'UK’s finest ever female jazz singer’ to headline Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival

A vocalist described by Black Sabbath’s first manager as “the UK’s finest ever female jazz singer” has been confirmed as one of the headline acts at this summer’s Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival.

Val Wiseman (pictured) will perform with The Lady Sings the Blues orchestra on Friday 31 July at The Core Theatre in Solihull during the festival, which runs from Friday 24 July to Sunday 2 August.

Jim Simpson, Black Sabbath’s original manager, whose Big Bear Music company has organised the annual festival for the last four decades, explained how The Lady Sings the Blues was initially a one-off project that featured at the 1987 festival.

He said: “We’re pleased to confirm Val as one of the two headline acts, a great thread of continuity for what was only originally envisaged as a one-off gig all those years ago.”

West Bromwich-born Wiseman was a local jazz star in the 1960s with Second City Jazzmen, before joining the Monty Sunshine Jazz Band and relocating to London.

“Back in 1986, I booked London-based Eggy Ley’s Hotshots to feature in that year’s festival and was delighted to find that Val was the featured singer.

“She was terrific, even better than I remembered, and in fact I believe she’s the UK’s finest ever female jazz singer – in the styles of Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee and Anita O’Day.

“We talked – a lot – while Val was at the festival and as a result she relocated back to Birmingham and we got to work creating The Lady Sings the Blues, an all-star tribute to the music of Billie Holiday.

“This debuted in 1987 with a sell-out concert at Sir Adrian Boult Hall, with Val fronting an eight-piece band featuring seven leading UK musicians.

“It was so successful, I decided to put it on the road throughout the UK and Europe and today it’s still plying its trade.”

The other headliner at this year’s 42^nd consecutive festival is King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys, one of the world’s greatest jump, jive and swing bands, performing at the Botanical Gardens on Friday 24 July. 

Simpson added: “King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys’ first featured at the festival 40 years ago in 1986 and they are now celebrating their own 40^th year of being on the road.

“The band’s career has been incredible, with tours throughout Europe, North Africa and the USA, but this will be a great ‘back to the cradle’ moment to have them at the festival four decades on from their first appearance.”

Simpson managed Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi’s original Blues band called Earth in 1969, relaunching them into heavy metal as Black Sabbath, and releasing their legendary albums Black Sabbath and Paranoid in 1970.

He lost control of Black Sabbath shortly afterwards, but 56 years later Simpson is still ubiquitous on the Midlands’ music scene with Big Bear Music, not least with the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival.

Funding for the festival has already been agreed from Sandwell Council and the Musicians’ Union, but Big Bear Music still needs more backers.

Mr Simpson said: “We want this year’s festival to be as big as last year’s, but we need more partners to help make this happen.”

Last year saw the festival host 179 performances, 166 with free admission, in 101 venues, to an audience of nearly 65,000.

The number of bands confirmed for this year’s festival is now well over the 60 mark, from throughout the UK as well as from France, the USA, Estonia, Japan and Venezuela.

More are expected to confirm in the next few weeks. There are 99 venues confirmed so far throughout Birmingham, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and nearby towns.

The luxury Plough & Harrow hotel in Edgbaston is the festival’s official ‘Hotel Partner’ and will host many stars from across the UK and abroad, with rooms also available for festival-goers.