Amazing news!

Three Folded Wing programmes have gone through to the Finalist level in the 2012 New York Festivals Radio Awards.

Jamie Cullum’s weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2 has been shortlisted for the second year in a row in the ‘Best Jazz Format’ category. The Selector for the British Council has also been shortlisted again for the ‘Best Regularly Scheduled Music Program’ category after our success in 2011; and if that wasn’t enough our Gloria Estefan’s Latin Beat series on BBC Radio 2 is also a finalist in the ‘Best Music Special’ category.

Our three programmes will be competing for the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards with entries from over 27 different countries.

Results are announced at the end of May so fingers crossed!

For more information about the awards click here >

Great news! Jamie Cullum is presenting a live show on BBC Radio 2 this Saturday, 5 May from backstage at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Jamie will be broadcasting in Dermot O’Leary’s slot from 4-6pm.

Special guest jazz vocalist Gregory Porter will join Jamie for an interview and the pair will also perform a track together. The modern blues artist C.W.Stoneking will also pop in to play a couple of tracks with Jamie.

The show will bring the full flavour of the festival to Radio 2 with Jamie playing music from artists performing at the festival including Imelda May, Candi Staton and many more.

Then on Tuesday 8 May, Jamie’s regular weekly jazz show on Radio 2 from 7-8pm will be a Cheltenham highlights special featuring backstage interviews with pianist John Taylor, trumpeter Abram Wilson as well as Kit Downes and Seb Rochford who are performing together at the festival.

Recorded backstage at his recent sell out Barbican show, Andrew Bird gives listeners some insight into his musical upbringing and whistling technique in this exclusive interview. Folk and soul singer Lianne La Havas also shares her festival food tips ahead of her performance at The Apple Cart festival, Field Day’s family-friendly sister festival, which takes place on Sunday 3rd June 2012. The programme is rounded off by an exclusive mini-mix created especially for the show courtesy of Zulu Winter.

This instalment is the second in a series of three exclusive shows in the run up to the Field Day festival this year. It follows on from the first show in March which featured an array of Field Day artists including Metronomy, Django Django and The Charlatans main man Tim Burgess.

Field Day Radio is streamed through the Field Day and Eat Your Own Ears websites along with The Independent’s website and archived on Mixcloud and SoundCloud.

Keep an eye out for the third Field Day Radio programme due out in May before the festival itself on 2^nd June 2012.

To go to Field Day Radio click here >

Over 1,800 members of the public voted for nominees in the various categories on the Jazz Services website.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the House of Commons on 16th May so fingers crossed for Jamie!

For more info on the Awards click here >

We are very happy to announce that Folded Wing are producing a series of monthly Field Day Radio shows in the lead up to the Field Day Festival in Victoria Park on Saturday, 2 June. The shows will be presented by Field Day main man Tom Baker, and will feature a selection of interviews and music from artists playing at this year’s festival, including Django Django, Peaking Lights, Baxter Dury, Andrew Bird, Metronomy, SBTRKT and many more.

We’ve been big fans of Field Day and Tom’s Eat Your Own Ears events since they started in 2001, so are really looking forward to working with him and adding our special Folded Wing touch to the shows.

The first show goes live tomorrow (Friday 9 March) and features music and chat with Django Django, Metronomy and the one and only Tim Burgess!

The show will be hosted on Field Day’s website and other partner platforms.

For more information on Field Day Radio click here >

For those who may not know, Sound Women is a network of UK women who have come together to raise the profile of women working in audio.

Our very own Karen P is on the Sound Women board and helped to select over 200 inspirational women to be involved in the project.

On 30 January the first ever Sound Women event took place at the University Women’s Club In London, with guests on the night including Miranda Sawyer, Carina Tillson, Jane Garvey, Heather Davies, Gemma Cairney, Emma Barnett, Fi Glover, Rebecca Maxted and many others.

Founder of Sound Women, Maria Williams hosted the landmark event and the very special guest and keynote speaker on the night was BBC Radio 1’s first ever female DJ Annie Nightingale MBE.

Folded Wing made a podcast all about this fantastic event which is available to listen to on the Sound Women website, along with audio of Annie Nightingale’s speech in full, and some lovely photos.

To go to the Sound Women website click here >

Last week Paul McCartney gave Jamie Cullum a very special, in-depth interview about his brand new album ‘Kisses on the Bottom’ and his love of jazz.

Paul talked to Jamie about the role jazz has played in his life, from growing up listening to his father’s jazz band to their mutual love of Fats Waller; he also reflects on his days with The Beatles, from his and John Lennon’s shared love of composers such as Gershwin and Cole Porter, to how jazz informed the way The Beatles approached their compositions.

Paul also talks with Jamie about his current album of jazz standards and original compositions ‘Kisses On The Bottom’, recorded at the world-famous Capitol Record studios in Los Angeles. We hear how the album came together, from the initial inspiration to the great collaborations, what it was like working with Diana Krall and producer Tommy LiPuma, and how his vocal style on the album was influenced by Chet Baker.

This very special interview will be aired on Jamie’s show on BBC Radio 2 next Tuesday, 7 February at 7pm. Don’t miss it!

To read more on Paul McCartney’s website click here >

To go to Jamie’s BBC Radio 2 homepage click here >

Paul has just left BBC Radio 1 after more than 10 years to join us as Editor of Sound, Digital & Production and will be starting in February.

Paul’s main role will be to oversee the quality of Folded Wing’s full output, as well as managing all digital projects and leading staff.

As a senior radio producer and visualisation expert at stations such as Kiss 100 FM and BBC Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6Music Paul has won several Sony Awards including Gold for Radio 1‘s Bobby & Nihal show.

Most recently, Paul won the BBC’s Best Technical Sound of 2011 Award for his documentary on the Burning Man Festival.

Welcome to the Folded Wing family Paul.

I hope you had a nice break and are feeling rested.

We’re starting 2012 off with a bang with our next BBC documentary ‘Why We Make Music’ to be broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Monday, 16th January at 9pm.

In ‘Why We Make Music’ Daniel P Carter looks at the reasons why successful artists do what they do. Is it self-expression, or the fact that music has helped them avoid bad situations in life, or even that it allows them to tap into something spiritual? Daniel meets a variety of musicians and finds out why they make music, and why music can be such a powerful force in people’s lives.

Not to be missed!

We’ve also got 6 more BBC documentaries scheduled for 2012, including a 2 part ‘Jazz at the Movies’ series on BBC Radio 2 presented by Jamie Cullum.

Watch this space for more details.

As part of Radio 2’s Dance Season, Gloria puts on her dancing shoes and explores how the rhythm and movement of the dancefloor has been central to the success of Latin music. Mambo, tango, salsa, she defies you to keep still. The show features the music of Oscar d’Leon, Los Lobos, Cachao and Herb Alpert.

All the episodes of the ‘Gloria Estefan’s Latin Beat’ series are stacked on the BBC iPlayer so anyone anywhere in the world can listen again to any of the programmes until 22 December (a week after the last show has aired).

To go to Gloria’s BBC Radio 2 homepage click here >

To listen to all the episodes on the iPlayer click here >