Sandé is one of several high-profile artists making her Cheltenham debut this year.

From her multi-platinum debut album, Our Version of Events to the soon-to-be-released Let’s Say For Instance, Sandé has won critical acclaim and commercial success. Alongside her solo career, she has worked with artists like Chipmunk, Professor Green, and Wiley.

Expect a divergent mix of pop, power ballads, and jazz vocals giving free rein to her formidable talent and wearing her influences – from Aretha Franklin to Alicia Keys – proudly.

2. Nitin Sawhney

Nitin Sawhney – awarded a CBE in 2019 – is the recipient of an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award, a MOBO, and has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

A true Renaissance man, Sawhney helped to create the BBC comedy Goodness Gracious Me with Sanjeev Bhaskar before concentrating on music. He has released 20 studio albums, scored over 50 films, and worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Paul McCartney, Sting, the London Symphony Orchestra, Brian Eno, and Sinéad O’Connor.

Sawhney will appear with his band, performing songs from his South Bank Show Award-winning album Beyond Skin, alongside tracks from his 30-year career.

3. Zoe Rahman

Zoe Rahman is a jazz pianist playing music influenced by her Bangladeshi roots.

Rahman will be bringing new work to the festival, premiering material with her band featuring flute, trumpet, flugelhorn, double bass, and drums.

4. James Bay

Best-known for Grammy-nominated Hold Back The River, BRIT-Award winner James Bay is another artist making his Cheltenham Jazz Festival debut.

Expect tracks from Bay’s number one debut album Chaos and the Calm as well as 2018’s Electric Light, delivered in his distinctive husky tone.

5. P.P. Arnold

Soul-legend P.P. Arnold might be best-known for classic hit The First Cut Is The Deepest but she has been releasing music for more than half a century.

During that time, she has worked with rock n’ roll royalty, from The Rolling Stones to Tina Turner and Jimi Hendrix.

2019’s The New Adventures of P.P. Arnold marked the singer’s fourth solo album, and her first comprising entirely new material since 1968’s Kafunta. The critically acclaimed New Adventures… garnered rave reviews. Her autobiography, Soul Survivor, will be released later this year.

6. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80

The great Fela Kuti, the father of Afrobeat, fused highlife with jazz and funk to create a brand new sound on over 50 albums.

Since Fela’s death in 1997, his youngest son Seun has performed with his late father’s band, Egypt 80, continuing Fela’s pioneering legacy.

7. Gabrielle

Having found chart success in the 1990s and 2000s with five consecutive albums (including Find Your Way and Rise), Gabrielle took a break from music.

In 2018, she returned with Under My Skin, which the Guardian called a “heartfelt comeback”. The release was launched at a sold-out show at London’s Jazz Café and two singles followed.

Despite a near-30-year career, Gabrielle will be making her Cheltenham debut this year, performing hits such as Dreams and Give Me A Little More Time, as well as songs from Under My Skin and 2021’s Do It Again.

8. Moses Boyd

Moses Boyd is an award-winning jazz drummer whose style combines nu-jazz, electro-jazz, fusion, and jazz-rock. He is also a composer, record producer and BBC Radio 6 Music host.

Boyd’s music career to date has seen him receive nominations and awards from the Mercury Music Prize to MOBOs and Jazz FM Awards.

From the 2017 EP Absolute Zero, Boyd has self-released his project Displaced Diaspora and 2020’s Dark Matter album. Along the way, he has collaborated with artists including Beyoncé, Little Simz, Soweto Kinch, and Floating Points.

Boyd is another artist making his Cheltenham Jazz Festival debut.

9. Brian Jackson

Brian Jackson is the former collaborator of jazz and soul singer Gil Scott-Heron. Having appeared on Scott-Heron’s Pieces of a Man (1971) and Free Will (1972) albums, he received dual billing for the pairs 1973 album Winter in America.

Jackson continues to work with a wide range of artists, including A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed and jazz vocalist Gregory Porter, as well as heading out on tour with musical legends like Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Jackson will head to Cheltenham with half a century of esteemed work to choose from.

10. Jamie Cullum

The multi-award-winning jazz musician (and festival associate curator) Jamie Cullum will be bringing his energetic live show to the stage this year.

With over 4 million albums sold worldwide, expect songs from his eight studio albums and 24 singles, including These Are the Days, Everlasting Love and Get Your Way.