Jim Simpson, Black Sabbath’s original manager, will later this month launch the 41st consecutive year of the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival - despite facing a £45,000 cut in funding.

The festival’s headline acts later this month include a celebration of Billie Holiday’s music by Lady Sings the Blues, whose double-bassist Dave Green was a childhood friend of the late Charlie Watts of Rolling Stones, playing on 16 of the rocker’s records.

Another festival headliner is King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys, the famous jump, jive and swing band that BBC Radio 2’s Paul Jones once described as “the hardest act to follow since the parting of The Red Sea”.

These are just two of 178 performances scheduled in the ten-day festival running from 18 to 27 July, with top class musicians from across the UK, France, Italy, USA, New Zealand and Sweden. They will play at 103 venues in Sandwell, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sutton Coldfield and Solihull, with more than 95% completely free to attend.

Veteran music impresario Simpson, now in his mid-80s, said: “There’s been speculation about the future of our much-loved Jazz & Blues Festival, so I’d like to assure everyone that this, the 41st year of the festival, is absolutely going ahead.

“It’s true that Birmingham City Council made the difficult decision to withdraw arts funding for 2024/25, and we have also experienced the loss of support from Westside BID this year, amounting to a combined shortfall of £45,000.

“But the support we have received has been nothing short of inspiring. We are grateful to Sandwell Council and The Musicians' Union, whose unwavering backing has been essential, and we are delighted to welcome West Midlands Combined Authority as a major sponsor.

“The public’s support and generosity has also been extraordinary. We are inspired by the ordinary folk who make donations, however small, and who write to us telling us how important this festival is to them.

“Thanks to a mix of funding, generous donations and a personal loan I’ve taken out to safeguard the event, I’m proud to confirm that the 2025 festival is secure and will proceed as planned.”

Simpson explained that the festival includes a range of unconventional venues – including parks, libraries, hotels, restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, streets, squares, museums, art galleries, gardens, stores, a furniture store and historic buildings.

He added: “We’re not just aiming for the ‘wise beards’, the folk who intellectualise music. The festival’s aim is to entertain, to interrupt people’s daily routines by confronting them with good music, properly played, to keep jazz hot, and to keep those blues alive!

“This always results in an unusually wide and diverse mix of the audience members, even involving them in free ukulele workshops, free jitterbug lessons and a free photography workshop.

“The festival’s proud heritage is the creation of a jazz and blues community, with audiences and musicians alike from all over the UK and from further afield coming together every summer, in our city, for the UK’s greatest jazz and blues party.”

The headliner Lady Sings the Blues plays at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall at 7.30pm on Saturday 26 July. This features Val Wiseman, who many critics have referred to as the UK’s finest female jazz singer. She is accompanied by an all-star band of top jazzmen, including Bruce Adams (trumpet), Ian Bateman (trombone), Alan Barnes (saxophone/clarinet), Dave Newton (piano), Dave Green (bass) and Steve Brown (drums).

Simpson added: “Lady Sings the Blues will almost certainly be the swansong of probably the most important jazz show in the UK today, the acclaimed tribute to that most important of all jazz singers, Billie Holiday.

“This show made its debut at the 1987 Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, in what was intended to be a one-off event. But it spawned album releases, multiple concert dates throughout the UK and Europe, radio and TV broadcasts.”

The other headliners King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys play at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall at 7.30pm on Friday 25 July.

The full listings for the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival are here