Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival

Following the success of last year’s festival, we are pleased to announce that musical acts will once again be performing at Paradise during the 2025 Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival. The festival brings live local, national and international music to Birmingham and the West Midlands every year.

There will be seven acts performing at Paradise:

Ben Toury

Friday 18th July @ 12:30 – Chamberlain Square 

Frenchman, Ben, was about 5 years old, when his bluesman father was performing on stage and backstage he began dabbling on a small keyboard. From then on, he developed a flourishing concert career, as a soloist and leader of various groups from duo upwards. Ben’s stylistic originality is asserted: a subtle mix of classical and Arabic sounding scales, based on contemporary rhythms. An energetic and efficient stage musician with a sound experience, his virtuoso playing thrills the theaters and festivals where he performs.

Tenement Jazz Band

Saturday 19th July @ 12:30 – Chamberlain Square

Tenement Jazz band are a traditional jazz band formed in early 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brought together by their shared love of early Jazz, Ragtime and Blues, they are on a journey of exploration back to the roots of the music that they play.

Their aims are to capture the raw energy and excitement of the earliest jazz recordings, with most of their repertoire composed before 1930. They aim to find and revive lesser-heard songs and cultivate their own interpretations.

Honeyboy Hickling Blues Band

Sunday 20th July @ 12:30 – Chamberlain Square

This is rocking, post-war Chicago blues of the highest calibre delivered by a top-class band with musicians of impeccable pedigrees. Harmonica players and singer Honeyboy Hickling spent three years touring with Steve Marriott, recording with Bo Diddley and a whole lot more. Guitarist Bob Wilson played with Idle Race, Ruby Turner and the Steve Gibbons Band. Tony Baylis served with Trevor Burton, Chicken Shack and Steve Gibbons and Frank Walker was with the Flying Hat Band and Glenn Tipton.

Sheila Waterfield

Monday 21st July @ 18:00 – La Bellezza*

Sheila is a UK based vocalist, composer and band leader with a style that draws upon jazz, blues, soul and Latin influences. Working in all musical settings, from a piano duo up to a 17 piece Big Band, Sheila can be seen performing at events and festivals throughout the Country and overseas. She is an established name on the UK jazz scene and has performed at London’s Jazz Cafe, The Millennium Dome, CBS Arena, Ronnie Scott’s and has been a regular feature at the Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival for several years.

* For the Sheila Waterfield Duo – this performance will take place at La Bellezza and a dinner reservation must have been booked in advance. Walk-ins subject to availability.

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Swing Café

Tuesday 22nd July @ 16:30 – Albert’s Schloss

Led by popular Midlands singer Billie Baker, Festival favourites Swing Café is a swing and jazz band devoted to playing the best loved songs of the era from the 1920s to the 1950s. Fine melodies mix with a sound that keeps you on the sunny side of life.

Walter Smitty and the Unviables

Thursday 24th July @ 17:00 – Dishoom

Walter Smitty and the Unviables, with vocals by international singer SUZI WOODS, are an acoustic band playing Latin, jazz and bluesy pop. Returning to the Birmingham Festival, they are popular favourites throughout the Midlands.

B.D.Lenz

Friday 25th July @ 12:30 – Chamberlain Square

New Jersey native, guitarist B.D. Lenz, brings together the styles of Pat Metheny, Mike Stern and Stevie Ray Vaughan and has released 13 acclaimed albums featuring the likes of Mike Stern and Randy Brecker. He is engaged on his annual visit to the UK (taking in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxemburg this year) with his band members James Rosocha and Joe Falcey, but is already well known internationally for his music being used in television shows such as Breaking Bad and Young Sheldon.

Dates for your diary

Friday 18th July – Chamberlain Square
12:30: Ben Toury (France)

Saturday 19th July – Chamberlain Square
12:30: Tenement Jazz Band

Sunday 20th July – Chamberlain Square
12:30: Honeyboy Hickling Blues Band

Monday 21st July – La Bellezza*
18:00: Sheila Waterfield Duo

Tuesday 22nd July – Albert’s Schloss
16:30: Swing Cafe

Thursday 24th July – Dishoom
17:00: Walter Smitty and The Unviables

Friday 25th July – Chamberlain Square
12:30: BD Lenz (USA)

* For the Sheila Waterfield Duo – This performance will take place at La Bellezza and a dinner reservation must have been booked in advance. Walk-ins subject to availability.

To find out more, or for the complete schedule: https://www.birminghamjazzfestival.com/