BlueJam Jazz training sessions - Weds 7-9pm. 6 sessions beginning January 13th. (NB later start)
Eden Rural Foyer Recording Suite. Funding support from Creative Futures
Led by Jilly Jarman, these sessions are for young music leaders and musicians and adult community leaders who have some experience of playing jazz or enough technique to be able to pick up the concepts quickly. There are a couple of places still free (07766057315) £20 for the next 4 sessions.
BlueJam Band Sessions - Tues 4 - 6pm (age 11-12) 4.30 - 6pm (age 13-18)
Eden Rural Foyer
Led by Jen, Mouse and Tom B, these sessions allow young musicians the space to develop their own music through playing and singing together. The sessions take place in the Foyer cafe and BlueJam office. £4. Supported through YOF/YCF. Watch out for our gig at the end of this term!
Gt. Salkeld Family FolkRoots Sessions - PLUS puppet making! Every fortnight Tues 4.15 - 5.30pm. Sessions start again Jan 12th.
Led by Jilly Jarman with Jess Mills on puppets, these offer a friendly space for parents/carers and children to play acoustic folk from around the world - beginners welcome. We can provide drums and a few instruments. £4 individual (£6 per family). Ring 07766057315 to find out more.
BLUEJAM BENEFIT GIG!! Eden Rural Foyer Cafe space. Saturday 19th December from 7pm.
Proceeds to Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund
This was a really good evening, despite the heavy snow. The young BlueJam musicians were excellent as always, Rob Steels BigJam were inspiring and the folk group played a great set. The evening finished with a great meeting of old and new players from the Festival and Cafe Jazz bands tackling tricky material with panache and expertise. BlueJam needs to get its music heard more widely because there is a lot going on here. We raised over £200 for the Flood Recovery Fund and more money is still coming in from donations.
A massive thanks to everyone who gave their time, energy and talent to make it happen.
Sarah Wall Singing Course for teachers and leaders Sunday 2-5pm.
November 29th at Great Salkeld.
This free training event (supported by Sing Up) is an opportunity for experienced singers to look more closely at classical singing practice and how that is relevant to singing with young people in all styles. Ring Jilly on 07766057315 for details. FREE spaces..
ECO Fireshow and Halloween Parade - Appleby, Thurs & Fri 2-4pm October half-term
BlueJam was delighted to be taking part in the Halloween half-term workshops this year, as well as joining in the parade again.
It was a great event and we hope to collaborate with ECO more in the future. Go to the ECO website to find out all the things they are doing, and see some great fire pictures in Features.
Apple Day at Acorn Bank- October 18th, Temple Sowerby
This is one of our highlights of the year - it is an amazing family day out. We really enjoyed taking part this year. Our workshop sessions were well-attended with lots of people or all ages joining in with the folk, medieval and world tunes the band was playing. Thanks to the folk group for their performance as well.
If you want to join a beginner-friendly folk group, they meet every Wednesday in Lowther St. Ring 07766057315 for details.
BlueJam at Macfest - September 12th, Ravenstonedale
BlueJam played on the Scandalbeck stage on Saturday afternoon. It went really well, and the whole festival was sunny and relaxed with loads of great music. Congratulations mac!
Go to the mostlyacousticcumbria website to see more.
BlueJam at Pendragon Weekend Penrith Sun 30th August
12.30 - 2pm in the Penrith Leisure Centre Foyer.
Jazz and world music from the CafeJazz Band. The centre was full of young families enjoying themselves. A great event organised by the Leisure Centre and Eden District Council.
BlueJam at Solfest! Bank Holiday Weekend - 28th - 30th August
BlueJam had another great gig on the Drystone Stage - thanks Alan! This year we played on Friday evening. It was sunny and we had a great crowd - who even danced! Go to the solfest website for more pics etc about Solfest. Support your local, award-winning Festival.
See our videos : Trouble | Yesterday's Moon | Feeling Good | Borrow | Willow | Damn Your Eyes
Friday Fling - Calthwaite, 21st August 4-8pm
This was a fantastic event organised by Dawn Hurton to end an Awards for All project which produced banners mosaics, sculptures and a video depicting the life of the village. There were games in the field, samba drumming and the Music Machine from BlueJam, great food from Purple Sage and a concert of classical and jazz songs from BlueJam. The sun shone and 100 people attended.
Gt. Salkeld Family Folk Session - Sat 8th August
15 children and 8 adults came and played fiddles, whistles, accordions, guitars and drums and sang. It was easy getting everyone playing together from toddler to grown-up, beginner to experienced. We then had a jam outside which was great!
Led by Jilly Jarman. Ring 07766057315 to find out about more sessions to come.
Children's Arts Day Thursday July 9th: Melmerby 4.30-5.30
BlueJam are celebrating this by bringing visual arts to the last session of the Music Club at Melmerby Village Hall. The art will be displayed in the Eden Rural Foyer window in Penrith.This lively club has enabled 5 - 10 year olds to try out new instruments in a friendly atomsphere and play them in a group. The parents who set it up hope to carry on next year. To find out more - contact us!
