Wigan Jazz Festival axed: sad end to a global brand

A once global phenomenon that attracted world-famous acts to town over a week and more annually since the 1980s, in more recent years it had badly haemorrhaged sponsorship leading to a shrinking line-up and dwindling audiences.

Latterly it was being run by the The Music Continuum CIC, whose co-founder Ian Darrington launched the festival in the first place and who took the heartbreaking decision not to continue with it in 2025 for fear of the company being declared bankrupt.

He said: “We were in our 39th year last year, were looking forward to celebrating our 40th anniversary this year and even had some artists booked, then, as had been the case the previous year, we lost sponsorship.

"It left us in the position that if we had pressed ahead with this year’s event and then had a bad festival so we lost money, then The Music Continuum could have gone bust.

"We took the sad and painful decision to call it a day because we did not to risk the company. There is no way we could have come out of it positively otherwise.”

Mr Darrington, who in 2000 became the first non-American to be awarded the humanitarian award for jazz by the International Association of Jazz Educators in New Orleans and was later made an MBE by the Queen, said it wasn’t just about the lack of funding, although that had played a big part because that could secure names that would bring bigger crowds.

“A lot of the biggest names have stopped touring for various reasons, including passing away of course, and some of the newer stars aren’t sufficiently well-known to draw as big crowds.

"We also lost quite a lot of audience members too and struggled latterly to find suitable town centre venues where other concerts and sessions could be held away from the main concerts.

"But sponsorship falling away has had a big impact. And I am disappointed that the council has not continued to recognise the significant standing the festival has/had nationally and internationally as it used to.

"I still get requests from international artists to perform at the festival now, even though we’ve called time.

"The festival used to be a ‘whole town’ experience lasting for eight or even nine days, with people going to talks in the morning, outside performances, concerts in the afternoon and evenings and jam sessions after that. Eventually it became four high profile concerts and, with nothing inbetween them and their music sometimes different, it was hard to get visitors to stay for the four days.”

Mr Darrington felt that the first “dangerous horizon” came when the council asked the festival to move out of its initial home at the Mill at the Pier in 2005 because homes were being built in Trencherfield Mill and there were fears there would be noise complaints. As it happens there are still performances there to this day, but the festival first went to the JJB Stadium and then the Robin Park Sports Centre.

"Everything about the Mill at the Pier was wrong as far as the facilities were concerned, it had a magic to it and it became part of the Wigan International Jazz Festival brand. So when we had to move on, we lost something.

"And while we couldn’t fault the wonderful staff at the JJB and Robin Park, it became obvious that these places were just too big. Even the world’s biggest names would struggled to fill the sports centre and so we looked for a new home again.”

And they settled on The Village on the Green at Aspull which, Mr Darrington said, is “probably best venue for our kind of music in the borough.”

But by then the funding was seriously drying up and audience numbers had fallen considerably.

Mr Darrington reflects on the musical talent that the festival welcomed over the years including The Count Basie Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson, Dave Brubeck, Manhattan Transfer, Take Six, Diana Krall and the Woody Herman Orchestra.

He said: “Everyone big in jazz wanted to come here and we had plenty of famous people in the audience too. There was one that got away though. When Take Six appeared here, Stevie Wonder was due to come but a family emergency stopped him from flying over from Holland on the day.

"It’s a great shame that we have lost the festival.

"It was a remarkable organisation and a lot of people can be credited with making it remarkable.

"I feel very sad for jazz and for the borough. We have lost something that we can’t get back. Maybe things like this have a finite length and that’s how it us, but it is still a big cultural loss for the area.”

James Winterbottom, director of strategy and innovation at Wigan Council, said: “We have been proud to support the festival over the years, from providing funding and promotion, to offers of support to help make the Festival more sustainable.

“It is really disappointing that the Jazz Festival won’t be returning this year.

"It has been a mainstay in our cultural calendar here in Wigan borough and we wish Mr Darrington all the best with future projects.”

But jazz goes on in the form of Wigan Jazz Club which is also run by the Music Continuum.

It continues to host local and national artists – rather than international ones – one Sunday lunchtime a month at Whelley Ex-Servicemen’s Club on Vauxhall Road, Scholes, and plays to healthy crowds.

And the award-winning Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, for a long time conducted by Mr Darrington, also continues under the baton of Dave Little along with its feeder bands.