– The Soul Jazz Summit –
Surprise! Damian took the stage under The Big Top as part of the Soul Jazz Summit at Cheltenham Jazz Festival on Friday, May 2, 2025, performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra that gave audience goers an intimate, collaborative musical experience. Fan and audience member John Podmore shared on X: “The utterly sensational Damian Lewis.”
Damian shared the stage with lead singer of BBC Strictly Tommy Blaize and world-renowned jazz vocalist Curtis Stigers, which Blaize coined the trio as “the new rat pack.” Backstage it was all ridiculous fun with the pack, along with Scottish singer and songwriter Lulu Kennedy-Cairns and saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi.
The Soul Jazz Summit brings together the very best of jazz, funk and soul, which included special guests Emeli Sandé, Vanessa Haynes, Lulu, Tommy Blaize, Lucy-Anne Daniels, Curtis Stigers and Lisa Stansfield. Celebrating the explosion of jazz and soul from the late 50s, more than 80 musicians come together to draw inspiration from jazz giants Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Count Basie and more in an extraordinary night of music. Featuring BBC Concert Orchestra and Guy Barker’s Big Band.
The Cheltenham Jazz Festival runs from April 30 – May 5 2025 with a line-up including Roger Daltrey, Lulu, Tom Walker, Macy Gray, Nubya Garcia and more. For more details and ticket information, visit their website.
Cheltenham Jazz Festival’s mission is changing lives through culture; a collaboration to create experiences which bring joy, spark curiosity, connect communities and inspire change.
#CheltJazzFest is one of the UK’s leading jazz festivals and is part of their annual festival season, which also includes the Science, Music and Literature Festivals in Cheltenham.
The events of Cheltenham Jazz Festival mainly take place in a tented village in Montpellier Gardens, including a Big Top, the Jazz Arena and a Free Stage surrounded by food traders, secret gardens and festival bars. Dinner concerts and intimate performances are also played in other venues around town, such as the Playhouse Theatre, the Daffodil Restaurant, the Parabola Arts Centre of Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Cheltenham Town Hall.
Source: BBC