Reffc
04-05-2015, 08:21
Attended this year with the family and it was a great day out. The festival is spread across Cheltenham with sessions in the main "big top" and free stage within Montpellier Gardens, Pump Rooms and events at a few various bars, colleges, hotels and open spaces. The main free event is in the heart of Cheltenham at Montpellier Gardens though and it makes a great family day out with food stalls, a large free stage, drinks tents and large grassed areas for picnickers.
The usual suspects were present from Jamie Cullum (Festival Director) Gregory Porter, Si Cranstoun & Purdy, Natalie Williams, Neil Cowley Trio and many others including some fringe music from World music and Northern Soul genres. For me, one of the highlights of the Free stage was Saturday with local lad, Remi Harris and accompanying guitarist and double bassist. Remi's a young (28 in fact) virtuoso guitarist with his roots in blues and rock guitar, but who developed and perfected a style of Gypsy Jazz guitar, not unlike one of his heros, Django Reinhardt. His talent is quite incredible given his relatively tender age and he already has several successful albums under his belt. Anyone interested should visit his website for more info and details of how to buy his music. Most of the music played at the festival came from his album "NINICK" which is highly recommended!
You can find out more here:
http://www.remiharris.co.uk/ (http://www.remiharris.co.uk/)
The usual suspects were present from Jamie Cullum (Festival Director) Gregory Porter, Si Cranstoun & Purdy, Natalie Williams, Neil Cowley Trio and many others including some fringe music from World music and Northern Soul genres. For me, one of the highlights of the Free stage was Saturday with local lad, Remi Harris and accompanying guitarist and double bassist. Remi's a young (28 in fact) virtuoso guitarist with his roots in blues and rock guitar, but who developed and perfected a style of Gypsy Jazz guitar, not unlike one of his heros, Django Reinhardt. His talent is quite incredible given his relatively tender age and he already has several successful albums under his belt. Anyone interested should visit his website for more info and details of how to buy his music. Most of the music played at the festival came from his album "NINICK" which is highly recommended!
You can find out more here:
http://www.remiharris.co.uk/ (http://www.remiharris.co.uk/)