A Kick Up The Arts with Nicola Meighan
A Scottish Arts & Culture Podcast with Nicola Meighan
A Kick Up The Arts with Nicola Meighan
Glasgow Jazz Festival 2025
Before we get wired into this week’s episode, I’ve just announced that wildlife cameraman, film-maker and rock ‘n’ roll lion tamer Gordon Buchnanan is the latest guest to join me for A Kick Up The Arts at the Edinburgh Fringe… We’ll be at the Stand on August 19th, and we’d love you to join us.
My other guests that week - so far - are Gavin Mitchell on the 18thl, Barbara Dickson on the 20th, Grant Stott on the 21st, Justin Currie on the 23rd, and I’ll be announcing another guest soon… You can get tickets for all of those, right now, via akickupthearts.org…
And before that - next month - Val McDermid and I are in conversation at the Portobello Bookshop - that’s on July 9th, and you should totally come to that too… same place for the tickets, if you fancy…
I’m also delighted to be coming to Edinburgh International Book Festival, and Bute Noir, and I’ll tell you all about those events soon, or sign up for the newsletter for more - you know… news…
But ANYWAY!
This week, we're at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, as this year's 39th Glasgow Jazz Festival kicks off..
The city's longest-running music festival runs until Sunday June 22nd, and among its wonders, it'll welcome Gil Scott-Heron's legendary collaborator Brian Jackson - a keyboardist, flute-player and vocalist who's also worked Stevie Wonder, Gwen Guthrie and Earth, Wind and Fire…
He joins artists on the programme like Later With Jools favourites the Neil Cowley Trio, Colin Steele and his Quartet reimagining The Blue Nile - and incredible turntablist Mariam Rezaei joining forces with saxophonist Raymond MacDonald...
With only a mere few hours till the opening events - and fresh from Alan Donaldson's excellent exhibition, The Glasgow Jazz Pictures - I met up with Glasgow Jazz Festival director Jill Rodger, and rising jazz star Marianne McGregor, who won best vocalist at the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2023, and who'll launch her new album - Make Believe - at the festival on Sunday...
Jill, Marianne and I looked forward to some of this year's events, and Jill also looked back on a festival that she's been a part of since 1990...
I didn't anticipate how much of our conversation would be taken up with Jill's memories of George Benson hanging out in Dorothy Perkins, or her taking soul icon Jimmy Smith underwear shopping - but then again, if jazz has taught us anything, it's to expect the unexpected...