BlueJam Music Machine at Appleby Carnival on July 11th
On the field after the procession we had the revamped fabulous music machine.
Experienced drummers came and showed off, and lots of kids had a go at making as many sounds as they could.
Funding by Frieda Scott video of the music machine
BlueJam Samba at Appleby Carnival on July 11th
Join in the procession! Rehearsal workshop with Ben Parkinson and Mark Park on 7th June at Centre 67, Appleby. 6.30-8.30pm. All ages welcome. The parade starts at 1 o'clock (not 11am as previously said here.) Ring 07766057315 for details and possible rehearsal beforehand at 12 noon.
Funding by Frieda Scott video of the parade
BlueJam CafeJazz & BigJam at Brewery Malt Room, Kendal June 24th
This years Community Platform was excellent - an enthusiastic audience and a wealth and range of talent. Our favourites were the taiko drummers and Young Orbit.
BlueJam ORCH:ID at Keswick's Theatre-by-the Lake on June 21st.
The day went really well - BlueJam performed excellently as usual and we got loads of good feedback. It was different playing acoustically without amplification and maybe there was less impact because of that, but it was a good experience and I hope the group will go on to do more. We weren't allowed to record it but there will be a national SingUp video out soon and you never know - we might be on it!
BlueJam Concert in Alston June 20th - organised by Tom Macmillan
This concert featured Room Full Of Owls, (folk/rock), Sarah Morton & Jesse Reed, (jazz), User Friendly (ska), and Mannequin Music. (duo). Massive thanks to Tom and all the people who helped make this such a successful evening - the bands for playing such great music, people who set up and cleared away and who brought raffle prizes. £270 was made.
BlueJam CafeJazz at Great Strickland Summer Fiesta on Sunday 14 June
Chloe Thwaites puts on these great events to raise money for the Hospice and this year it was sunny, relaxed and people had a great time. We closed the festival and it was wonderful playing in front of such an appreciative audience! Thank you! See video
BlueJam Music Machine & Samba at Great Salkeld Festival on Sat 13 June
Dawn and Jilly got the machine repaired and ready to go - it was a hit especially with the younger children. We have lots of ideas now about how we can use it as part of a mixed media performance/workshop event. Interested in hiring us or in developing the project? - get in touch. (Thanks to Jolly Jon and Tom B, Bryony and Kate for making the original machine last year. See video
BlueJam CafeJazz in Penrith Leisure Centre Cafe on Wed May 27. 7-9pm
Performing were: Ailsa, Alison, Bryony, Jen, Jilly, Josh, Mouse, Ollie and Tom M. Our usual mix of swing, bop, blues, Latin and some originals.
It was a good gig - thanks to the 8 people who turned up to watch!
BlueJam at Dalemain Packs & Tracks event
We took some players from BlueJam's Blue Acoustic with very welcome additions from the Folk group. We are hoping to get funding to keep the folk group going and be able to advertise it to newcomers. If you are new to playing an instrument or a bit rusty we hope to be able to offer support and arrangements of traditional Cumbrian tunes that suit all skills. Wednesdays 7pm Play Station, Penrith.
BlueJam Samba at Penrith May Parade Click here for video 1 | video 2
Thanks to everyone who took part, making costumes, drumming, cycling or carrying. In spite of the rain people were smiling!
Massive thanks to Ben, Gordon and Dawn for organising it all and making it another May Day to remember. Funded by Eden Arts and Neighbourhood Forum.
Boundless Voices - concert at Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth
For more info go to vocalunion.org.uk.
The concert featured performances by Mouthful, The Safires, Boundless Voices, TongueTide and Sarah Wall & Jilly Jarman. Hear an extract from Sarah & Jilly's set:
Jasmine | Leumle (looped live improvisation)
BlueJam at SOLFEST 2008
Once again we really enjoyed the festival, had good weather for our set and a good crowd.We also played in the Soundwave tent with their 3D sound system.
Pictures 
Hear the choir performance
at the Barbican
Cultural Olympiad - Youth Music Voices
BlueJam took some singers aged 14 & 18 years down to London to launch the Cultural Olympiad. They sang at the South Bank, Barbican and Arts Depot. Our best bit was an adhoc performance in the skateboard park, raising the roof in Pizza Express and singing with the buskers by the Thames.
University of Cumbria
Cumbria Institute of the Arts
Edinburgh College of Art
Glasgow University
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Leeds College of Music
Newcastle College
Leeds Metropolitan
Newcastle University
William Howard School, Brampton
College Connections
Do you know someone from Cumbria who has gone to college to do visual or performing arts or music?
If they write us an article we will pay £10! Get in touch....
I didn't appreciate at the time what they were trying to do, which was just expand your experience of looking at things
......Gwen Bainbridge
If you do pop/funk/soul/rock etc there's one piece of advice - do a jazz degree! If you can play jazz you can play anything
......Oli Bentley , Leeds College of Music