The entire day has been created to show support for the British jazz community which has been strongly affected by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis with most or in some cases, all income drying up ( https://planetradio.co.uk/jazz-fm/news/music-news/coronavirus-support-musicians/" rel="nofollow - read our COVID-19 support guide here ).

From 6am until 7pm, Nigel Williams, Anne Frankenstein and Jamie Crick will play nothing but jazz, soul and blues music from British musicians or those who call the UK their home, and feature interviews and archive session performances each hour. Mark Walker will present a supercharged UK only Jazz FM’s Greatest.

From 7pm, Jazz FM will open the gates to its Virtual Jazz Festival – a multi-artist jazz festival, exclusive to Jazz FM. We will take you on a virtual journey of our festival site, going from virtual stage to virtual stage, with artists from all over the UK and the world who are performing exclusive performances from their own homes, studios and offices, all in support of UK Music Day!

Nick Pitts, Jazz FM’s Content Director said “One thing that became very clear to us at the start of the Coronavirus crisis was how deeply this was affecting our UK jazz community. The idea for UK Music Day started with an email from https://planetradio.co.uk/jazz-fm/news/music-news/uk-music-day-announced/" rel="nofollow - Jazz FM presenter Helen Mayhew to the entire station saying “what can we do to help?” and the rest just flowed from that. I’m really hoping that Jazz FM through its excellent presenters, producers and programmes can make a difference and show our musical family across the country that we are there for them.”

The station will be revealing more and more artists taking part in the virtual jazz festival every day over the week, plus will provide more details on how listeners and jazz fans can be involved.

from https://planetradio.co.uk