Jazz around the clock: BBC Music Jazz digital pop-up returns in collaboration with Jazz FM for 96 solid hours of broadcasting

BBC radio stations and Jazz FM team up for only the second time with more content than ever before on a temporary digital BBC Music radio station

·         For the first time, the station broadcasts for a marathon 96 hours, 24 hours a day over five days

·         A star-studded roster of presenters including Stewart Lee, Gregory Porter, Laura Mvula, Will Young, Cerys Matthews, Moira Stuart, Jamie Cullum, Soweto Kinch, Jools Holland, Craig Charles, Ana Matronic, Jay Rayner, Julian Joseph and Claire Martin, amongst others

·     Live concerts from EFG London Jazz Festival in partnership with BBC Radio 3, simulcast on the digital pop-up station

·   Unprecedented access to Jazz FM’s flagship programmes and rare archive recordings, including specially commissioned new content for the first time this year

·      A countdown of the Top 50 Jazz albums of all time with Radio 3’s Geoffrey Smith and Jazz FM’s Helen Mayhew.

It was announced at the launch of EFG London Jazz Festival that BBC Music Jazz, a pop-up radio station, will return from 10th - 14th November 2016 for five days of broadcasting. Last year saw the inaugural run of the temporary station, which ran for 41 hours over four days. This year’s pop-up is bigger in ambition and scale, with a marathon 96 hours of continuous content. 

A collaboration between BBC Music, BBC Radio and Jazz FM, the 2016 pop-up sees commercial and public service broadcaster come together for a diverse range of the best jazz music for everyone from jazz novices to connoisseurs. It will feature all-star presenters, and performers, archive gems, live content from BBC Radio 3’s collaboration with EFG London Jazz Festival, bespoke content from BBC Radio 2, 3, 4, 6 Music, BBC Radio Scotland and Jazz FM. 

Alan Davey, Controller of BBC Radio 3:

‘As a station Radio 3 has an illustrious history of broadcasting jazz and connecting audiences with pioneering music and culture, as well as supporting new talent and broadcasting from major festivals like EFG London Jazz Festival. What better way to help celebrate our 70th anniversary than to come together once again with our sister BBC radio stations and Jazz FM to bring an astonishing amount of new and archive content to jazz obsessives, the uninitiated and everyone in between.’
 

James Stirling, BBC Music Editor:

‘BBC Music is keen to partner with the industry to ensure the very best of music is getting to audiences across the UK and further afield, which is why we’re excited to unite the best of jazz radio under one roof in such an ambitious way.’

Jonathan Arendt, CEO Jazz FM:

‘It’s a privilege to be working with BBC Music and Radio 3 again following our ground-breaking collaboration in 2015 with the EFG London Jazz Festival.  This year’s pop-up digital radio station will reflect the tangible increase in popularity for Jazz across the UK over the last year.  We are delighted that the station will include substantially more content from Jazz FM with specially commissioned shows and some of our most popular archive material.’

Claire Whitaker on behalf of Serious, producers of EFG London Jazz Festival: 

‘Serious is thrilled that once again the EFG London Jazz Festival forms the backdrop to the innovative and exciting partnership between BBC Music, BBC Radio 3 and Jazz FM which forms BBC Music Jazz, enabling us to reach an even broader audience. The Festival is committed to engaging both live and digital audiences and enriching the experience for all; BBC Music Jazz is the perfect platform to realise this ambition.’ 

Key BBC radio content highlights include over 25 hours of jazz documentary programming from the BBC archive, featuring jazz icons such as Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong. A BBC Radio Scotland series Godfathers of Jazz explores the work of great pioneers of the genre, including Lalo Schifrin, Herbie Hancock and Tony Bennett, who is 90 this year. Jools Holland presents Leader of the Band: Chris Barber Story, a two-part documentary about the trombonist, bassist, bandleader and pioneer of British jazz and blues. Jamie Cullum presents several programmes of interview and performance highlights from his Radio 2 programme, including a special BBC Music Introducing show.
 

All four of Radio 3’s dedicated jazz strands feature on the pop-up schedule, with Soweto Kinch presenting Jazz Now live from Pizza Express, and special editions of Jazz Line-up, Jazz Record Requests and Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz. Host of Radio 3’s poetry and spoken word programme The Verb Ian McMillan presents The Jazz verb, and Tom Service presents a special jazz edition of The Listening Service. As part of its partnership with EFG London Jazz Festival, Radio 3 broadcasts several live concerts starting with Jazz Voice, which opens the Festival.

Highlights of Jazz FM’s programming include evenings celebrating great jazz icons Quincy Jones and Cleo Laine. David Bowie Jazz Genie looks at the influence of Bowie on generations of jazz musicians, and at the influence jazz had over Bowie’s music. Jazz FM also explores the differences between the British and New York jazz scenes with special editions of two regular programmes; TransAtlantic Jazz with Marcus Miller and True Brit with Helen Mayhew. Former Radio 3 presenter Jez Nelson – who re-joined the commercial station in the spring of this year – returns to the BBC with a special edition of his Jazz FM show Somethin’ Else.

More information and full schedule will be announced in due course.
BBC Music Jazz is led by Controller of BBC Radio 3 Alan Davey, BBC Music Editor James Stirling and Jazz FM CEO Jonathan Arendt. BBC Music Jazz this year will be the 7th BBC music radio pop-up service, following in the footsteps of Radio 2 Country, Radio 2 50s and Radio 2 Eurovision services.