We're teaming up with Jazz North to bring you a relaxed and informative artist networking event.
Flipping a standard Jazz North Artist Development Day on its head, we'll kick off with a jam hosted by Manchester's Xaris (Trees.R.Good) and Mara Cruz before diving into a day of real conversation about what it means to shape your career as a jazz+ artist.
We’ll be joined by four fantastic artist-facilitators from different walks of jazz including Afro-psychedelic funk trombonist & percussionist Hannabiell Sanders (Hannabiell & the Midnight Blue, Ladies of the Midnight Blue), Alt-Soul singer August Charles, multi-instrumentalist electronic leaning artist Alan Keary (Shunya) and Private Joy aka Pops Roberts (Lovescene).
They will each take you through the way they shape their careers and hold space for you to delve into your own creative practice and methods. From forging your own creative community, building your audience and carving out your niche - you control the conversation.
Lunch will be provided and we'll bring in a host of industry people for you to connect with in a relaxed and friendly way throughout the day.
Sign up to register your attendance and for updates and speaker information in the lead up to the event.
If you can no longer attend, please email [email protected] so we can track capacity and numbers for food!
Mara Cruz
Mara Cruz is an Angolan singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born and raised in Portugal until migrating to the UK in her early teens. Her musical background stems from South African Gospel, Semba and contemporary worship. Mara’s music ranges from Nu-jazz to Gospel including reharmonisation and a soulful churchy feel. For the future Mara aspires to take her music all over the country and successfully grow into the role of a music director and session musician. “Here to conquer the World One Note at a time.”
Xaris
Hailing from Brussels and now based in Manchester, Xaris (Trees.R.Good) (they/them) is a producer & multi-instrumentalist on a mission: narrating Nature's powerful solutions to tackle climate change through sounds and music.
From the depth of the forest floor to the tip of trees' canopy, Trees.R.Good allies their Plant Science degree background, and their musical skills to bring jazz-infused electronic music back in the living spaces.
Hannabiell Sanders
Dr. G Hannabiell Sanders is an African American Jamaican, originally from New Jersey, USA. She holds a BFA in Music from Mason Gross School for the Arts, Rutgers University and a Masters and PhD in Music Performance from Newcastle University. With a musical career starting at the age of 9 she has become an award-winning performer, bass trombonist, African & Latin hand percussionist, composer, and activist.
Hannabiell is the musical director, composer and performer for Hannabiell & Midnight Blue Collective and the Ladies of Midnight Blue who have performed nationally & internationally. Both ensembles fuse together Afro-Caribbean & Latin percussion, Jazz, Afro-beat, and Funk to create their unique sound.
August Charles
August Charles is an Alt-Soul singer born in Ndola, Zambia and based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Influenced by the work of Frank Ocean and Amy Winehouse, his music combines elements of both retro-soul and alternative R&B. With a focus on expressive vocal arrangements, lush instrumentals and thought provoking lyricism, August’s ability to tell intricately woven stories has begun to turn heads.
August has shared stages with luminaries such as Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Emeli Sandé, Gotts Street Park, Bombay Bicycle Club and Adi Oasis. His live performances in 2023 saw him playing at Love Supreme Festival, KITE, BST Hyde Park, Dot to Dot, and Deer Shed Festival amongst numerous others.
His early career has been met with industry-wide support from outlets including Earmilk, Dummy and Early Rising, plus Steve Lamacq on BBC R6, John Osborne on Jazz FM, Gemma Bradley BBC R1, Emily Pilbeam BBC Introducing West Yorkshire and NikNak on Worldwide FM. Debut EP due 2024.
Shunya aka Alan Keary
Shunya aka Alan Keary is a multi-talented musician who draws on his Irish heritage to create a music full of wonder and magic. Playful and ethereal, his live shows showcase his ability to slip seamlessly between styles and genres, balancing on the line between recklessness and precision. Live performances display varying arrangements ranging from a 5 piece band to solo. Keary features as violinist, bassist and vocalist whilst also delivering the texture and backbone using drum machines, effects and live sampling through Ableton.
Shunya - described by critics as an ‘enigmatic new discovery’ - is an internationally touring artist and collaborator who has worked with some of the most exciting talents in world music - including South African cellist Abel Selaocoe. He is also son of legendary Irish guitarist and producer Dave Keary (Van Morrison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Emma Bunton).
Private Joy aka Pops Roberts
A key player in the UK soul and electronic scenes, Pops is a producer, vocalist and Ableton Certified trainer specialising in workflow and creative strategies in production with a particular focus on vocalists in production. Pops has worked and mentored for the British Arts Council, Saffron Records, CreateDefineRelease, Virtuouso along with many more music charities, institutes and brands. As a producer and vocalist, Pops goes by the moniker of Private Joy and is bandleader to the ‘Lovescene’ collective, with critically acclaimed and award-winning releases with labels WOLF Music, International Feel Ibiza, Apollo R&S, Audio network and has collaborated with international artists Ruf Dug, FINN, Lenzman Mera Bhai, Zed Bias, DubPhizix, Redeyes and Swing Ting to name but a few.
