Fabulous Red Diesel outside Ronnie Scott’s

Saturday 11 March: Hastings Women’s Jazz Festival

It comes as no surprise to discover that according to the Musicians Union,  81% of songs in the Top 100 Radio Airplay chart feature men, only 2% of music producers in the UK are women, and only 30 female acts were credited in the Official Chart Company’s 100 most popular songs of 2018, compared to 91 men or all-male groups, according to a new study by the BBC. In short , women are still underrepresented in the music industry, and International Women’s Day is a good time to highlight that. Red Diesel’s Kat Lee-Ryan shakes up the status quo.

Hastings Women’s Jazz Festival is a chance to redress that balance, albeit only for one night. Bohemia Arts and Music, a local arts organisation, has put together an afternoon and evening of female-led jazz-based acts in three of the best venues in Hastings. All the acts are original, and all driven by women.

Lily Ramona

The performances begin with Lily Ramona, at The Albion, in the Seafront Bar at 4pm. Lily is a very experienced singer/songwriter, in the folk/jazz tradition, a bit Joni Mitchell, but with a unique fresh style. She was touring the USA with The Hank Dogs from the age of 14, and on her move as an adult to Hastings, began writing and recording her own beautiful songs. To hear more, visit her website.

Elisha Edwards

At 6pm we move to the Jenny Lind. Here we have two of Hastings’ best underground R and B acts – Elisha Edwards and Kinsella.

Kinsella

Elisha Edwards is only in her early twenties but has a force and determination that is quite formidable. Softly spoken and a very peaceful presence, a little reminiscent of a young Sade, she commands the stage with her self-penned stylish tunes and sophisticated band arrangements. She is also one of the hardest working musicians in the town, you may have seen her at Fat Tuesday, and her success so far is well deserved. You can follow her on Facebook. Kinsella also featured at Fat Tuesday; her love of hip-hop and funk is clearly evident in her style. She has a powerful soulful voice, and her well crafted tunes have a jazz-pop feel. She has been featured on BBC Introducing, as well as Melita Dennet’s Under the Radar. You can have a listen here.

That brings me to our third venue: 9.30pm at The Royal Standard for The Fabulous Red Diesel. I’m not going to spare myself any blushes when I say that this is a fine example of a female-led band finally breaking through! I have been writing and performing music for 40 years, and in 2021 had major radio play for the first time on Jazz FM – talk about persistence! The Fabulous Red Diesel have been on the underground Hastings scene for the last 15 years, and our big break came last year in the form of a gig Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s and eight weeks on the Jazz FM playlist!

We are launching our new single at the gig – Symmetry – which deals with the topic of not being valued, not being listened to, and the realisation that ultimately you have to value yourself, and that that is the most important opinion. This is a message especially for women, and especially for older women, brought up in the 70’s where girls were very much still second class citizens.

We are very proud to be launching the single on International Women’s Day week, at The Hastings Jazz festival, at a venue which has been very good to us (as has The Jenny Lind).

Bohemia Arts and Music, creators of The Hastings Jazz Festival, say that they are planning to make the Women’s Jazz Festival a yearly event, coinciding with International Women’s day.

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