ORGANISERS of the 2025 Southport Jazz Festival say music lovers will be ‘blown away’ as the vibrant event returns to the resort this weekend attracting visitors from across the UK. 

The Festival will see 10 shows taking place in the stylish surroundings of The Grand on Lord Street in Southport from this Friday, 31 January 2025 through to Sunday, 2 February 2025. 

There is lots to enjoy for live music lovers of all tastes in an event organised by local musicians Emma Holcroft, Jez Murphy and Clifford Ray. 

Tickets are on sale at the Southport Jazz Festival website.

Southport Jazz Festival mentor Liane Carroll, who has worked with musicians including Paul McCartney and Gerry Rafferty and is a regular performer at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, will be present throughout the festival before performing as Liane Carroll and Friends on Sunday night. 

The event will be opened by Liverpool jazz band The Weave; Jeremy Sassoon is back with his tribute to Ray Charles; Chris Ingham is there with ‘Jazz Art The Movies’; guests can enjoy the big band sound with Swingtime Big Band featuring Anthony Strong and Emma Holcroft. 

Emma, Jez and Clifford warmed up for the festival on Saturday by performing for shoppers at Wayfarers Shopping Arcade in Southport. 

They said:- “We are really excited about this year’s Southport Jazz Festival coming back this weekend! We are all looking forward to it. Everything is in place for another superb event. People are going to be blown away by the quality of the bands and performers we have coming. We have a brilliant line-up of shows this year with gigs to suit lots of tastes. We have a very equal mix of male and female jazz artists, as well as supporting up-and-coming talent, both of which are very important to us when programming our festival. We are very grateful for the fantastic support we have had from all the team at The Grand. They have been really helpful and supportive. We love working with them. We also appreciate everything being done by Moonlight Events, Studio Services, our Jazz Festival team and more. This is a really hand-made festival. It’s been lovely to hear from artists from previous years getting in touch to say ’good luck, we hope the festival goes well’. 

“Ticket sales are going really well, with people coming from all over the country. We have a big Scottish contingent; people coming from London, from Bournemouth, from Wales, from Yorkshire; all 4 corners of the country! We have excellent links with the Scarborough Jazz Festival and the Buxton Jazz Festival, and we’re looking forward to seeing people from those events. Our flexibility with tickets means you can buy tickets for each show; you can buy a day pass; or you can buy a weekend pass. 1 new event we have this year is our Gala Dinner at Auberge restaurant on Thursday night, launching the festival, which sold out very quickly. It will be a great night. Southport has been through a very difficult year. Our thoughts are with everyone here. We are really keen to bring something uplifting and positive to the town. We are raring to go.”

The 2025 Southport Jazz Festival takes place at:- The Grand, Lord Street, Southport town centre, from:- Thursday, 30 January 2025 to Sunday, 2 February 2025. For more details visit their website.