The Brecon Jazz Festival which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2014 released details of the first 4 artists to appear at this years event.

Having featured on the bill of the very first Brecon Jazz, Warren Vaché is a supremely accomplished, versatile and rare performer. He has been astounding audiences worldwide for decades with his superb cornet, trumpet and flugelhorn stylings, and we are pleased to be welcoming one of the Brecon Originals back to the festival in our 30th year, where he will perform with his quintet, featuring multi-award winning reeds man Alan Barnes.

Whilst Warren Vaché was amongst the first International guests, Mike Harries represented home-grown talent at Brecon Jazz ’84, appearing with his Mike Harries Jazz Band. A Welsh Jazz institution who has been performing since the 1940’s, Harries brought his new band The Root Doctors to Brecon in 1987, and his 30 year association with the festival continues with Mike Harries Root Doctors taking their place in the official programme of Brecon Jazz 2014.

Brecon Jazz shares its 30th Anniversary with that of Loose Tubes, the anarchic 21 piece big-band whose line-up reads like a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of a brilliant generation of musicians. The band made their Brecon Jazz debut in 1985 at the Guildhall; their first gig outside of London. They returned in 1988, this time at The Market Hall, premiering a new suite commissioned especially by the festival. Having disbanded in 1990, many members (most recently Iain Ballamy, Martin France and Django Bates) became regulars at Brecon over the years in various groups and guises, but our coincidental anniversary presented the perfect opportunity to bring the newly reformed Loose Tubes back together with Brecon Jazz in 2014.

one of the brightest new British talents makes her debut at Brecon Jazz. A real find of 2013, soul singer/songwriter and Mercury Prize nominee Laura Mvula won Best Female Act and Best R&B or Soul Artist at the 2013 MOBO Awards, achieved a Top 10 debut album for ‘Sing to the Moon’, and was highly acclaimed for her haunting vocal performances, including the Pyramid Stage at last year’s Glastonbury Festival.

Brecon Jazz festival takes place at various venues throughout Brecon from 8th - 10th August, tickets go on sale on 28th February