The Isle of Wight Jazz Festival

The Isle of Wight Jazz Festival saw its beginnings in 2005 in the seaside town of Tentnor. Since it's inception, this festival has hosted such artists as Terry Callier, Cleo Laine, John Danworth, Dennis Rollins, Ian Shaw, Humphrey Lyttelton and Maceo Parker. The talent pool used for this festival come from not only long established talents, but also the up and coming jazz talents. Along with the Jazz Festival, there will also be a Beer Festival and entertainment. This entertainment extravaganza is being called Easter Week of Entertainment in Ventnor.

After a lot of planning and organizing, the 2009 festival eventually had to be cancelled the organizers sighted economic downturn and lack of sponsors as the reason the festival was cancelled, however, there is also speculation that the event was cancelled because many venues were refusing to accept bookings from the organizers of the event. There was much talk about the suppliers and musicians of the year before having never been paid. The new venues were requesting a myriad of documentation proving that all the musicians and suppliers for the year before had indeed been paid in full. There was so much controversy over the alleged non payment of artists and suppliers that the Wight Jazz Festival for 2009 had to finally be cancelled. It was a true shame that this event was cancelled as this festival is known for its blend of established and new artists and promoting new, pioneering styles of jazz. The organizers vowed to pay all refunds, cancellation fees and outstanding billings for this event within a month. This event was due to take place at East Dene in Bonchurch in April. There is still talk that vendor bills from years prior are still outstanding.

The 2010 Wight Jazz Festival is already in the planning stages. The festival is due to take place on the 9th, 10th and 11th of April in 2010 and they are already working out the program. They will, as always, be featuring both established talents and new talent for 2010. You can expect ten full days of arts, entertainment and beer during the Easter week festivals. The annual Beer Festival will be taking place in the Ventnor Wintor Gardens on Good Friday and will be going all week. You can purchase tickets separately so you can pick the events you would like to attend. Also in the area of the festival are all sorts of specialty restaurants and novelty shops. No matter how hard you try, you'll be hard pressed to be bored for even a minute with so much entertainment going on all around you. The Jazz Festival has events planned right up to the finale finish of the weekend. It appears as though the organizers of this event have started early and have been working steady in order to get it fully organized and funded so that it will come off smoothly and not come down to the last bit and be cancelled like last years event. This event is earning a reputation as a place to combine seaside fun with amazing concert nights plus all the dining and drinking you could want. Add to that all of the shopping including retro shopping experiences and you've got a week that you'll have a hard time figuring out when you are going to take a few minutes to sleep.

Written by Tom Sangers for St Maur, one of the Isle of Wight hotels who provide weekend breaks on the Isle of Wight.