Diehards Blown Away By Blues Dynamo

When it was time for the headline act, it had rained incessantly for over 24 hours at the Burton Agnes Jazz & Blues Festival.

Some tents were far from their best as a quagmire of mud built up while the audience braved it out and their drenched, downhearted dogs yearned for home and their creature comforts.

In the truest test of British stoicism, the crowd remained steadfast through a packed, diverse line up – and were rewarded every time by the range of incredible talent.

The anticipated headline act, highly acclaimed Errol Linton, whose career has spanned three decades as a singer, songwriter and harmonica player - was on fire.

He transported me back to the (then) smoke filled venues of New Orleans including world-renowned Preservation Hall, the birthplace of jazz in the heart of French Quarter.

In the stately surroundings of the Burton Agnes Hall in Driffield, Errol and his outstanding band, wowed the wet crowd.

His back story saw him busking on the streets of London where we was spotted by a BBC producer who made a documentary about him. Since then the Brixton-born artist has collaborated with musical greats including Bo Diddley and Screaming Jay Hawkins, releasing numerous albums.

The festival’s regular crowd pleasers include the supremely talented Ben Beattie - saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, session musician who leads Ben Beattie’s After Midnight Band.

His main stage performance paid tribute to the artists of Chicago’s ‘Chess Records’ - a legendary US record company founded in Chicago in 1950 focusing on blues and rhythm and blues.

Beattie’s gig celebrated artists including Etta James, Ramsey Lewis, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, The Rolling Stones, Fontella Bass and Howlin' Wolf.

Performing for celebrities and royalty the world over (eliciting high praise from Russell Crowe), Beattie is renowned for the genre of smoky Jazz only found in a Chicago basement in the early hours.

Having ventured to Rosa’s Lounge in downtown Chicago for the amazing Morry Sochat and The Special 20s who are influenced by the best in blue’s history, Ben’s band did not disappoint and I could picture them being right at home in the renowned Rosa’s Lounge.

Another festival highlight was Rosie Frater-Taylor who is wowing audiences as a brilliant songwriter and guitarist.

Hailed by Led Zeppelin guitarist and founder, Jimmy Page, as having “Such a connection with the guitar”, Rosie composed her first song at ten, and has been performing her own gigs since fourteen.

Descended form a long line of musicians, songwriters and performers, Rosie treated festival goers to numbers from her new album ‘Featherweight’ including the heart-rending Dreams written by Stevie Nicks.

International award-winning jazz singer and composer Nishla Smith, who is driven by a passion to tell stories, delivered a powerful performance through the downpours.

Her storytelling accolades include ‘What Happened to Agnes’, a widely staged show of music and memory in which Nishla relays the story of her great aunt Agnes who disappeared when she was a child in Malaysia in the 1930s.

Music surges through her blood (her grandmother was a singer) and Nishla is enjoying a string of high-profile projects with partners including Opera North, London Jazz Festival and Manchester Collective.

The breadth and depth of talent extends to performances in the grand surrounding of Burton Agnes Hall where festival host and saxophonist Simon Cunliffe-Lister and family went down a treat.

Fellow performers were gypsy swing rhythm guitarists Michael Nagaska and Lewis Kilvington, singers/ instrumentalists Jess Lawson and Phil Simpson, the aforementioned Ben Beattie, jazz guitarists Matt Smith and Carlos Amos - and folk singer, Sam Martyn.

Enjoying a feast of talent can work up an appetite and a thirst which can be satiated by an assortment of hot food stalls, a tea tent with the most deliciously decadent cakes and the compulsory beer tent.

Here festival goers really let their hair down and boogie away to the strains of toe tapping, loud clapping, acts such as acoustic ragtime and country blues outfit trio The RagPickers, and acoustic guitar duo Farino.

Adding to the vibes were swing/ gypsy jazz trio, Swing Train 42 and high-energy rock n rollers, The Alligators. Warning - the beer tent is no place for those seeking an early and peaceful hot chocolate retreat in their campervans.

If getting onto the camping pitch in our motorhome in the downpours was a challenge as explained in my previous article - attempting to leave after two days of it was nigh on impossible.



Unable to emerge from the mud, we were towed to the entrance by the star of the day, the wonderful Nick and his tractor, making this brilliant festival and its community spirit, even more memorable.

If you attend just one Jazz & Blues festival a year, make this one your choice and I promise you won’t regret it. Tickets are on sale for the 18th Burton Agnes Jazz & Blues Festival. For more information visit Buy Burton Agnes Jazz & Blues Festival 2025 Tickets online - Burton Agnes Hall & Gardens (digitickets.co.uk)