The Mostly Jazz Festival is back... well almost! 

The Mostly Jazz Festival is set to return on 29th, 30th June & 1st July 2012 as The Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival. 

Doing exactly what it says on the tin, The Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival offers a blistering weekend of Jazz, Funk & Soul with a host of household names bringing the party atmosphere back to Moseley Park! 

With the success of the festival growing each year, we are delighted to announce that BBC Radio 1’s purveyor of eclectic sounds Gilles Peterson and BBC Radio 6’s Funk & Soul Maestro Craig Charles will be returning to compere with the latter curating the Saturday Line Up. They’ll also be jumping behind the decks for sets for DJ sets in the park! 

Joining Gilles Peterson on the Friday will be the genre defying Ghostpoet (pictured), cover Maestro’s Introducing who will be taking on DJ Shadow’s ‘Entroducing’ in full as well Local Tropical Dub Pioneers Troumaca and Electro Heroes Free School. 

On Saturday we’ll be joined by the legendary Native New Yorkers Odyssey, Speedometer, The Atlantic Players, The Bongolian, Lack of Afro (DJ Set) & Federation Of The Disco Pimp as well as Introducing coming back to play their second show of the weekend with their take on the music of Mr. Scruff. 

Sunday we will be joined by James Brown’s Trombone player and master in his own right Fred Wesley who will be joined by his long time band The New JB’s. Fred Wesley & The New JB’s will be joined by Soweto Kinch, Andy Hamilton & The Bluenotes, Husk, Steve Ajao & Birmingham Jazz Youth Ensemble. 

In 2012.... There will be, once again, two stages side by side at the festival, the second of which will feature up and coming talent. As in 2011, Tony Dudley-Evans’ development agency Birmingham Jazz and Birmingham’s premier jazz & funk parlour The Yardbird will be curating the second stage, whilst Gilles Peterson’s favourite Birmingham promoters Leftfoot will be taking the reigns on Friday. Each will showcase some of their top acts so expect to see a wealth of emerging sounds.

The Line Ups for both stages will be announced gradually over the coming months but as you can see we already have some amazing artists for 2012! We’ll also be keeping you updated with further events happening in the build up to the festival! 

Tickets for Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul 2012 are now on sale HERE. To avoid booking fees there will also be the option to send in a postal form which is now available from the website. Alternatively, you can visit one of our outlets listed to pick up the tickets in person. 

BBC Radio 6 Music’s Craig Charles will be festival compere for the second year. Saturday 30th June will be the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Club featuring performances from acts who have been championed on Craig’s radio show. 

BBC Radio 1DJ Gilles Peterson is going to be at the festival on Friday 29th June. Gilles is a well known champion of jazz and world music, top DJ and now also runs Brownswood Recordings, an outlet for his favourite musical discoveries. 

Local to the festival, Warwickshire based Purity Brewing Co. are again the official sponsor and the festival bars will be stocked with their award winning ales, premium local ciders and exclusive imported lagers. Producing premium ales using only the best natural ingredients, Purity’s UBU, Mad Goose and Pure Gold have been converting people into ale drinking enthusiasts for over five years. For more information on Purity Brewing Co. see ww.puritybrewing.com. 

Birmingham’s Moseley Park is a privately owned park run as a charity and is usually only open to key holders. The Mostly Jazz Festival is by the same production team behind Moseley Folk Festival which also takes place in the park in September.