Katie melua set to 'take risks' at huge festival after being 'placed in box'

KATIE MELUA JOINS A STAR-STUDDED LINE UP AT THIS YEAR'S CHELTENHAM JAZZ FESTIVAL AND HAS TOLD FANS TO EXPECT HER TO TAKE EXCITING RISKS DURING HER PERFORMANCE AS SHE BIDS TO PUT ON A

SPECTACLE 13:55, 10 Apr 2025 Katie Melua is ready to take to the stage at the upcoming Cheltenham Jazz Festival. However, for Katie, the event is more than just another performance. It has

been six years since she last performed and she admits she was "drawn" to it. Speaking to the Mirror, Katie said: "I think a jazz festival in the UK is so interesting, because

I think Cheltenham has a heritage, and I know also Jazz at the moment in the UK has had such an amazing sort of revival. "Now, I remember when I first came on the scene, 22 years ago

now, we had people like Jamie Cullum and Amy Winehouse and myself, and we were kind of placed in this sort box. So it was a bit of a revival. But it's interesting to them see the

direction that Amy went in, the direction that Jamie has gone in, you know, I've certainly not stayed in Jazz at all. "But I do like to, like flirt with it as a genre. I really

love what's happened in more recent years. So, yeah, it's exciting to be part of it." Katie is being joined by a stellar line-up which also includes the likes of Lulu, Macy

Gray and Corinne Bailey Rae. However, Katie confessed: "I think grassroots music is so important, you know? So we have to keep kind of creating that environment and soil for young

artists to come through." And she explained what fans can expect from her own performance: "I think what they can expect is sort of, maybe the reason why I'm still being

booked at festivals like that is because they love live musicianship," she said. "The band that I'm gonna have is just so bloody brilliant and they're all phenomenal live

musicians. And I want to learn from them, because they can come up with things you know in the moment that are so inspiring, and to do that in front of an audience can be a bit of a risky

thing. "I just think live music is all about taking risks and kind of creating these spaces and discover how best to bring a song to light and in a fresh way and with new energy.

"So it's about that, yeah, it's, for me, it's about that kind of exciting riskiness that jazz can bring." Katie, who is also set for a European tour, admitted she

has many more ideas for the future, insisting she still loves the music life. "I still have, like, specific ideas for albums," she insisted after discussing her nine albums to

date. However, while she confessed she can't go into details just yet, she said: "I love doing this. I love making records. Article continues below "[I know how] much

responsibility we have as music makers, because songs really get inside people, there such works of art, and you really do have a responsibility to new listeners that we might have to sort

of create new songs that are worthy of generations adopting it." The Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which is being between from 30 April – 5 May 2025, presents an array of special one-off

performances, free events, group workshops, family-orientated shows and late-night jams. _LIKE THIS STORY? FOR MORE OF THE LATEST SHOWBIZ NEWS AND GOSSIP, FOLLOW MIRROR CELEBS ON_ _TIKTOK_

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