Rhythm in Gloucestershire: The 2024 Cheltenham Jazz Festival

I’m not much of a festival-goer, to be honest. I find myself getting a bit bored after two days of non-stop music and two nights kipping on the floor. I could count on two hands the number of music festivals I’ve been to in my 37-year-long life, if I leave out Cheltenham Jazz. Because I don’t have to go to Cheltenham Jazz—it comes to me. Ever since moving to this gorgeous Georgian town five years ago, I’ve hopped on my bike each May and pedaled a mile up the road to Montpellier Gardens with paper and pencil, a picnic and a press pass—sometimes four days in a row. Then, after consuming as much music as I can comfortably stomach, I’ve pedaled back down the hill to my own bedroom. It’s the perfect way to do festivals, in my humble opinion. Why go all in for days at a time, if you can dip in and out as the fancy takes you? If I can’t head home to my own bed when I’ve had my fill of gigs, a hotel or an Airbnb would be almost as satisfying. That’s the Cheltenham Jazz Festival experience: boutique, comfortable, laid-back. If that’s how you like your festivals too, then it might well be worth checking out. As ever, Cheltenham 2024 wasn’t one for traditionalists. The line up across the three main stages—the Big Top, the Jazz Arena and the Town Hall—was as eclectic as ever: headliners included six-time Grammy-winning soul singer Dionne Warwick, veteran reggae gro