THE 32nd Bude Jazz Festival was held from August 27 to 30.

As in other recent years the festival took place entirely at venues in the centre of town. This produced a compact festival and a good atmosphere and a number of people commented that it was the best yet.

The festival started at 10.30am on the Tuesday morning with a parade led by a marching band made up of festival regular performers and followed by a good number of people in a brolly parade. The parade route started at Bude Light, went across Nanny Moore’s Bridge to the Triangle where the brollies were judged and prizes given by Sainsbury’s. Presentations were also made for the for the best dressed jazz shop window. The parade then continued along The Strand and The Crescent to finish up at The Brendon Arms.

Most of the venues, such as The Falcon Hotel and the Ivor Potter Hall, were regulars. But there were two new venues this year. The refurbished Methodist Church proved to be a very popular venue for daytime concerts with its good acoustics, comfortable seating, and excellent teas and cakes. The other new venue was London House on The Strand, which was ideal for smaller bands and also proved very popular. Festival goers could purchase stroller tickets for all four days, for each day, or for each evening, and with the compact nature of the festival, people could easily move from venue to venue to sample the bands.

A new feature this year were staggered concert intervals, which were set out in the programme, and allowed ticket holders to plan their movements better; again this was commented on favourably by a large number of people.

There were sessions in the morning, afternoon and evening with a wide variety of music being played to suit all tastes. There were a number of new bands this year including Frog and Henry, Washington Whirligig, Harry Strutters Jazz, Jive and Jump Band and La Vie en Rose. There were regular musicians in new or different line-ups such as Cadillac Xpress, Nick Ward’s Jelly Roll Quartet, John Hallam’s Blue Three with Graham Smith and Keith Nichols, and Kevin Grenfell’s Last Band Standing.

There were a number of bands who have only played a few times at the festival including Neil Maya’s Brubeck Project, Chico Chica, Dorine de Wit, Strumpit Gypsy Jazz Trio, FB Pocket Orchestra, Annika Skoogh, The Moscow Drug Company, and The Golden Coast Big Band.

And there were regular performers who had been at Bude many times before including Jeremy Huggett, Richard Leach, Craig Milverton, Roger Marks Cornish Armada, New Orleans Heat, and the Two Counties Jazz Band.

The festival committee have tried to widen the range of music and hence the appeal of the festival; in particular, there has been a determined effort to include bands of younger musicians — such as the Jake Leg Jug Band and Frog and Henry.

For the second year a free improvisation workshop for young musicians, ‘Young Jazzers’, was included in the festival. This was run by Vic Wattley, leader of a local Big Band, and attracted a good number of participants. It was only possible due to some local sponsorship but is all part of trying to encourage younger musicians and audience in the longer term.

The free afternoon gigs in the bandstand outside the Castle were again blessed with good weather (apart from Wednesday when the Falcon Terrace was used in the pouring rain) and large crowds of festival goers and casual visitors enjoyed the music. Regular busking sessions occurred on the Falcon Terrace every morning, by the Falcon Bridge, and in Scrummies Cafe.

Festival committee member, Peter Daniel said: “The outcome of the festival is still being assessed but it is hoped to run the 33rd Bude Jazz Festival from September 1 to September 4, 2020 (the late summer Bank Holiday is the last day of August next year). However, the festival is in need of additional sponsors and local support if it is to have a long term future. In the meantime the volunteer organising committee are grateful to those local sponsors we do have, and to all who helped in any way; further volunteers and stewards are also needed.”