JAZZ: KIND OF NEW.

Half a century after Ronnie Scott's first opened its doors and 70 years since the launch of Blue Note, jazz remains a thriving and much-loved genre with a host of exciting releases on the horizon - both old and new. Music Week looks at the acts to watch in 2009

By Andrew Stewart

BIG BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS AND STRATEGIC MARKETING will be key factors in promoting jazz recordings in 2009. The genre's place in the sun is certainly guaranteed at this year's Midem, while the marketeers at Universal Classics and Jazz (UCJ) are planning high-profile campaigns to mark the release of a clutch of albums with serious crossover potential.

On the 50th anniversary front, two underline the enduring legacy of a genre often branded as specialist, yet is clearly universal in its audience appeal. Ronnie Scott's jazz club opened its doors in London's Soho in October 1959, two months after the release of Miles Davis's seminal album Kind Of Blue. Both dates offer significant opportunities for major and independent labels to promote catalogue titles and draw attention to the well-stocked pool of new jazz talent. Likewise, the 70th birthday of EMI's Blue Note Records provides gilt-edged marketing opportunities, not least thanks to the matchless depth of the label's catalogue and its commitment to groundbreaking young artists.

Jamie Cullum's long-awaited third album is slated for release by Universal this summer, its appearance prefaced by new titles from rising singer-songwriters Melody Gardot and Imelda May. The major's illustrious jazz labels, Verve prominent among them, will also be looking to capture existing fans and win new converts with a raft of other titles including American vocalist Jane Monheit's The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me album on Concord Records, followed later in the first quarter by the appearance of Diana Krall's Quiet Nights. George Benson's latest album, a new Ray Charles compilation and a 10-disc Century of Jazz compilation are also set for release before the summer. Meanwhile, UCJ aims to exploit the Sanctuary catalogue, with the relaunch of its Living Era brand as a vehicle for historic jazz albums originally released in the Thirties and Forties by the Brunswick and Decca labels.

"We're looking for ever-more creative and commercial ways of presenting our extraordinary jazz catalogue," explains UCJ general manager Mark Wilkinson. "That will be an important part of our 2009 jazz strategy." He cites Cullum, who starts the year with a showcase performance at MIDEM Jazz on January 19 and an interview with Clint Eastwood in Q magazine, as a key player in Universal's emphasis on jazz, and one most likely to attract new consumers to the market. Cullum's worldwide fanbase has to date accounted for more than 5m record sales, while his commercial stock was boosted before Christmas with the US release of Eastwood's film Gran Torino, for which Cullum wrote the eponymous song, since nominated for a Golden Globe.

Wilkinson explains that Universal has identified considerable crossover potential for its young jazz talent. "We think the younger breed of jazz artists have enormous mass-market potential," he observes, noting the last year's Q4 retail success of Madeleine Peyroux's Bare Bones album and suggesting that new singer-songwriter jazz recordings are well-placed to resist downward market pressures in 2009. "Artists like Jamie, Norah Jones and Katie Melua have, broadly speaking, proved that great jazz-influenced songs can reach far beyond a traditional audience, especially when you apply mainstream marketing techniques and think big about how you bring them to market."