This year, the Ealing Blues Festival in London is aiming to build on its success and provide an even bigger and better event that celebrates the captivating diversity of blues, soul and roots music and all the genres it has influenced. The festival will take place in various London venues over a week-long period. The Ealing Blues Festival, which began in 1987, is the oldest blues festival in London and honors this heritage. It is part of the Ealing Summer Festival, which also includes the Ealing Jazz Festival and the Ealing Comedy Festival.
The headliners of this year's festival include Chris Jagger and Wilko Johnson's band, along with many other artists, all of whom are helping to keep alive blues-rock music in the suburbs of west London. The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe as an annual event for several years starting in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the United Kingdom, to some of the leading blues artists of the time, such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, and Sonny Boy Williamson, most of whom had never performed outside the United States before. Audiences in Manchester in 1962, the festival's first venue in Great Britain, included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Jimmy Page. The tours attracted significant media coverage, including television programs, and contributed to the growth of the audience for blues music in Europe.
By contacting Willie Dixon, an influential composer and bass player from Chicago, they gained access to the blues culture of the South of the United States. Sonny Boy Williamson's visit to London to attend the 1963 festival led him to spend a year in Europe, recording the album Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds (first released on Star-Club Records in 1996) and recording with The Animals. Chris Barber, the British jazz trombonist who played at the original National Jazz and Blues festival so many years ago, will close the circle with his participation this year as well. The concerts were attended by some of the main blues artists of the 1960s, such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson, and some played in unique combinations, such as T-Bone Walker playing guitar for pianist Memphis Slim, Otis Rush with Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson with Muddy Waters.
While the concerts take place at some of the best venues in London, from the Royal Albert Hall to the 100 Club, they spread across the city for a week, meaning that any festival feeling or sense of occasion can dissipate a bit. The name “EALING BLUES FESTIVAL” is the intellectual property of THE EALING CLUB COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY and is licensed free of charge to the London Borough of Ealing & The Event Umbrella to promote “live music” in the district. The founding of the first British club dedicated to electric blues, The Ealing Blues Club on March 17th 1962 by Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies was a catalyst that triggered not only a blues boom of the 60s but also British rock music. That said while much of contemporary London forgets its key contribution of “blues-rock” this year's Ealing Blues Festival is set to celebrate this heritage with some of its most iconic artists yet.
From Chris Jagger and Wilko Johnson's band to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf - this year's lineup is sure to be one for all ages! With performances taking place at some of London's best venues from Royal Albert Hall to 100 Club - there's something for everyone at this year's Ealing Blues Festival! So come join us as we celebrate this captivating diversity of blues, soul and roots music at this year's Ealing Blues Festival!.
